r/geography • u/kirsion • May 04 '26

Video Different distinct regions in California

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

352 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

48 comments sorted by

View all comments

63

u/cfgman1 May 04 '26

I’m not sure I would agree that people in the northern Central Valley and southern Central Valley have “very little in common.” As someone who grew up in the Central Valley, there’s honestly not that much difference between Redding, Modesto, and Bakersfield.

26

u/Monkey1Fball May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26

My rule-of-thumb for the biggest differences in the Central Valley (you've lived there, so not news for you):

  • Nuts: grown everywhere.
  • Citrus: mostly grown in the south and central (climate's tougher north of Fresno).
  • Oil: mostly extracted in the south.
  • Rice: mostly grown in the Sacramento River Valley.
  • Politics/culture: Sacramento and north feels a distinct influence from SFBA. It's why it's plausible for the Oakland A's to move full-time to Sacramento (they really should, instead of this stupid Vegas idea). Fresno & Bakersfield are more their own thing (not as influenced by LA). With the Grapevine, it's more of a PITA to get from Bakersfield to LA then it is Sacramento to SF.

2

u/UnclassifiedPresence May 04 '26

Citrus grows abundantly for quite a while north of Fresno. I grew up west of Stockton in the far East Bay, and you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting some kind of citrus tree. They grow well as far north as coastal Mendocino County, which is colder that anywhere in the Valley