Images of America: California
Series · 576
books · 1999-2015
Books in series
#4
A Monterey Album
Life by the Bay
2003
Resting on the shores of a sparkling, crescent-shaped bay, the city of Monterey is known worldwide for the beauty of its landscape, scenic vistas, verdant hills, and unique architecture. While Monterey has become a luxurious tourist destination, it is the people of Monterey who tell its story most vividly. Drawn to the coastal region from all parts of the world, Monterey's citizens brought with them a diversity of cultures and together created their homes and livelihoods by Monterey Bay. Selected from the photo collections of the Monterey Public Library, the photographs in this new volume, A Monterey Album: Life by the Bay, show the activities of everyday life. From festivals like the Santa Rosalia to family picnics, from artists to fishermen, from children's antics to civic club events, from beaches to hillside neighborhoods, and from weddings to fiestas, Monterey's residents tell their stories in work, play, and celebration. This collection of their cherished memories reveals not only customs, styles, and events, but reflects and illuminates the life of one of California's most historic places.
#5
African Americans in Los Angeles
2010
The notion of Los Angeles as a wonderful place of opportunity contributed to the western migration of thousands of Americans, including African Americans escaping racism and violence in the South. But Los Angeles blacks encountered a white backlash, and the doors of opportunity were closed in the form of housing covenants, job discrimination, and school segregation. African Americans fought for equality, building strength in community and collective identity that became their ongoing Los Angeles legacy. This story, encapsulated here in vintage photographs, encompasses the settlers of African descent, antislavery and antidiscrimination efforts, and their cultural contributions on Central Avenue and in Hollywood. Also shown are important flash points, including the 1965 Watts uprising and the O. J. Simpson murder trial. The story of African Americans in Los Angeles is one of promise, dreams, and opportunity realized through survival, willfulness, and foresight.
#6
African Americans in Vallejo
2012
African Americans have been part of the Vallejo mosaic since 1850, the year of the North Bay city's birth. John Grider, a Tennessee native and former slave who arrived in Vallejo in 1850, was one of the city's earliest residents and a veteran of the California Bear Flag Revolt of 1846. While many 19th-century black pioneers established homes, businesses, and schools, it was during the Great Migration period of 1910-1970s that the bulk of Vallejo's black community took firm root. During this period, black folks from throughout the South—tiny towns and big cities alike, from places like Itasca, Texas; Heidelberg, Mississippi; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Lake Wales, Florida—made their way west searching for war-industry jobs at Mare Island Naval Shipyard and lives relatively free of unrelenting racial discord. African Americans in Vallejo chronicles this proud and oftentimes complicated journey.
#7
African Americans of Monterey County
2015
People of African heritage have traveled to Monterey since the 1770s, when African Spaniard Alexo Nino, a ship's caulker, traveled with Fr. Junipero Serra to Monterey via the San Antonio. For centuries since Nino, black men and women migrated to the Monterey Bay area in search of a new life. In the 20th century, some African Americans established businesses, bought homes, and encouraged family members and friends to settle in Monterey County. Others pursued military careers. Out of these communities came churches, schools, service organizations, and social groups. For the next century, the history of Monterey County's African American communities have mirrored the nation's slow progress toward integration with triumphs and setbacks that have been captured in images of employment opportunities, churches, business successes, and political struggles.
#10
Al Zampa and the Bay Area Bridges
2005
Most of the commuters who daily cross the Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge do not know much about its namesake. Yet Alfred Zampa (1905-2000) lived a remarkable life that touched not only the bridge named in his honor, but many of the other bridges around the Bay Area. An active ironworker from 1925 on, he typified a worker who was hardy and tough, but with the skill to perform extremely precise work under hazardous conditions. He often worked hundreds of feet above the San Francisco Bay with only the spindliest of support, and he fell from the Golden Gate Bridge in 1936. Caught by the safety net, he became a charter member of the ultra-exclusive Halfway to Hell club. Zampa died at the age of 95, six weeks after attending the groundbreaking of his namesake Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge, the only bridge named in honor of a building tradesman.
#11
Alameda
2008
Through its many incarnations, Alameda has never lost its charm and ability to draw people from all walks of life. Originally a peninsula inhabited by Native Americans, it was purchased by Don Luis Peralta in 1818 and developed into a bedroom community of San Francisco. Alameda became an island in 1902, and a short time later, it was a new home to many refugees from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. The Neptune Beach amusement park attracted tourists who enjoyed the bathing, beaches, and rides, making Alameda "the Coney Island of the West." Modern transportation carried people and cargo in and out on ferries, trains, ships, and planes, which landed at the busy Airdrome. The creation of the Naval Air Station in 1938 and World War II made Alameda a military town. The 1990s brought Alameda back to its first purpose, as a small town amongst big cities, its streets lined with graceful Victorians and with a diverse and lively population.
#14
Alameda Naval Air Station
2010
The 56-year history of the Alameda Naval Air Station from 1940 to 1997 was a major military presence in the San Francisco Bay Area. As one of the largest and most important naval air stations in the United States, with a population of 45,000, it occupied 300 buildings to service squadrons and Carrier Air Groups. The large Overhaul and Repair facility operated from 1941 through the jet age, and U.S. Naval Reserve squadrons were added in the postwar years.
