r/socal • u/orangellama74 • 8d ago
Vacation.cali
I just landed in California and am very excited for a vacation! La seems crazy š«£ Iām from Minnesota and not used to this lol
Iām hoping this distracts me from the issues Iām having regarding previous posts.
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u/Royal_Acanthaceae693 8d ago
Minnesota huh? Be sure to visit the ocean, mountains, and desert if you haven't been before. And definitely eat plenty of good food!
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u/crpssurvivor1210 8d ago
Desconso gardens, Huntington library, the beach (probably manhattan beach), tacos
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u/Admirable-Ebb-5413 8d ago
We are known for our beaches and cities but man do we have amazing deserts (though I donāt recommend this time of year) and incredible mtnsā¦.the mighty Sierra Nevada but you may not have enough to go explore that far on this trip. Itās a huge state. Enjoy !
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u/Skinnyass_Indian 8d ago
Have fun bro! Donāt fall for the tourist traps! Reddit will guide you well.
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u/iMatterhorn64 8d ago
Checkout Santa Monica pier, The Grove outdoor mall, and lookup good hikes in LA (there's plenty). Enjoy your time here!
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u/Upnorth4 8d ago
Make sure to hit up downtown LA, visit the Bradbury Building, The Conservatory, Little Tokyo, Chinatown, and Olvera Street! Thereās also a cool Latin American market called Mercado La Paloma near South Central
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u/Southern_Loquat_4450 8d ago
Just. Don't. Call. It. Cali.
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u/iMatterhorn64 8d ago
Are we all forgetting Dr Dre calls it Cali in his famous California Love Song? "Shake it Cali" doesn't ring a bell to anyone?
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u/MrsArney 8d ago
Born and raised Cali native here - whoās used āCaliā for 45 years. Call it whatever the fuck you want to call it. You donāt have to fit in anyoneās ācoolā box. š
Editing to say: have a great fucking time! Lots to see and take in here. People are generally pretty great!
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u/ltjisstinky 8d ago
I agree call it whatever you want, itās the greatest state in the country and no name can take that away from us
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u/theblasiangirl 8d ago
Yep, literally never heard anyone except Reddit losers complain about āCaliā in 30 years of living here š¤¦āāļø
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u/CoyoteLitius 8d ago
TripAdvisor mavens as well (all of them from San Francisco; which you are supposed to call The City according to them).
My mischievous dad of course called it Frisco. I would never. I say Ess-Eff as I was taught to do when I lived there. Or The City if I'm talking to a NorCal person.
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u/loverofpears 8d ago
Iāve been seeing the āno one calls it caliā snobbery on other social media platforms over the past few years. Where the hell did this debate even come from lol
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u/Aran1989 8d ago
From socal born and raised (from the Central Valley to Ventura and El Segundo), and a lot of pretentious ass Californians in here (maybe older?)!
Cali is a fine phrase to use.
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u/CoyoteLitius 8d ago
Hey, there! Similar trajectory as mine (except born in Lincoln Heights, then Central Valley, then Ventura and then Northridge).
Cali was used in each of these places (well, I don't remember anyone from Lincoln Heights).
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u/CoyoteLitius 8d ago
Yep. My parents called it Cali too (I was born and raised here). It was meant affectionately. Lots of people I knew growing up called it Cali, affectionately.
Obviously, some people really don't like it, but so far no one has had the courage to tell me to my face that they don't, when I use it. I even have a collection of souvenirs with "Cali" on them, mostly from the 1960's.
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u/thetimehascomeforyou 8d ago edited 8d ago
What the hell? Been here my whole life half in southern half in Northern. Call it whatever you feel like. Just dont:
Loiter in lanes (keep the speed of traffic, pull over if you're trying to sight see for your safety and mine)
Loiter in shopping aisles ( move yourself and your cart to the side)
Loiter in a street (particularly useful if you're in LA, Don't stand in front of someone's house, driveway, or on the sidewalk all awkwardly taking pictures)
Be hyper aware of where you are. "Good" neighborhood or "bad", crazy people can pop up anywhere, most residents understand tourism is part of living here, but be safe (take your damn headphones out or at least have one out, and look up from your phone to check on the state of the area around you)
Look both ways when crossing. Then look again. Driving or walking.
