Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Anglo-Ind.) Calcutta.

1937–84

Partridge DSUE (1984) 174/1: latish C.19–20.

2. (US) California.

1917		(con. 1908) E. Lynn Adventures of a Woman Hobo 83: If you want to get to Cal in a hurry, it’ll beat pumping a bike.
1918		‘Oh, You Wobblies’ in Lingenfelter et al. Songs of the Amer. West (1968) 543: They’re picking hops in sunny Cal, / And tobacco in Kentucky.
1930		(con. 1890) G. Milburn ‘A Convention Song’ in Hobo’s Hornbook 26: There was Pete the Shive from Slapjack’s dive, / And Wino Bill from Cal.
1930		G. Milburn ‘The Hobo’s Last Ride’ in Hobo’s Hornbook 132: We’ve coasted down through Sunny Cal.
1939		W. Winchell On Broadway 7 Feb. [synd. col.] The agent is Jane Broder. The suit will be heard in Cal.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 184: I always told you we’d have our second honeymoon in Sunny Cal.
1950		Kerouac letter 21 Nov. in Charters I (1995) 236: Kisses to babies & ladies & all of sunny Cal.
1961		F. Kohner Gidget Goes Hawaiian 6: It was one of those Southern Cal days for which only one word seems adequate for [...] let’s just say it was all time.
1967		H.S. Thompson letter 25 June in Proud Highway (1997) 621: You know when I get my driver’s license in two years I’m buying me a big Harley and going to Cal.
1989		(con. 1960s) M. Kingston Tripmaster Monkey 6: An American of Japanese Ancestry had played on the Cal football team.
1993		L. Rodríguez Always Running (1996) 235: I stopped attending Cal State after my release from jail.