#15
Albany
2007
Located directly across San Francisco Bay from the famous Golden Gate, the small city of Albany has a history far larger than its size would suggest. Just one-and-a-half-miles square, the Albany area has been the home of many diverse people and interests. The first inhabitants were the Huchiun Indians, followed by the Peralta family and their vast Rancho San Antonio. The Gold Rush brought new settlers and dynamite manufacturers, an incompatible pairing that could not last. Albany's population swelled after the great 1906 earthquake, when many San Franciscans moved to the East Bay. By the 1920s, new homes built by well-known developers like C. M. MacGregor attracted many more families. During World War II, Albany's population expanded yet again with the influx of shipyard workers housed at Codornices Village, now known as University Village. Albany has evolved to keep pace with modern times but also has maintained much of its small-town, family friendly character, a combination that makes it one of the most soughtafter locations along the East Bay shore.
#19
Alpine County
Bear Valley, Kirkwood, and Markleeville
2005
Alpine County is named for its massive peaks, thrust up from molten earth and scoured by glaciers, reminding European settlers of their own Alps. The Washoe Indians enjoyed this precipitous Eden with over 60 alpine lakes long before famous trailblazer Jedediah Smith, his pack animals dying, made it through these mountains. At first, few settlers ventured here, but a silver strike led hopeful residents to carve out a county, making Silver Mountain, then a town of 3,500, their seat of government. But the silver boom ended, and in 1875 Markleeville took the reins, as
Silver Mountain was by then a ghost town. Although Alpine is now the least populated county in California, thousands come each year to hike, camp, or—following the tradition of famous Snowshoe Thompson—ski at popular Bear Valley and Kirkwood, or visit the delightful village of Markleeville, Grover Hot Springs, and other enchanting lake resorts.
#20
Alviso, San Jose
2006
The old port town of Alviso, nestled in the southernmost point of San Francisco Bay, was busy long before the gold rush. It began in the 1700s as a landing for Mission Santa Clara, where Californios drove oxcarts heavy with cowhides and tallow to load aboard ships bound for New England and Europe. Later immigrants disembarked from paddle-wheel steamers to establish farms and businesses throughout the South Bay. Quicksilver from the New Almaden mines, lumber from the Santa Cruz Mountains, and grains and produce of the Santa Clara Valley all passed over these weathered docks. Several prominent entrepreneurs, including James Lick, got a foothold here, and its yacht harbor, now echoing only the slap of wasteblackened marsh water on mud-bound boats, once drew the likes of Jack London to its colorful saloons, gambling dens, and bordellos.
#21
Amador County
2006
Located in the heart of California's gold country, rural Amador County has retained much of its gold rush?era atmosphere, even as modern times have influenced the populace and the landscape. In the early days, life was quite rugged here, and lumberjacks, hard-rock miners, and railroad men were a common sight. Today much of the community's stunning natural setting remains nearly as sylvan and pristine as it was when the county was incorporated in 1854. Proud of an extensive and colorful history that includes mining, lumber, mountaineering, Native Americans, wine making, agriculture, and railroads, Amador County residents truly enjoy this slowly evolving place they call home.
#24
Anderson Valley
2005
On Anderson Valley's rolling hills, oaks wander out to meet ancient redwood groves. Formed as a string of stage stops on the road from Cloverdale to the coast, each valley town has its own unique story. Boonville began as The Corners at the junction of two roads. When local ladies banished liquor, Boonville's Anytime Saloon had to move out of town. Legend maintains that Yorkville's early settlers Mr. Hiatt and Mr. York played cards to see who would name the town, and the loser got to be postmaster. The rhythmic cough of the old crosscut saw felling trees, the iron clink of sheep shears in spring, and the foreign sound of Boontling—a once secret language—drifted over valley hop fields and sheep ranches, orchards and homes. In recent years, this resplendent valley has attracted wineries and "backlanders"—those seeking refuge from urban life.
#25
Angel Island
2007
Angel Island, in the Town of Tiburon, is a mile-square jewel set in San Francisco Bay that attracts thousands of visitors each year. Few of those who hike, bike, camp, or enjoy the spectacular vistas in this California State Park realize its diverse history. From the Spanish ships that anchored at Ayala Cove in 1775 to the 1960s cold war-era missile silos, Angel Island has endured to become one of the most popular parks in the state. Although many building were demolished, there are still countless reminders of the island's multifaceted evolution, including a quarantine station, army base, and immigration station.
#26
Angels Camp and Copperopolis
2009
The Angels Camp and Copperopolis regions offer a fascinating chapter in the history of the Mother Lode. Calaveras County's southwest corner has many tales to tell, including one of the earliest settlements of the Native American in California; two of the most famous names in Americana, Mark Twain and Black Bart; and two major events in national history, the Gold Rush and the Civil War. An important Gold Rush town, Angels Camp gained even greater fame through Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," which inspired the world-famous Jumping Frog Jubilee. At the same time, Copperopolis became a critical supplier of copper to the Union during the Civil War. Legendary outlaw Black Bart made his first and his last stagecoach holdup here. Ferries and railways served the region that also included the settlements of Hodson, Milton, Felix, Carson Hill, Dogtown, and Lost City.
