Things to do / Travel Guide
The central California coast is not known for being a very densely-populated area (outside of the Bay area), and is primarily known as an agricultural region. Outside of the San Francisco Bay area, the largest city in this region is Salinas, which is home to roughly 150,000 people. In terms of education and culture, the central California coast is home to a number of university campuses. Starting in the north, some of the most famous universities in the region include the University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University in Palo Alto, University of California at Santa Cruz, and the California State University at Monterey Bay.
Demographis around San Francisco and Napa Valley
Spanish is widely spoken in some areas, as is Chinese. San Francisco is a multicultural city with a long heritage of racial and ethnic tolerance and diversity. Almost half of the people who live in San Francisco are Caucasian (49%). The city also has one of the largest Asian population (30%) of any city in United States. Other major ethnic populations include African Americans (8%), as well as a large Latin American population (less than 5%), made up primarily of people from Mexico and El Salvador. There are a sizeable number of people of Asian Indian descent, making up approximately 30% of the engineering population in Silicon Valley.
Needless to say, many of the people who live in central California are not native-born Californians. Almost a third of the people in central California were born outside of the region. This part of California, culturally speaking, is diverse and constantly reinventing itself.
The central California coastal region is immensely diverse: at the northern end are the Napa Valley and Sonoma County, and then Marin County, and the city of San Francisco. Napa Valley and Sonoma County, despite being the center of central California's wine country and the second most visited tourist attraction in the state, are relatively tranquil and quiet areas. Marin County is famous for its atmosphere, wealth and big houses, while San Francisco is famous for its hilly streets, tolerance, culture, counter-culture and people always on the go. The city is most famous for two cultural groups. The first is the Chinese community; San Francisco boasts of having one of the largest Chinese populations outside of mainland China, although today this “Chinese community” is really the “East Asian community” including people from Vietnam, the Philippines, Korea, and other parts of Asia. Another important cultural group in San Francisco is the gay community. Centered around Castro Street and the Castro District, San Francisco's gay community has served as the political nerve center for the national gay rights movement and has, on some level, paved the way for gay acceptance across the United States as well as around the world.
Society and Culture around Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is, according to globalization expert S.L. Bachman, “nimble, light-footed, innovative, and attractive to outsiders.” Because of the booming computer industry, Silicon Valley is home to many major international corporation headquarters and, as such, there are people from all over the world living in the various communities - each with its own subtle cultural and demographic makeups. Because most of the people who live in Silicon Valley are connected in one way or another to a global corporation, Silicon Valley is considered to be one of the “forerunners of modern globalization.”
Society and Culture around Monterey and Big Sur
The pace of life as you travel south down the coast from San Francisco becomes increasingly more laid-back. Areas like the Monterey Peninsula and Big Sur, as well as areas further south to San Simeon and Morro Bay have a worldview much different than the big cities to their north. Along the coast, residents are likely to live in small towns with some sort of altered version of the classic American “Main Street.” Based on the region's primary source of income, i.e., agriculture, locals are very likely to be found working in the farming industry or in some byproduct or offshoot thereof.
Society and Culture around San Francisco
San Francisco has a very distinctive local flavor; the city is many things to many people. It is a financial center as well as a youthful city and home to many artists and musicians. Back in the 1960s, San Francisco was famous for “flower children” and hippies who, 40-odd years later, still hover around spots like the Haight-Ashbury intersection and around Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. In January of 1967, a leading proponent for the widespread use of LSD, Timothy Leary, coined the phrase “Turn on, tune in, drop out,” while visiting the Golden Gate Park at the height of the “hippie era” of San Francisco. San Francisco is also a center for gay culture in America. The Castro District, located along Castro Avenue, is a strip of book stores, coffee shops, cafés, restaurants, nightclubs, and bars. This distinct area of San Francisco caters to gay patrons who, to this day, come from all over the U.S., as well as the world, to take in what many have labeled “the Castro experience.” San Francisco and the Bay Area are also full of high-tech professionals who flock to Silicon Valley. This region's beautiful mountains and stellar beaches draw everyone out of their homes. People all along the coast (and further inland) think of themselves as being fit and part of the region's ethos is to eat healthy, stay fit, and be outdoors as much as possible.
Society and Culture around Oakland
Across the Bay from San Francisco is the town of Oakland. Oakland has played a major role in the start of two distinctively American “cultural organizations.” In the 1960s the Black Power movement got its start in Oakland in response to Martin Luther King Jr.'s calls for racial equality. Sonny Barger also founded the original chapter of the well-known Hell's Angels motorcycle club in Oakland over 50 years ago.
John Steinbeck and the Central California Coast
There are two particular areas, Salinas and Monterey, which have had a major impact on the “spicier” areas of the central coast of California. Salinas is the birthplace of John Steinbeck, the author of such American literary masterpieces as “The Grapes of Wrath,” “East of Eden,” “Cannery Row,” and “Of Mice and Men.” John Steinbeck wrote the multi-generational family epic “East of Eden” while living in Salinas (where visitors can check out the National Steinbeck Center down at 1 Main Street), and used the scenic backdrop of the region as an inspiringly integral part of the novel. As a result, the locals of Salinas are very proud and beholden to their “favorite son” and sport “Honk if you love Steinbeck” bumper stickers on the edge of their cars. In addition to “East of Eden,” John Steinbeck's “Cannery Row” and “Sweet Thursday” expertly captured the heart and soul of the area, as he eerily predicted the decimation of the local sardine supply from the torments of over-fishing, and its impact on the local economy. Steinbeck's novels “Cannery Row” and “Sweet Thursday” were based on the experiences and observations of the people he met working in the fishing and cannery industry in Monterey. Literary experts agree, you really can't appreciate the novel “Cannery Row” until you actually visit Cannery Row in Monterey.
At the southern end of the region, people are more involved in agricultural pursuits, such as farming the land and fishing, than they are at the northern end of the region, where the socioeconomic bell curve rises significantly. Be that as it may, the people here enjoy a good meal with friends and family and the occasional night out having a beer at a locally-owned pub or strolling around to take in and enjoy the local beauty.
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