''California'' was an American monthly magazine, published from 1976 to 1991, which focused on the state of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It was founded as ''New West'' magazine in 1976 by

Clay Felker Clay Schuette Felker (October 2, 1925 – July 1, 2008) was an American magazine editor and journalist who co-founded '' New York'' magazine in 1968 and ''California'' magazine (first known as ''New West'') in 1976. He was known for bringing nume ...

, founder of ''New York'' magazine, as its sister publication covering the West Coast. It was purchased by

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

in 1977. In 1980, it was sold to Mediatex Communications Corp., which published ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. Founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, ''Texas Monthly'' chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the Natura ...

''. Mediatex changed the name of the magazine to ''California'' in 1981. For 15 years, the magazine featured writers of the

New Journalism New Journalism is a style of news writing and journalism, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, that uses literary techniques unconventional at the time. It is characterized by a subjective perspective, a literary style reminiscent of long-form no ...

movement, including

Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...

Joan Didion Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer and journalist. She is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism, along with Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe. Didio ...

and

Joe Eszterhas József Antal Eszterhás (; born November 23, 1944), credited as Joe Eszterhas, is a Hungarian-American writer. Born in Hungary, he grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. After an early career as a journalist and editor, he entered t ...

. The magazine first exposed

Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American cult leader, preacher and mass murderer who founded and led the Peoples Temple between 1955 and 1978. Jones and the members of his inner circle planned and orchestrat ...

' People's Temple. Jones left the same night that an editor at ''New West'' magazine read him an article to be published by Marshall Kilduff detailing allegations of abuse by former Temple members. The magazine exposed defects in Firestone tires and issues with the sleeping pill Halcion. A ''California'' May 1983 article "Top Guns", written by Ehud Yonay, profiled US Navy pilots training at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego and served as the inspiration for the 1986 movie ''

Top Gun ''Top Gun'' is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired ...

''. The magazine's circulation peaked at about 360,000 in 1987. By 1991, circulation had dropped to 250,000 and it was shut down along with sister publication ''SF''.

References

Defunct magazines published in Los Angeles Local interest magazines published in Los Angeles Magazines established in 1976 Magazines disestablished in 1991 {{local-mag-stub