The nation’s most populous state in the 1950 Census – based four years and a day before I was born – contained just 14.8 million people, 4 million more than the No. 2 state.

The No. 1 state was New York. No. 2 was California.

New Yorkers, like my parents, don’t like to think of themselves as second in anything. But New York’s status as No. 1, something it had held since 1820, was in jeopardy.

California’s population more than doubled between 1940 and 1960, the last time it was second. By 1970, it had taken over the top spot and has held it since.

With California’s taking over as the most populous state has come its dominance in setting the tone of day-to-day life.

It was exemplified by TV shows. All the quiz shows done in New York moved to California. So did “The Tonight Show,” which on the day I was born was hosted by Steve Allen and aired only in New York.

California’s contributions have their pluses: environmental consciousness, technological innovation, The Beach Boys.

It also has its minuses: freeway congestion, smog, driving too fast

And the shoulder shrug: a casual lifestyle, fast food drivethrus.

There is, to be sure, a lot of California envy in the U.S. – even in the arrogant wilds of New York. 

But, as I recently saw in Arizona, there’s also a lot of antipathy. I saw a sign on a lamppost that decried the way Californians are ruining the state; and one T-shirt tried to belittle the neighbor by showing Arizona with a semi-automatic rifle and California with a phone saying “911.”

Like it or not, California replaced New York as the center of gravity in America after I was born. Whether that will last is an interesting question as California deals with problems such as wildfires, massive rain events and the high cost of living there.