#27
Annapolis and the Gualala River
2010
Annapolis—a hidden jewel of a community—is tucked into the timber-filled ridges above the jagged northern Sonoma coastline. Undeterred by the steep, mountainous terrain and rugged living, early settlers were first lured to the area by the timber. They quickly discovered Annapolis had perfect weather for apple farming. At the beginning of the 20th century, almost every farm had apples, and apple dryers dotted the hills. The wild Gualala River, known for Coho salmon and steelhead trout, is 32 miles long and flows through the Annapolis area before meeting the Pacific Ocean. Early Native American Pomo tribes settled along this important river, which eventually served as a boundary between Sonoma and Mendocino Counties.
#28
Antioch
2005
When the first settlers arrived here in 1850, they could never have guessed that their tiny settlement would one day be home to over 100,000 souls, scores of factories, and the gateway to the California Delta with some of the most productive agricultural lands in the world. In earlier days, the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers were the main routes into the state's interior, as the swampy delta land had yet to be tamed. Antioch and nearby Pittsburg served as major depots for supplies to the Sierra gold fields, stockpiling lumber, produce, hay, dry goods, medicine, and fuel from the Stewartville, Empire, and Judsonville coal mines. Named in 1851 after the biblical city in Syria, this town served for many years as the Bay Area's easternmost outpost and provided its inhabitants with a bounty both man-made and natural.
#29
Apple Valley
2007
From its earliest days, the entrepreneurs who created Apple Valley found treasure lying beneath its surface of sand. Just two years after gold was discovered in neighboring Holcomb Valley, the Homestead Act of 1862 ushered in a new population to Apple Valley. Max F. Ihmsen, publisher of the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper, moved to the area in 1915 and made his fortune in apple farming. News of his great success spread quickly, enticing a steady migration of Southern California residents to relocate to the nearby desert. The rich and famous, as well as the colorful and inspired, flocked to Apple Valley. Clark Gable, Carol Lombard, Gregory Peck, and Joe Louis all visited area guest ranches. Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Desi Arnaz, and Roy Rogers frequented celebrityrich parties at the Apple Valley Inn. In less than 100 years, Apple Valley earned itself a unique reputation in Hollywood history and became suburban America to many famous residents.
#31
Arcadia
2008
Santa Anita Rancho's famously ambitious and colorful owner, Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin, had established a popular tourist attraction on his productive working ranch by the late 1800s. Baldwin planned to incorporate the section of his ranch known as Arcadia, but opponents feared that he would turn such a city into a "gambling hell and booze pleasure park." However, the vote for city-hood was virtually unanimous, and Baldwin took over as mayor on July 27, 1903. Arcadia flourished as alcohol sales were approved, saloons and gambling halls remained open 24 hours a day, and Baldwin's ranch, racetrack, and Oakwood Hotel became popular with society's elite. After Baldwin's death in 1909, Arcadia's new leaders prohibited the sale of alcohol and steered the city in a less controversial direction. Agriculture, poultry farms, dairies, and land development became staples of the economy, and Arcadia gradually lost its rural simplicity, growing into a sophisticated, bustling city.
#32
Arcata
2004
Arcata, a bright jewel surrounded by the redwood forested hills of northern Humboldt Bay, was once the territory of the Wiyot Indians. The tribe only barely survived massacres and relocation after a town was founded there in 1850, a supply point for gold seekers at nearby mines. That town soon evolved into a center for a thriving lumber industry that fed sawmills and a barrel factory, and dairies that prospered on the pastoral Arcata Bottom. Home to Humboldt State University and the much loved Humboldt Crabs baseball team, Arcata is attracting new businesses, industries, and national attention for its innovative Arcata Marsh public works project.
#33
Arlington
2007
The neighborhood of Arlington, located about five miles southwest of downtown Riverside, was first settled in the 1870s and was later developed as a town site in 1877 by philanthropist Samuel C. Evans and William Sayward. Citrus groves flourished in the area, providing the community with a newfound wealth. Large and gracious homes were built on wide streets lined with beautiful shade trees. Arlington's commercial district at Van Buren Boulevard and Magnolia Avenue expanded to include a bank, chamber of commerce, newspaper, store, church, boardinghouse, and post office with its own Arlington postmark, in use since 1888. In the early 1900s, an electric railway was built down the center of Magnolia Avenue ending at beautiful Chemewa Park with its large trees, dance pavilion, zoo, and polo field. Today Arlington retains much of its neighborhood feeling while undergoing a large-scale redevelopment project for a future retail and commercial district.
