The city of Riverside was founded in 1870 by John W. North, a Tennessee abolitionist who had previously founded Northfield, Minnesota. The first orange trees were planted in 1871, but it wasn't until 1873 that the citrus industry really took off in the region. Luther and Eliza Tibbets received two bud stocks of a new kind of orange, derived from the Brazilian navel orange, from a friend at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Once planted, these new oranges thrived in the area's semiarid climate. As word spread about the sweet, seedless oranges, many local growers began requesting grafts from the Tibbets' trees. By 1895, there were vast groves of navel oranges throughout Southern California and Riverside had become the richest city per capita in the nation.

The Botanic Gardens at the University of California, Riverside contain 40 acres of exotic and unusual plants, with four miles of walking trails. Riverside is also the home of the "World's Largest Paper Cup," which stands nearly 70 feet tall. But apart from the navel orange groves, Riverside is perhaps best known for the historic Mission Inn, an opulent and "slightly bizarre" hotel that occupies a full city block downtown. This eclectic inn, restored and reopened in 1992, is favored by presidents, royalty, and movie stars.