What stereotypes do you associate with California?

Vegetarian peace activists that only wear birkenstocks, spending their entire evenings discussing politics while smoking up a shitload of weed.

@FutureMemory: But that’s not a costume. That’s how I actually am…

kidding! sort of…

Beach wear?

@nikipedia Same here.

Levi’s Jeans
Mickey Mouse T-shirt
Converse lowtop sneakers
Messy hair
Big sunglasses

I will quietly lurk this question. Stereotypes are so strange to me… we discussed the California Accent in my Language class last week as our final lecture: even Californians stereotype themselves.

The most common California Archetypes I hear from people are: The Surfer Dude, the Valley Girl, the Gangster Cholo, The Crunchy Granola, The Paris Hilton (who is totally not the Valley Girl – there’s a very clear difference), The Tourist passing through…

These leave a bad taste in my mouth, to be honest.

Depends, NorCal or SoCal?

If it’s a party about laying the smackdown there’s nothing better in California than the Governator.

Goh Chah-jas… Goh!

Surfer or a skater
“Totally bodacious! Bogus!! RAD”

Any alternative/counter culture—hippies, punks, LGBTs, tatted, pierced.
Anything having to do with the ocean/beach.
Valley girls
Starlets

Go as Angelyne.

I say “rad” and “gnarly” on a daily basis. I’m going to be buried in skater shoes. Some stereotypes are totally true.

@nikipedia – if the Texas squad needs any suggestions, Leslie is a personal favorite and not your typical Texas treasure…

…just don’t go as a California Gurl whatever you do.

This California Commercial cleverly names some of the stereotypes. I like it : )

Valley Girls, the glitz and glamor, beaches, beach chicas, blondes, party schools, the golden gate bridge, liberalism in the North and conservatism in the south and never the twain shall meet, funky granola earth mothers, weed, hi-tech

Not much, I know naught of the state, but I’m sure in the years to come, that Conan decided to go there to criminalize sorcery will create some, at least politically.

@Symbeline I still can’t believe an Austrian bodybuilder was elected to the top politcal position of the state. He can barely speak English. his accent I mean.

Nobody has said anything about the marijuana pothead image.

I read Conan and thought you were referencing O’Brien’s move from New York to Los Angeles to film his talk shows (which let me somewhat baffled by the connection.) I blame discontinuity as I like to ignore our sitting duck Governator who is certainly the lesser of the Conans we are housing.

@FutureMemory I think it’s a little insensitive to suggest that one cannot be a good governor if they have a heavy accent. Of all the qualms I have with Schwarzenegger, his accent does not even cut the top ten (and its a long list, believe me.)

Well, I live in California, and the stereotypes I associate with it are surfer dudes, valley girls and the usage of “like”, “totally”, and “betch”, celebrities and celebutantes, hippies, gangsters, Hispanics, liberals (just go out into the 75% of the state that’s rural and that might change your attitude about that one), attractive in-shape people (that one’s kinda true), and of course, gays. :P

@DancingMind I love that commercial!

@muppetish It’s more me commenting on how xenophobic many Americans are. It’s so obvious he’s from somewhere else. I could care less, personally. It’s not like I can speak German, or any foreign language for that matter.

I knew someone would come and PC-up my post.

Gay leather enthusiast.

I’d go with bay area techno geek hipster- black frame glasses, porkpie hat, hoodie, alt rock t shirt and men’s pedal pushers, with a fixie bike. and make sure you have USB flash drive with a built in roach clip, hooked onto a reusable water bottle, along with a cup of fresh ground fresh individual poured blue bottle coffee. and don’t shave for four days.

I think I just described my nephew….

just bring weed. People will be able to figure out which state you represent.

I hope someone representing Texas can figure out a way to make an electric chair costume.

I like this scene from The West Wing:

JANE
A Republican can win the Presidency without winning California.

VINICK
And a Democrat can’t. This isn’t some sentimental, home-state thing. This is about winning. I don’t have a 50-state strategy anymore. I have a one-state strategy: the one state that has everything – big cities, small towns, mountains, deserts, farms, factories, fishermen, surfers, all races, all religions, gay, straight – everything this country has. There’s more real America in California than anywhere else. If I can win California, I can
win the Country.

JANE
That’s a nice speech, just don’t say it into any microphones because everyone else in the 49 other states thinks California is a giant psycho ward.

I guess that doesn’t really answer your question, but I thought it was worth to share it.

wear a Hawaiian shirt and a large cowboy hat, carry a bottle of Jack Daniels, and go as a Texas refugee who moved to California to get away from all the sanctimonious fundamentalists in TX.

@bob_ I liked that :)

@FutureMemory That’s what she said.

@DominicX— me too! ( :

Progress. Open mindedness. Green technology state.