#34
Around Anza Valley
2008
The area around Anza Valley, located in the south-central part of Riverside County, California, includes Terwilliger Valley, Garner Valley, Pinyon Flats, and parts of Aguanga, a former Butterfield Overland Stage stop. It is a rugged, high-altitude area formed on the western side of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains. Access into this enclave was always difficult, which subsequently protected the native Cahuilla people from the European influence of early pioneers and explorers until the coming of Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza in 1774. Once settler families were established in the surrounding valleys, close friendships and marriage soon linked them together through their shared economic livelihood of cattle ranching. Until the early 1950s, ranching, dry farming, some mining, hunting, and trapping were the main occupations. Today the area is one of the last undeveloped areas in Southern California and is rich in Native American influence and culture. Around Anza Valley provides an inside view to this rich history and the many changes that have taken place in and around Anza Valley.
#35
Around Boron
2009
In the late 1920s, this high desert area with little water and unproductive soil held no attraction for most people, but the small community of Amargo provided a grocery store, gas station, and of course a saloon for the convenience of tenacious gold and borax prospectors. In 1938, after the large deposit of borax was discovered and mining had begun, a town hall meeting was called and Le Roy Osborne, supervisor of Pacific Coast Borax Company, suggested changing the name from Amargo to Boron. Boron is the fifth element on the periodic table and combines with other nonmetallic minerals to form a family of related minerals called borates; after this was explained to those gathered at the town hall meeting, Boron was unanimously chosen as its new name and the community was forever linked to the borax mining industry.
#37
Around Murphys
2005
Murphys is a bustling little town in the foothills—a town so popular that it won't be little for long. It's a favorite for weekend jaunts, and home to an eclectic group of people attracted by the natural surroundings, laid-back lifestyle, and, increasingly, world-class wineries. Originally named for the trading camp of John and Daniel Murphy, the area became a boomtown during the Gold Rush, and later hosted such notables as Mark Twain, Black Bart, Ulysses S. Grant, and Horatio Alger. Nearby, the majestic stands of redwood at Calaveras Big Trees State Park stand sentinel over the gullies and ranches of this area, which has changed much since the 1800s but still retains its compelling forested beauty.
#39
Arroyo Grande
2009
Located midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the Arroyo Grande Valley was founded during the period of the Mexican land grants. In 1837, the San Manuela Rancho was granted to Francis and Manuela Branch. The rich soils and mild coastal climate created a wonderful location to build a home, grow crops, and raise livestock. While livestock production has diminished, it has been replaced by a growing wine industry and field crops continue to flourish. Arroyo Grande remains one of the most pleasant and safest environments to live and work and maintains much of its historic village commercial area with little change over the past 100 years.
#40
The Arroyo Seco
2008
The Arroyo Seco, Spanish for "dry wash," drains the southwestern San Gabriel Mountains and flows through Pasadena to its confluence with the Los Angeles River. The arroyo's banks became a transportation corridor of trails, railroads, and highways and an enclave for industrialists and artists. For more than a century, its very name evoking more than a stream, it has been a Los Angeles County region overlaying municipalities, eras, and cultures. Eight museums are located in or around the arroyo. Famous attractions included Busch Gardens and Cawston Ostrich Farm, as well as a real-life field of dreams, Jackie Robinson Stadium, and the granddaddy sporting field of them all, the Rose Bowl. The nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory's storied principals used this wide dry wash to launch the forerunners of space probes.
#41
Artesia
1875-1975
2000
This three-generation endeavor started in 1975 when Albert O. Little, known for his dedication to the community as “Mr. Artesia,” began working on two volumes of history: The Artesians: How It Began One Hundred Years Ago and The Artesians: Twenty Years of Incorporation. He gathered photographs and considerable narrative material, hoping that one day he would be able to share his historical knowledge and his love for the city with the rest of the community in a pictorial history. Sadly, while in the process of putting it together, he passed away. Nothing would have made him more proud than to have seen this project be completed and made available to the residents of Artesia. Veronica Little Bloomfield is Albert Little’s daughter, and coauthor Veronica Elizabeth Bloomfield is his granddaughter. Together, they have honored his legacy of love and dedication by going through old pictures, talking about the faces and places that defined Artesia, and compiling these materials into a history. The images and words in this text come from Little’s archives and the many friends and associates he had in this town over the years. Images of ranchos, farming, schools and homes, incorporation and consolidation, and of course, the Artesian wells for which the city was named, document the early agricultural community that was Artesia.
#43
Atwater
2005
The town of Atwater was rich in a different kind of treasure than the gold usually sought by people flocking to California in the 1850s. Named for Marshall D. Atwater, a tenant on several of founder John W. Mitchell's 2,000-acre parcels, the community boasted a mineral-rich alluvial soil that made it an extremely productive agricultural area. When the Central Pacific Railroad came through—thanks to lobbying from Mitchell, along with several strips of free land deeded to the railroad—a switch was laid next to Atwater's warehouse. The train switch and the building became known as Atwater Station, and in time, the town itself bore his name.
