Later in 1913, the song was introduced by opera star Mary Garden, associated with the Chicago Grand Opera at that time. "Mary Garden stopped Grand Opera to make this California song famous," read the notices virtually ensuring the popularity and success of the new song. The renowned soprano wrote on stationery from the Hotel Alexandria in Los Angeles:
Played aboard the SS ''Ancon''
"I Love You, California", was played aboard the steamship Ancon, which on August 14, 1914, became the first merchant ship to pass through the Panama Canal.
In 1951, the State Legislature passed a resolution designating it as California's state song. California Government Code section 421.7 states, "I Love You, California, a song published in 1913 with lyrics by F.B. Silverwood and music by A.F. Frankenstein, is an official state song." In 1987, "I Love You, California" became the official state song by law.
Official use
"I Love You, California" is played at funerals of Californian governors, most recently at the funeral of Ronald Reagan. At the inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the governor of California on January 2, 1967, it was sung by the University of California, Davis, All-Male Marching Band. Reagan, apparently familiar with the then little known song, quipped, "Thanks for singing a song old enough to make me feel young!", according to a personal reminiscence of a former band member.
Commercial use
In late 2012, Jeep began running a TV advertisement in California, with "I Love You, California" as the soundtrack and visuals showing the Californian state flower, Californian flag, and other Californian icons. The song also serves as the theme music for the state’s public television human interest series “California’s Golden Parks”, presented by Huell Howser.
Lyrics
Other non-official state songs
During the years following, several attempts were made to make other songs the official state song, such as:
"California, Here I Come" is known by many, while, nowadays, "I Love You, California" is known by few.
"California, Sweet Homeland of Mine" — In 1921, Lynden Ellsworth Behymer, impresario, and Bessie Bartlett Frankel ], donated a sum of money to the California Federation of Music Clubs to hold a contest for lyrics to a state song "of real value." The judges were Benjamin Franklin Field, chairman of the federation and chairman of the committee of judges, Grace Atherton Dennen, editor and publisher of The Lyric West, and Blanche Robinson , composer. The original deadline, October 1, 1921, was extended to December 31, 1921 and the prize money was increased to $100. The judges selected Mary Lennox of San Francisco on January 17, 1922, as the winner:
