Readers Share Why They Love the Golden State

Here’s some of what they shared, lightly edited:

“I love the biodiversity of California, stemming from coastal to montane to desert habitats. From superblooms in Carrizo Plain and the desert — Joshua Tree to Anza-Borrego — to the vernal pools of California to the redwoods and the coast. And let’s not forget the elephant seal colonies, the orange-bellied newts that crawl out every spring, the huge aggregations of snow geese and ducks in winter, monarch butterflies hanging in long clusters and so much more.” — Sharon Strauss, Davis

“Just yesterday we’re hurrying home and see a crowd of people on the overpass facing the beach and wonder what they could be looking at. I notice there’s even more people trudging up the on-ramp to the overpass. We look in the rearview mirror and realize all those people are there to watch the oncoming sunset. How amazing. Something that happens like clockwork is so beautiful in our city that it draws a crowd. Every day.” — Susan Alinsangan, Santa Monica

“I love my block in the flatlands of North Oakland, located between and near freeways, multiple BART tracks, and a world-class children’s hospital. Since moving here in 1991, I have seen a lot of changes, but its core values have remained the same. When my husband had a devastating bicycling accident, an older neighbor took care of me. When I took in my brother’s children, I found nearby youngsters to play with them. Now, many years later, I am the oldest person living on our block. The other day I was lamenting the fact that I would have to reserve an Uber for an upcoming flight. My young tech-employed neighbor volunteered to take me, despite my protests that it would be too early in the morning.” — Susan Parker, Oakland

“No need for a clock, I hear the hourly and semi-hourly chiming of the bells of Saints Peter and Paul Church on Washington Square. No need for a car, I walk to my dentist, my grocery store, to Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store Café, not for a cigar but for a cappuccino, and I pass the streets and apartments of America’s great poets, thinkers and troublemakers: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The sounds and smells of the Pacific Ocean mingle with roasting coffee beans, fresh pizza, a jazz combo on the corner of Columbus and Stockton Streets, and barking harbor seals at Pier 39. I live in North Beach, San Francisco — a village within a 47-square mile city.” — Nancy Bertossa, San Francisco