#44
Atwater Village
2011
In the shadow of Griffith Park along the Glendale Narrows section of the Los Angeles River sits Atwater Village, a charming slice of Los Angeles nestled amid Silver Lake, Los Feliz, and the city of Glendale. Atwater’s beginnings date to 1868 when W. C. B. Richardson bought the 671-acre Santa Eulalia Rancho. Starting in 1904, the Pacific Electric Red Car offered a convenient commute to downtown Los Angeles, and the Art Tile Company (later Gladding McBean) and Van de Kamps Bakery became key local employers. Stylish homes and bungalows proliferated along the tree-lined streets, built in the Mediterranean, English Tudor, Spanish Colonial Revival, California Craftsman, and Fantasy architectural styles. A library, post office, schools, and churches sprang up along with more than 100 family-owned and corporate enterprises. Nearly 4 miles long and half a mile wide, Atwater evolved as a wholly contained community, prompting residents in 1987 to successfully petition the city to officially add the word Village to its name.
#45
Auburn
2008
Auburn, the county seat of Placer County, was founded during the Gold Rush in 1848. Unlike many such towns in the Mother Lode, Auburn has remained a vibrant and growing town ever since. This city's relevance since the initial influx of gold seekers is due in part to its location at a nexus of transportation routes, both old and new. Halfway between San Francisco and Reno and at an elevation of just over 1,000 feet—above the fog and below the snow—Auburn is a very attractive place to live. Furthermore, it is a place with sincere respect for its roots, as evidenced by its restored old town, preserved courthouse building, and other historic structures throughout town.
#46
Aviators in Early Hollywood
2008
Hollywood's leading aviators were heroic knights of the sky on the screen as well as in real life. These leading aviators performed aerial stunt sequences and acted, plus some wrote and directed motion pictures. Directing giant Cecil B. DeMille was so enthralled with aviation that he owned three airfields. Charlie Chaplin's family airfield also doubled as a motion-picture set. Thomas H. Ince, the famous producer who invented the studio system, owned Ince Airfield, which became the hub of Hollywood aviation. Eternal legends Rudolph Valentino, Oliver Hardy, Harry Houdini, and Mary Pickford performed in aerials. Many aviators gave their lives making motion pictures; three fatalities were incurred for Howard Hughes' great air epic, Hell's Angels. Hughes himself broke records within aircraft and film production. Aviators brought their screen work to life between films through barnstorming. The roaring in 1920s Hollywood was often aviators soaring beyond limits.
#48
Azusa
2007
If Azusa lived up to the reputation aggrandized from the glib assessment that it was the city with everything from A to Z in the U.S.A., no one would want to live anywhere else. Hyperbole aside, many Azusa residents love the place just as it is. This vibrant city grew from a citrus town to a bustling suburb nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Also known as the Canyon City on the banks of the San Gabriel River, Azusa initially was a village of the Gabrieleno tribe before becoming Henry Dalton's Rancho Azusa during rule by Spain and later Mexico, and continued to grow during California's fledgling era of U.S. statehood. Founded by Los Angeles banker Jonathan Sayer Slauson in 1887 as a stop on the Santa Fe Railroad, the city was incorporated in 1898.
#49
Baldwin Park
2011
Known as the "Hub of the San Gabriel Valley" due to its location as the geographic center of the valley, Baldwin Park formerly consisted of cattle-grazing lands for the San Gabriel Mission. Known as Vineland by 1880, and renamed after legendary investor and landowner Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin in 1906, the city incorporated in 1956. Baldwin Park evolved as a diverse community along the San Gabriel River, where Ramona Boulevard and Maine Avenue became major thoroughfares. One of the city's thriving businesses was the very first of the famous In-N-Out Burger stands, opened by Harry and Esther Snyder in 1948, southwest of where Francisquito Avenue passes under Interstate 10. From the area's first schoolhouse at what became North Maine and Los Angeles Avenues through the award-winning adult school of the Baldwin Park Unified School District, pride in education has remained a Baldwin Park constant.
#50
Banning
2005
Comings and goings in Banning often amounted to coming and going. Located in the San Gorgonio Pass between Mt. San Gorgonio and Mt. San Jacinto, the city was once a way station for stagecoach travelers, as well as a midway rest stop for motorists making the trip between Riverside and Palm Springs. The headquarters crews that built the Colorado River Aqueduct made longer stopovers. Gen. George S. Patton Jr. bivouacked his tanks in the deserts east of Banning to train prior to their deployment in North Africa's Sahara to fight the Second World War. But many stayed in Banning, too, and ranched the badlands; grew almonds, peaches, and other crops; built plants to dry the fruit and manufacture plastic goods; and generally stuck around "the pass," making it much more than just a place in the rearview mirror.
#52
Baseball in Orange County
2012
Organized baseball in Orange County began in the late 1880s when community teams began forming among oil well workers. Around 1900, a farm boy from Kansas named Walter Johnson arrived with his family. Soon, the flame-throwing future hall-of-fame pitcher would be dominating games throughout the county as a star for Fullerton Union High School. As the popularity of baseball grew, more teams and leagues formed in Santa Ana, Anaheim, Huntington Beach, and other cities. Connie Mack brought the Philadelphia Athletics to spring train in Orange County in the 1940s. Joe DiMaggio played for his Santa Ana Air Base team after joining the Army. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, and many other legends visited Orange County over the years. Dozens of well-known players grew up here, and many are laid to rest here. In 1966, the California Angels played their first game in Orange County, where they remain today as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The baseball history in Orange County is rich—and surprising.
