Songfacts®:

• Blink-182 pay tribute here to the Golden State. Producer John Feldmann explained to Fuse TV: "We all liked the idea of writing a song about our state, where we live and love. To me it's the most beautiful place in the world, this song was us giving credit to how lucky we are to have lived here and grown up here, raising families here, the whole thing."
• Boys Like Girls' Martin Johnson assisted with the writing of this California love letter. He has also contributed towards hit tunes for Avril Lavigne and Christina Perri.
• Feldmann explained why Blink-182 titled the album after this song. "To name the album after that - Mark had a bunch of classic joke-y titles, OBGYN Kenobi, Nude Erection, One Direction, taking a stab at the boy band thing - he had a bunch of ideas that were great but ultimately [with] 'Built This Pool,' 'Brohemian Rhapsody,' there are joke-y moments but to sell the record short wouldn't be fair. The record wasn't No Future but it also wasn't OBGYN Kenobi, 'California' summed the record up."
• Guitarist Matt Skipa told HMV.com the album's name was a late decision. "All the artwork and title came at the final hour," he said. "It was definitely the most difficult aspect of the record because we had so much great stuff to choose from once D Face (the cover designer) got on board. It just fit with the theme of the record."
  
  "California means so many different things to so many different people so it works in that people can make up their own mind as to what it means," Skipa continued. "It's where all three of us live and we're proud and thankful of where we live and how we make a living there. It has a romance to it for us so I hope that resonates to the nice people that buy the record and hopefully dig it."