No state embodies the 20th-century cult of cool like California. From its beaches to its cuisine to its jazz, the Golden State was a symbol of laid-back American confidence in an era of peace and prosperity. But the capital of cool California might just be…Cool, California.

A 5K race isn't cool. You know what's cool? A 50K

Cool, California is located northeast of Sacramento, just eleven miles up the road from Sutter's Mill, where gold was famously discovered in 1849. It's a small town of just one traffic light and 4,100 residents, who enjoy cool local spots like the Cool General Store, the Cool Beerwerks, and the Cool Lutheran Mission Church. A trail runs from Cool all the way up into the Sierras toward Squaw Valley, and every spring since 1990 the town has hosted the "Way Too Cool" 50K Endurance Race.

A town named by beatniks, can you dig it?

The town's unusual name is a bit of a mystery. It was once known as "Cave Valley" because of all the limestone caves nearby, some of which are full of fossils going back five million years, including giant saber-tooth cats and ground sloths. In 2012, a Placerville newspaper reported that Cool was named by beatnik Todd Hausman, who approved of the town as he passed through. But this sounds more like 21st-century Wiki-vandalism than actual history to me. Also, the Cool Post Office was founded in 1885, so Todd must have either been a very forward-thinking beatnik, or a time-traveling one.

The Sunday stylings of Reverend Cool

It's possible that Cool's name may just refer to its Mediterranean mountain climate, but many locals have long believed that the town was named for one Aaron Cool, a local reverend. This is probably close to the truth, even if they got the name wrong. There was a Peter Y. Cool who came west from New York State to pan for gold in 1850, and wound up preaching at camp meetings in the area and founding the county's first church.

Meet Cool and the gang

If you're looking for other cool places to spend your time, there's a lively neighborhood in central Rotterdam called the Cool District…but it's an old Dutch name pronounced "kohl." There's also a town called Cool near Fort Worth, Texas, but temperatures rise as high as 115 degrees there during the summer, so the town may be misnamed. I admire the honesty of Hotazel, South Africa, a little manganese mining town in the Kalahari Desert. Its name is a pun on the local climate: "hot as hell."

Explore the world's oddities every week with Ken Jennings, and check out his book Maphead for more geography trivia.