#58
Beaumont
2007
For years, the plateau cradled between Mount San Gorgonio in the San Bernardino Mountain Range and Mount San Jacinto in the San Jacinto Mountain Range was called Summit, because it was the highest point in the San Gorgonio Pass. The Southern Pacific Railroad built a small red station at that site even before it was a town. A real estate boom followed, and the town's name metamorphosed from Summit to San Gorgonio to Beaumont. A real estate bust occurred in the late 1980s and eventually ebbed, allowing growth to once again rebound. Early years had been synonymous with stagecoach routes that passed through the San Gorgonio Pass, until the railroad became the dominant entity. Beginning with early pioneer families, there was always a strong desire to promote growth, resulting in a thriving community that arose from the meager foundations of a once-small town.
#60
Benicia
2004
A special Bay light falls on beautiful Benicia, on the north shore of the Carquinez Strait. Two U.S. citizens, Robert Semple and Thomas Larkin, bought the land from Mexican Army General Mariano Vallejo for $100 and the promise to name it for Vallejo's wife in 1847. The next year a customer at Von Pfister's Benicia waterfront store let slip the secret of the gold discovery at Sutter's Mill. Benicia's deep water harbor attracted Pacific Mail and Steamship Company, the first major California industry, the famous Matthew Turner shipyards, tanneries, and the Central Pacific Railroad, which made Benicia its transcontinental terminus. State legislators made the town their third state capital in 1853.
#66
Bishop
2011
Located in the stark landscape of Eastern California's Owens Valley, Bishop is situated between two of the highest mountain ranges of the contiguous United States. Native Americans had been in the region since antiquity, and white settlers began to filter in after many battles with the Paiutes and Shoshones. Bishop was named after Sam Bishop, who drove cattle into the area and settled along Bishop Creek. Many more farmers and ranchers followed. To the south, Los Angeles was growing too, tapping the Owens River for a gravity-fed aqueduct for its residents; thus began the Los Angeles-Owens Valley Water Conflict.
#67
Black Artists in Oakland
2007
Oakland's famous and vibrant arts heritage is known throughout the country, but many people are unaware of the extent of this city's contribution to the national stage in terms of music, dance, visual arts, and literature. Black Artists in Oakland celebrates this amazing story over the past half century through vintage images, from the early days of Slim Jenkins' nightclub to the changing styles of Esther's Orbit Room and the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts. More than 200 photographs lift the curtain on many inspiring artists—masters in their chosen aesthetic and neighbors to the community. Among the artists highlighted in these pages are Ruth Beckford, Raymond Saunders, Alice Walker, and E. W. Wainwright.
#68
Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve
2009
From the 1860s to the turn of the 20th century, the Mount Diablo Coal Field was the largest coal-producing region in California and once boasted five thriving communities. With the decline of coal mining some residents turned to ranching. Later rich deposits of sand were mined for glass and foundry use. In 1973, the East Bay Regional Park District acquired the land. Today visitors to Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve, located 45 miles east of San Francisco, can explore miles of trails, tour the Hazel-Atlas silica sand mine, and visit historic Rose Hill Cemetery.
#69
Blythe and the Palo Verde Valley
2005
Located midway between Los Angeles and Phoenix, the Palo Verde Valley enjoys year-round sunshine and mild winter temperatures. In the late 1800s, surveyor O. P. Callaway recognized the valley's potential for flood irrigation from the Colorado River. He enlisted Thomas Blythe of San Francisco to finance the irrigation project. During the early 1900s, as more people settled in the valley, farming became the major industry as the extremes of a great river and a great desert merged into a flourishing greater produce garden. The Palo Verde Valley and its main settlement, Blythe (incorporated in 1916), grew into a thriving cohesive community loved by its year-round inhabitants as well as the "snowbirds" and river folks who come and go. The valley has over 40,000 acres of prime farmland and produces cotton, alfalfa, melons, lettuce, broccoli, onions, and many other fruits and vegetables. The Colorado River provides numerous opportunities for boating, skiing, and fishing.
#71
Bolinas and Stinson Beach
2004
This is the story of two small towns, Bolinas and Stinson Beach, and the body of water that separates and joins them. Although San Francisco's packed urban skyline is visible from its shores, this part of West Marin is isolated in spirit and in fact. For thousands of years the territory of the Coast Miwok Indians, this land became the six-mile-long Briones Mexican land grant, a ranch that lasted less than a decade before being overrun with entrepreneurs, farmers, and failed gold miners. The towns that they built have been visited by earthquake, shipwreck, forest fires, ranchers, rumrunners, bohemians, and the National Park Service, and all of these have shaped their story. While Bolinas maintained its spirit of isolation, removing the road sign that might beckon visitors, Stinson Beach grew from a tent camp for urban refugees to a favorite coastal beach town visited by millions annually.
