But California is starting to look more like New England than the fun-and-sun version of itself many of us keep in our memories, said Hans Johnson, a demographer at the Public Policy Institute of California.

CNN: The California Dream is fizzling out

Ads played up the sun-drenched, fun L.A. lifestyle.

FORBES: Sole Survivors

Three years ago, guest writer Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun-Times did a fun piece for Forbes.com on heroes and goats in the baseball world.

FORBES: Baseball's Heroes and Goats are Mostly Myth