If you're going to call yourself Calabasas (Spanish for pumpkin,) shouldn't you have at least one pumpkin statue in the city that commemorates your name? Traveling through California, road warriors blasting past cities in our cars, read city signs with meaningful names, and we ponder why a city calls itself something when it doesn't resemble that item at all. Pumpkin, Concord (as in Concord grape,) or Garden Grove are several cities where you have to scratch your head and wonder. It was said that at one time Garden Grove, the city near Anaheim, actually had miles of groves to enjoy. Today, it's mostly buildings and traffic.

Sort of getting it:

Apple Valley - The resting place of Roy Rogers & Dale Evans in San Bernardino County did, at one time, have apple orchards. Located on the edge of the Mojave Desert, this isn't a place with an abundance of water for growing crops unless you irrigate.

Calabasas - Each year the Los Angeles County city hosts a pumpkin festival to honor the name of the city, which means "pumpkin".

Cloverdale - Yes, there are clovers in the dale.

Ferndale - There are ferns in the dale in this Humboldt County town, though they've opted to brand themselves as the Victorian Village.

Places that deliver on their names:

Baker - It gets really hot in Baker (home to the world's tallest thermometer.) Anyone can bake in the desert heat there. Baker has a well-deserved name!

Blue Lake - has a lake and some say it is blue as can be.

Clear Lake - has a lake that some argue over it being clear, though the reflections on the lake prove it is.

Commerce - This L.A. County city is ALL about commerce, and once was home to a tire factory. Commerce still thrives in the city of Commerce.

Grass Valley - Yep, there's grass in the valley after it rains.

Favorite names:

California City - There's a city in California called California City. You can't argue that this place clearly deserves the right to call itself that. Every city in California has the right to call itself California City, and it's great that someone decided to.

Cool - Cool is sometimes cool, and sometimes hot. But just being cool is good enough.