Recently I read an article about the ten article of clothing items every Southern Californian owns and is a staple in their wardrobe. Being from Southern California, I read through the list, genuinely interested in what they had described and I instantly became frustrated and annoyed in the stereotypes they had listed. I don't remember much of the stereotypes but the main ones that stuck out to me were the ones I had heard time and time again. Of course Southern California is known for its beaches and Hollywood and everything glamourous, but the actual Southern California I know is far from everything you see in the media. Even the terms people use to describe or refer to it are far from what we actually use in every day to day conversations. So, I'm here to clear up some of the confusion with a short list of stereotypes I've heard or have been asked before.
1. No one calls California (North or South) "Cali"
It really is insulting, to me at least, when someone comes up to me and asks if I'm from "Cali". I don't think I've ever heard someone from California use that word as a shorter version to call our state that. If someone ever does use "Cali", it's more in a mocking, joking kind of manner, and not to be taken seriously. Most everyone I do know calls home SoCal or if you're from the abomination that is Northern California, you call it NorCal. If I do every say "Cali" to describe Southern California, it tastes like absolute vile to say the word out loud.
2. Southern California is much larger than you think.
When I tell people where I'm from, I'm pretty positive the first thing that comes to mind are the beaches, downtown LA, or Hollywood. Where I currently live, I am about a forty-five minute to an hour drive from Hollywood and downtown LA, but I am about a thirty minute drive to the closest beach, which so happens to be Santa Monica. Of course all these times are dependent on the traffic, and because it's LA district area, there is always traffic. So I would add about another fifteen minutes to thirty minutes on to these times. While most things are relatively close to where I live, I still need a car to get anywhere because things are very spread out. So, no I don't live in any of these "glamorous" areas.
3. Speaking of Hollywood, no I don't know any celebrities.
Usually the first question I get when I explain I'm from LA, is if I know any celebrities or if I've met any. Again, I live no where near Hollywood where if I went walking down the street I would see Jennifer Lawerence walking her dog. There are the occasional celebrities that live in the small suburban areas close by, but for the most part I have never encountered a celebrity. My dad has probably seen more celebrities than me, especially since the construction company he works for does a lot of work in Hollywood and Universal Studios.
4. Northern California and Southern California are literally two different states.
I cannot exaggerate this enough: NorCal and SoCal might as well be two completely different states. At this point, they might as well be two different countries. I have only ever been to Northern California once, and it was a nice place to visit but not a nice place to live, mostly because I have a bias for Southern California. If you don't believe me ask someone from opposite sides of the state what they think about the other and you probably won't get a lot of positive comments. Snapchat even had a NorCal vs. SoCal story going on for about two days, and in my honest opinion, SoCal won. The only thing we can probably agree on is no one likes the central part of California, not even the people who live there.
5. California, overall, is a very diverse state, geographically.
When I first came to Pennsylvania and winter first arrived, I got asked a lot if I had ever seen snow before. I can understand why people would think I had never seen snow before, but I think in part that they don't realize California is pretty diverse geographically. While I live in a small suburban area, and I am relatively close to most other cities and major landmarks, there are mountains in the general area of where I live. I may live in the Los Angeles district area, but if we're getting specific, I live in the San Fernando Valley and because I live in a valley, I am surrounded by mountains. The mountains aren't super close, but they're close enough that my family and I would take an occasional trip there during the winter to play in the snow. Yes, it does snow in sunny Southern California, just not anywhere near where I live.
There you have it, some stereotypes about California cleared up. Of course, the list could be a lot longer and I could go more into detail about these things, but these are the general stereotypes I hear and read about everyday. Don't take my absolute word for it, though, there are some average Joe's who are next door neighbors to Kim Kardashian, who use the awful term "Cali", have never seen snow in our lovely state before, or love Northern California, as horrifying as that might be.
