Throughout US History, the population of California has grown significantly. It has always remained a place of social neutrality and opportunity. California was even more of an attraction during the sixties. When discussing San Francisco, Major Problems in American History states, "The city could accommodate a small community of harmless nonconformists congregating around the intersection of Haight and Ashbury. It could not, however, adjust to hordes of wannabe hippies-penniless runaways armed only with their fantasies" (419) California was seen as a state of opportunity and was a major attraction to many liberal minded people during the sixties.
In Forrest Gump, Forrest was in love with a woman who also moved to California as a Hippie. The song "California Dreamin'" emphasizes the national desire to move West in order to make a difference in the world. The lyrics say "I'd be safe and warm/ If I was in LA/ California Dreamin'/ On such a winter's day". When they refer to 'a winter's day' the artists could be talking about the negative way in which they perceive the current world to be. California could be the location of hope in the eyes of American's in the sixties...or a place to be "safe and warm".
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