#72
Bonita
2009
The small rural community of Bonita is nestled in the fertile valley of the Sweetwater River. For over a century, families from nearby San Diego and Chula Vista have built secluded homes on large lots carved from the pioneer ranches that emerged in the 1870s on Rancho de la Nacion. Ulysses S. Grant Jr. and the Marstons and Allens built homes designed by architects such as Irving Gill and William S. Hebbard. They relished the rural equestrian lifestyle of their valley, and resisted the modernization that began after World War II with highways, shopping centers, and subdivisions.
#73
Brentwood
2008
The future Brentwood began to change more than a century ago when 300 wild acres of brushy canyons and rabbit and coyote habitat along with sheep-grazed mesas were contributed to the cause of needy veteran soldiers. Landowners Sen. John P. Jones of Nevada and Arcadia Bandini de Baker turned the land over to the board of managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. The Pacific branch of this national hospice organization opened its doors to patients in 1888. Soon families and staff began to purchase lots and build homes near the gates. Businesses began to open to service the new residents. Through the late 20th century, this western area of the city of Los Angeles became known for beautiful neighborhoods, movie star residents, and a relaxed lifestyle—it became Brentwood.
#76
Brisbane
2009
Beginning with Native American encampments on the slopes and valleys of San Bruno Mountain, through Spanish occupation and Mexican land grants, to today's vibrant suburban community, Brisbane's story is an intriguing one. The town was either named for newspaperman Arthur Brisbane, or for the Australian coastal city of Brisbane, depending on the story. During the Great Depression, many people wanting to escape crowded San Francisco for a simpler, less urban life found it in Brisbane, which began with dairies and ranches and gradually grew up along the hillsides radiating from Visitacion Avenue. Brisbane has always been known for its spirit of independence, and the people here have been able to participate in small-town democracy more fully than in larger cities.
#77
Broadmoor Village
2010
Broadmoor Village, the little community that embodies the American ethic of independence, survives despite neighboring annexations, budget crises, and even Mother Nature. This subdivision was built in San Mateo County by the Stoneson Company just after World War II, targeting returning veterans and their families. Established before Henry Doelger made neighboring Westlake, Westmoor, St. Francis, and other communities since annexed by Daly City, Broadmoor has repeatedly chosen to stay unincorporated and independent. This attitude has shaped Broadmoor through the years to assert its autonomous stature while surrounded by larger cities.
#79
Buellton
2006
The town of Buellton was established in 1920 to provide services for early automobiles traveling up and down the California coast. But before the town was established, a ranch operated by Rufus Thompson Buell was carved out of the vast Rancho de Jonata land grant in the late 1800s. This fascinating collection of images tells the story of the Buell ranch and how a bridge built over the Santa Ynez River in 1917 completed the connection of the coast highway. The book also chronicles the establishment and expansion of Highway 101; the addition of service stations, motor courts, and diners to accommodate the onslaught of post-World War II travelers; and how a small diner, opened in 1924, expanded into a pea soup empire that ultimately outlasted the relocation of a major highway.
#80
Buena Park
2004
Once a part of Rancho Los Coyotes, Buena Park is today home to 80,000 people within its 10 square miles. In 1887, a Chicago grocer, who purchased land for a cattle ranch, was persuaded by the Santa Fe Railroad to found a town instead. But it was the Southern Pacific Railroad that made Buena Park an agricultural railhead. The Lily Creamery was built in 1889, marking the town's first industry. Today Buena Park, a city of residential, commercial, and industrial development, is famous for tourist attractions such as Medieval Times, Movieland Wax Museum, and Knott's Berry Farm.
#82
Building the Caldecott Tunnel
2014
Today, the Caldecott Tunnel connects Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, located in the San Francisco Bay Area. The original two bores of this tunnel opened in 1937, the same year as the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and changed Contra Costa County from an area of small rural communities into one of growing suburbs. But this was not the first tunnel to connect these counties. The Kennedy Tunnel, opened in 1903, was accessed by steep and winding roads and located several hundred feet above today's tunnel. A third bore of the Caldecott Tunnel was opened in 1964 and a long-awaited fourth bore in late 2013. The tunnels have not been without disaster and tragedy over their hundred-plus years of existence, yet they remain an integral part of the commercial, social, and historic fabric of the region.
#84
Byron Hot Springs
2006
Byron Hot Springs is sometimes called the "Carlsbad of the West," after the famed European health spas. The resort hosted the famous, the wealthy, the infirm, and the curious alike during the early 20th century. The 160-acre property, in eastern Contra Costa County near the San Joaquin River, featured three grand hotels designed by renowned San Francisco architect James Reid. Amidst this stylish backdrop were prominent guests in 19th-century finery, early Hollywood royalty, Prohibition entertainments, mineral water "cures" for various ailments, and secret interrogations of World War II POWs (when it was known as "Camp Tracy"). Aside from the hot springs themselves, the resort boasts one of the oldest golf courses in the western United States.
