This unique little city in California is just south of Riverside, California and only has a population of just under 69,000 people. Perris boasts fun in the sun without all the hassles of large city living.

Perris Valley was settled in the 1880s during a large booming period of California. Before then the land was basically just used for pastures for cattle and more. Because of the coming of the Southern Railroad, this caused the city of Perris to be founded around the new depot. In 1882, the California Southern railroad was built through this future town side open rail connections between San Diego and Barstow. Because of the issues with land titles at Pinacate, many of the citizens actually moved about 2 miles north of the railroad and established the city of Perris starting in 1885. The city was named after the chief engineer of the California Southern Railroad, Fred T. Perris. Then in 1911, the city was incorporated although it was originally part of San Diego County, in 1892, it was transferred to Riverside county.

Perris now runs the Pinacate Station which is home for the Orange Empire Railway Museum or trolley museum which happens to be the largest operating museum like this on the west coast in the United States. Perris has also had some fame when it was featured on ABC’s Nightline News where it showed the rising trend of foreclosures within Riverside County, which it named Perris as being the epicenter of this whole thing. Also, Farmer Boys restaurant chain was founded in Perris in 1981, and now it has many locations throughout the southern California area. It is also known for the Rock Castle house that sits on a hill overlooking the town.

Perris, California has a Mediterranean type of climate that has hot to warm summers and cool winters. During the summer it could get to the high 90s temperatures, but it tends to average out and it isn’t really that humid at all.

Perris also has a very diverse culture but it tends to have a Latino majority beginning in the 1990s especially due to recent immigration. During the 20^th century, this type of diversity began to grow and there was a boom of African American families due to the affordable middle class homes that gave Perris an average for this theme. Eventually there would be communities of Cambodian, Thai, and Laotian ethnicities.

Besides the museum and a few local parks, there really is not much besides the rich culture and unique history of Perris to really enjoy.