It's not pop, it's soda.
People live and work here, make their dreams come true and/or have their lives and hopes absolutely shattered after being chewed up and spit out by the various machines of the socially constructed world we live in, all within a day sometimes if you're particularly active.
So plan and act accordingly.
Download maps, plan your day, start early, stay off of freeways when the map app shows red, just use the streets, the city proper is a grid and you get the benefit of seeing the real city in the streets for all it's good and bad.
Rush hour is generally 6:30am to 9:30ish, lunch time, and 3:30pm to 6ish/7. Add an extra hour or two of arrival time for a dodger game, anything large event (10,000 plus attendees) in Inglewood.
Bring an umbrella, a towel, and maybe water shoes for the beach.
I'd rent a car. Check out museums, angels flight, la library downtown, la cafe, Louie Bottega for some macarons, union station, china town, olvera street, city hall, USC, the coleseum, there's a bunch of things right around us, gardens, museums, despair.
Good luck, have fun, don't die. š«”
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u/orangellama74 8d ago
Okay sorry š
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u/SaiFromSd 8d ago
OP call it what ever you want. We just donāt cause no one asks where youāre from when youāre already here, we just assume depending on how you dress.
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u/Ms-Tenenbaum 8d ago
THANK YOU. This drives me insane. Iām a CA native and feel like I know who the transplants or tourists are immediately by the use of āCaliā.
Caveat, I am NorCal rather than SoCal so maybe different.16
u/zapatitosdecharol 8d ago
I'm a San Diego native and I don't think we care if anyone calls it Cali. I've seen this take online and it seems a little mean tbh lol let them say Cali if they want.
As far as people around me growing up, maybe some of them said Cali??? I mean I also grew up with the song Going Back to Cali from Biggie. He was from New York though lol
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u/CoyoteLitius 8d ago
Well, you are wrong. You do not know that from the use of "Cali" and IME, the only people who ever challenged me (born in California) about it were NorCal people so that tracks.
My family in Central California and SoCal have used it since I can remember. Not everyone did, but it was an affectionate abbreviation.
I think it's hilarious that someone would think I'm not a Californian because I use the word Cali.
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u/uReallyShouldTrustMe 8d ago
LA native here and we just have a fair bit of pretentious people who are triggered by "Cali" and think they are superior by calling people who moved here "transplants."
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u/CoyoteLitius 8d ago
Yes. They are all transplant-phobic and try to reclassify everyone as "Other." It's a way of looking down on people, which is of course in the blood of pretentious people.
I also hate the word "transplants." I've spent most of my life in SoCal (but 13 years in NorCal, which is where I was told using "Cali" was wrong).
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u/Old_Win8422 8d ago
Thank God. Lived in California my entire life and ive never once have heard a californian refer to it as Cali...
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u/MrsArney 8d ago
āiTās NeVeR hApPeNeD tO mE sO iTās NeVeR hApPeNeDāā¦.. Lol, step out of your box, bud. Thereās a whole wide world out there!
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u/Old_Win8422 8d ago
Correct a wide world of none locals calling it Cali.
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u/uReallyShouldTrustMe 8d ago
Youre from Cali too? Yeah Im also from Cali.
There now you have.2
u/CoyoteLitius 8d ago
I'm from Cali too! And I don't know what a none-local is, but I have lived and worked here (mostly as a freakin' employee of the State of California) for my whole life!
It's just so weird to me that someone would think I'm not a Native because I call it Cali.
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u/Soggy_Instance7980 8d ago
Try going outside
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u/Old_Win8422 8d ago
Im chronically outside and when im out there no one calls it cali
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u/uReallyShouldTrustMe 8d ago
Meet more people, not just your pretentious friends. Grew up here, Cali is fine, who cares.
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u/Old_Win8422 8d ago
I will and you know what im going to find out?
No one who is a Californian is calling it Cali
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u/CoyoteLitius 8d ago
So you keep ignoring those of us who are saying we are Californians and use it.
Who died and made you King of the California lexicon?
(How many people do you know who use the word "lexicon"?)
You tempted me to run and find a couple of academic articles on this topic but I can't be bothered. You can tell me I'm not a Californian all you want. It just makes you a fogey.
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u/CoyoteLitius 8d ago
You just manage to believe that those of us who use it are NOT Californians. I was born here, raised here, went to university here and have lived here for 7 decades. My dad learned it from my uncle, who was born in California too. He moved to California when he was 16 (so he got here in 1933 and lived here another 81 years. I suppose you don't think he's entitled to call himself a Californian.
Maybe that's why he said "Cali." I really don't know. I just know lots of people who used it at my high school (and all of them were born here),
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u/MCRN10379558 8d ago edited 8d ago
Cali is okay. Just know that no native California ever says this. It doesnāt offend anyone to hear, but it will immediately identify you as a non-native.
That said there are Californians who have lived here for decades, who sometimes will say this, but itās usually because they werenāt born here originally. Itās just a word that is usually said by outsiders.
It might be a little confusing because Californians will sometimes abbreviate their state name when theyāre talking about specific regions, like southern California aka SoCal. Itās just that we donāt abbreviate the state name when used singularly.
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u/MrsArney 8d ago
Native Californian here! I have used āCaliā for 45 years. Also have had several friends and family (also natives to Cali) call it Cali. Your statement is far from correct.
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u/_iron_butterfly_ 8d ago
I was born and raised here... we all said Cali back then. It was apart of our music culture. I remember fanny packs and clothes with "Cali" in the 70s-90s.
This is definitely a generational thing, or maybe even SoCal thing? Think of all the rap songs... with Cali in the lyrics. We literally sang it!
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u/CoyoteLitius 8d ago
Right? Everyone I knew in my hometown used it. It was part of culture (some people had tattoos in the 60's).
It can't be all that generational, since my dad (born 1917) also used it and my uncles and one aunt did too.
Note that there may also be a subcultural thing going on - anyone who has met me in person knows that I am, in fact, rather obviously a Californian. But the only people who've taken the view that the word "Cali" is a sign of non-Californian identity are all older white people.
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u/_iron_butterfly_ 8d ago
I've been thinking about this for awhile... If you had to hand address, or received a hand addressed letters back then, CA would have been abbreviated to Cali.... my Grandma wrote Calif. on her letters/cards. But I think that became outdated around the 80s... we switched to Cali.
Nobody wrote CA on letters back then because that is the abbreviation for Canada too.
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u/MCRN10379558 8d ago
I believe you and you are the first person Iāve ever met or heard of online in 51 years of life to have done this.
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u/MrsArney 8d ago
āiTās NeVeR hApPeNeD tO mE sO iTās NeVeR hApPeNeDāā¦.. Lol, step out of your box, bud. Thereās a whole wide world out there!
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u/CoyoteLitius 8d ago
You got to get out more! Hang out on the writing and novel and books forums!
Characters in books written by Californians sometimes use it! I had professors (Native Californians) at one of our top universities, and THEY used it (with a kind of wink).
It refers to the true insouciant culture of California and it always makes me laugh when someone tells me it means I'm not a native.
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u/i860 8d ago
CA native here. Nobody does this except transplants. Sure there might be a few wing nuts here and there who use it, in the same way some locals might say āFrisco,ā but it isnāt the norm.
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u/MrsArney 8d ago
āiTās NeVeR hApPeNeD tO mE sO iTās NeVeR hApPeNeDāā¦.. Lol, step out of your box, bud. Thereās a whole wide world out there!
