If a picture’s worth a thousand words, a flag is a whole textbook.
Our state flag is a record of California history that experts read like a secret code. Every part carries some meaning, from hoist to fly end.
The colors
Like the US flag, California’s red stripe and star (and the bear’s tongue) symbolize courage, while the white field symbolizes purity. With the green under the bear’s feet, our flag shares a color scheme with Mexico’s. In that flag, green represents hope and victory.
The canton
A flag’s canton is its upper lefthand corner, where the fifty stars are in the US flag. California has just one star.
If that reminds you of Texas’s Lone Star flag, you’re on the money: both states gained independence from Mexico and briefly became independent republics. As Texas gained statehood just five years before California, we took inspiration from the Lone Star State.
The bear
California grizzly bears symbolized the state’s strength and sovereignty during the Bear Flag Revolt, and it’s appeared on every iteration of the state flag.
In case you didn’t know, the grizzly on our flag has a name: Monarch.
San Jose flag
Developed by the rules committee + Historic Landmarks Commission of San Jose in 1968, the flag shows the City of San Jose’s seal centered on a white stripe with a golden stripe above, and a navy stripe below.
Much like our former flag, the colors gold, white, and navy are used. The seal, showing grapes + a wheat sheaf, nods to our area’s rich agricultural history in the mid-19th century.
