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Like Manhattanization and Brusselization, Californication is a pejorative word that has similar negative connotations in its usage. A portmanteau of California and fornication, the term found favour among government officials and residents of several states in the Western U.S., who utilized the neologism to decry and help prevent the purported phenomena of uncontrolled and haphazard development in California.
The term gained popularity in the 1970s, with multiple journalists and commentators adopting Californication to denote the "haphazard, mindless development of land that has already gobbled up most of Southern California," as Time Magazine's Sandra Burton put it. Some equated this development trend to an exodus of Californians, who sought literal and figurative greener pastures in neighbouring states. The term itself extends beyond its urban planning undercurrent, referring also to the exportation of Californian culture as a commodity.
In the 1940s, author and Oregonian columnist Stewart Holbrook frequently rallied against development and unmitigated population growth and often referenced the James G. Blaine Society, an unofficial organization dedicated to protecting the state of Oregon from overpopulation. Acting as an outlet for like-minded individuals, the society aimed to discourage people from immigrating to Oregon. The organization humorously took its name from James G. Blaine, a United States senator from Maine who never visited Oregon. Come Visit Oregon, but don't stay; Don't Californicate Oregon; and See Oregon and then go home; were just some of the society's popular slogans. In 1971, Governor Tom McCall echoed these sentiments, saying "Come visit us again and again. But for heaven's sake, don't come here to live." The message preceded a flurry of bumper stickers that adopted analogous catchphrases, all public displays of an increasingly brazen anti-Californication attitude.
Drawing parallels to current events, similar groups jokingly entertained ideas for a large fence, the exiling of non-native residents, and the institution of a $5,000 immigration fee. The term famously entered the vocabulary of Coloradans after a 1972 referendum saw voters reject a bond issue to fund the hosting of the 1976 Winter Olympics. Opposition to the bond was fierce, adopting a "Don't Californicate Colorado" rallying cry that encapsulated the finger-pointing directed at California. The urban growth problems in Oregon, Colorado, Montana, and New Mexico were frequently blamed on a California-style "mindless development" that permeated each state.
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