Paradise cali / silhouette

Paradise, california - Memories.

Paradise - California Fire
According to GNIS, the community was previously known in the past by four different names: Leonards Mill, Poverty Ridge, Pair-O-Dice, Paradice.[1]

A legend persists that the town was named because it was the home of the Pair o' Dice Saloon, an idea supported by a 1900 railroad map referring to the town as Paradice. However, no documentation has been found to prove the establishment existed, nor an explanation of the spelling of the town's name on the map.[8]

Gene Sylva, a former mayor of the nearby town of Oroville, has stated that the saloon story is false, and that the true etymology of the town's name can be traced to his great-great-grandfather, William Pierce Leonard, who named the town on a summer day in 1864, after a hot and dusty ride from the Sacramento Valley; arriving at his sawmill while the staff were on break, Leonard "took a deep breath of the cool, clean air, and exclaimed, 'boys, this is paradise.'"[8] Sylva's explanation may also be "pleasingly inventive historical fiction", but surmises that the town was probably named for it being a pleasant place to live.[8]