1. In 1876, James Lick, a wealthy landowner and philanthropist, bequeathed $700,000 to build the world's largest astronomical observatory on Mount Hamilton, east of San Jose. This led to the building of Lick Observatory, which is still in operation today.

2. In 1934, the Los Angeles Union Station opened, becoming the largest train station in the western United States. It served as a major transportation hub for decades before falling into disrepair, but has since been restored and is still used today.

3. In 1965, civil rights activist Amelia Boynton Robinson led the first march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, as part of the voting rights campaign for African Americans. Boynton Robinson was a California resident at the time and continued to be a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement.

4. In 1976, the California Supreme Court ruled in the case of In re Marriage of Brown that California's community property law applied to same-sex couples, making California the first state to grant rights to same-sex couples in property division.

5. In 2014, SpaceX, founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The rocket carried the Thaicom 6 satellite into orbit and marked a major milestone for the private space industry.