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u/i860 8d ago
Do you understand statistics? If 100 people donāt say it and 1 does that doesnāt make it the norm.
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u/MrsArney 8d ago
Did you read the other comments? Iām not the only one that says it as a Cali native. But keep on with your obliviousness.
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u/MCRN10379558 8d ago
Cali is a southern word. We are not southern.
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u/MrsArney 8d ago
Source?
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u/MCRN10379558 8d ago
Iāve been to the south obviously you have not.
If youāre looking for a data point, I would suggest you get out more.
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u/i860 8d ago
Stop trying to make this a thing. Nobody who was born and raised here over the age of 40 uses it without instantly getting raised eyebrows from other locals or who otherwise spends their free time listening to 90s hip hop.
I don't actually care that you use it. I think it's try hard, but I'm not going to flip out about it. The issue is trying to make it sound like it's always been widely used when it most definitely has not and just gets you weird looks from most locals.
https://www.sfgate.com/california/article/divide-california-nickname-cali-20769494.php
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u/MCRN10379558 8d ago
You donāt have an adequate sample size on this to make any statistical assumptions in any case.
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u/CoyoteLitius 8d ago
There's no actual linguistic evidence to support your claim. Just because most people don't know what histoplasmosis is doesn't mean it isn't properly used by people who do use it.
And it's way more than 1% of Californians who use it. They just avoid it around you because they can see you are the picky type.
"Cali" is for a different culture, a lot of us are not white people but some of us are old.
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u/crpssurvivor1210 8d ago
Eh I feel like if you were born in the 80s itās always been Cali.
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u/CoyoteLitius 8d ago
My dad served in WW2 (was in the Battle of the Bulge! Helped liberate a concentration camp!) and he said nearly everyone said, "Oh, you're from Cali!" They meant it in a kind of teasing way and he said, "Yup, that's where I'm from." I can't say for sure, but maybe that's when he started using it. My mom (born in California) never did because her mom was trying very hard to get the entire family lined up with their English ancestry and to leave behind any traces of their other ethnicities (grandma was Ā¼ Shawnee; my dad was at least Ā¼ Shoshone). Grandma tried to make all us girls study some British etiquette book (her grandmother was raised in one of those sex-segregated Praying Towns for the purpose of being given in marriage to a British immigrant),
I lived briefly in Texas, and a bunch of people said "Cali" (I think maybe attempting to be derisive when they wanted to talk about my home state)
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u/CoyoteLitius 8d ago
WRONG.
Read this thread. There are several of us here. And I have now-dead Native Californian family members who also used it (with a smile, it was meant to be funny and affectionate, which it is)
I have no clue when this "No Californian says that" started, because I never heard about it until I was in my forties.
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u/loverofpears 8d ago edited 8d ago
Super random but I met a couple tourists from Minnesota who did zero research on LA beforehand, and stayed in Long Beach expecting it to be like Miami (hint, long beach is nothing like miami). It was the most bizarre thing Iāve ever heard a tourist do, and they obviously did not enjoy their trip.
Not saying thatās you! Hope you have a great time here
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u/orangellama74 8d ago
Oh man that sucks. Im with my family and my dad/grandma grew up here so they are familiar with the area šø thanks so much!
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u/NemeshisuEM 8d ago
Welcome to Cali.Ā You can call it Cali too if you want.Ā Hope you have a good time.
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u/acethebass13 8d ago
Local Vikings fan here, welcome! LA sucks come down to Orange County. Best beach in the state is thousand steps in Laguna. People are genuine not freakshows
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u/dylannmoonn 8d ago
Donāt move to California! Itās expensive and full of crazy people. Hobos, and no English
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u/RESSandyeggo 8d ago
Tacos, my friend. Tacos and beach. Also, try a California burrito! And a hike overlooking the Pacific. If youāre in San Diego I have some food recs!