#86
Cabrillo Beach Coastal Park
2009
Located on the edge of one of the largest and busiest ports in the world, the Cabrillo Beach Coastal Park is comprised of several seashore habitats found in Southern California. All are within easy walking distance of each other near the main channel of the Port of Los Angeles. They include a windswept beach and a protected harbor beach separated by one of the largest breakwaters in the world, as well as tide pools, a fishing pier, a man-made mudflat, and coastal cliffs that provide living spaces for coastal marine organisms. The combination of natural and man-made habitats here bordering the San Pedro neighborhood of the huge metropolis of Los Angeles makes this an unusual environment, representative of an urban ocean.
#89
Calaveras Big Trees
2010
Augustus T. Dowd could scarcely believe his eyes when he stumbled upon one of nature's majestic wonders in 1852. Hunting down a wounded bear in the hills above the mining camp of Murphys, Dowd instead found a tree of mammoth proportions. After initial skepticism about the size of these trees, news of Dowd's discovery quickly spread. Local businessmen soon acquired the grove of 100 mammoth trees, or giant sequoia, and built accommodations for travelers. Thus began one of California's earliest tourist attractions in 1853. Dedicated as a California State Park in 1931, Calaveras Big Trees State Park hosts 250,000 annual visitors who come from around the world to marvel at these wondrous giants in their magnificent natural surroundings.
#91
California Cavalry
2014
California was home to the one of the first Native American cavalries and one of the first African American cavalries, commonly known as the Buffalo Soldiers. It was in California where the country saw the last official military cavalry in operation. California Cavalry displays the history of cavalry battalions and regiments, detailing a critical and controversial period and the eventual change from horse to mechanized technology. This book attempts to approach the topic of the cavalry in California both from indigenous and from military perspectives. Geographic regions are expanded beyond California to give context and continuity to the movement of military operations.
#94
California Highway Patrol
2008
The California Highway Patrol has its roots in the early 1920s motorcycle traffic cops employed by counties and cities. The CHP became a separate state entity in 1929 and has grown from the early traffic enforcement role to that of one of the premier law enforcement agencies in the United States. Their responsibilities range from patrolling the freeways and county roads of California to providing security for the state capital and other state buildings to protecting the governor and visiting dignitaries from around the world. The CHP has marshaled its forces to restore and maintain peace in times of war, civil unrest, or natural disasters.
#95
California Lighthouse Life in the 1920s and 1930s
2000
Like giant sentinels standing guard, California's lighthouses keep silent vigils over the turbulent waters of the Pacific. In 1850, Congress appropriated funds to build eight lighthouses on the West Coast, and three years later, construction began on the project. The first lighthouse to become operational on the West Coast was that on Alcatraz Island on June 1, 1854. While the other seven were being completed, Congress authorized funds to construct a second set of eight lighthouses, and by 1930, California boasted 40 light stations. This new photographic history contains over 200 rare and beautiful images featuring lighthouses of the South Coast, San Francisco Bay, and the North Coast, as well as lightships and support facilities.
#96
California State Fair
2010
Starting in San Francisco in 1854, the California State Fair and Exposition began as a vehicle to showcase, encourage, and expand California's agricultural industry. It quickly became an attraction for thousands of residents, both local and from across the state. By 1884, it occupied the largest exhibit hall in the United States. Within 100 years, it became the largest fair in the country by adding horse racing, elaborate exhibits from every county in the state and from around the world, thrill rides, top-flight entertainment, and, of course, the best food. The original goal of the fair was met some 50 years ago, as California remains the nation's top producer of agricultural products.
#97
California State Park Rangers
2009
The first park ranger in the world was appointed in California in 1866. Galen Clark was chosen as "Guardian of Yosemite," at what was then Yosemite State Park, and the concept of rangers to protect and administer America's great nature parks was born. The tradition continued in 1872 with the establishment of the first national park at Yellowstone. From the earliest days, park rangers have been romanticized; they are explorers, outdoorsmen, tree lovers, animal protectors, police officers, nature guides, and park administrators. The park ranger has become an American icon, whose revered image has maintained itself to this very day.
#100
Calistoga
2008
Calistoga is a name unlike that of any other city in America, first uttered by a man who had intended to develop the "beautiful land"—or Tu-la-halusi as the land at the foot of Mount St. Helena was known to the region's native Wappo tribe—into a resort area rivaling that great eastern resort of similar geological character, Saratoga Springs, New York. During a promotional event, the developer, Samuel Brannan, was about to declare that he would make his hot springs resort community the Saratoga of California, when he transposed the names and declared he would make it the Calistoga of Sarafornia—and the town's name was born. The name resonated with locals at the time and has come to represent the pioneer spirit, optimism, and determination of those who would make their way to this secluded region of northern Napa County. Men and women have come in pursuit of their dreams—farming, bottling the local mineral water, and building a community in the spirit of early Calistoga.
#101
Calle Olvera de Los Angeles
2007
El mercado mexicano de Olvera Street y su plaza forman el hogar de la cultura Latina en la regiAA3n de Los Angeles. En este sector de la ciudad donde se realizan muchas fiestas, incluyendo el Cinco de Mayo, todavia se mantienen en pie Avila Adobe, la iglesia de la plaza—La Iglesia de Nuestra SeAAora la Reina de Los Angeles, Pico House, SepAAlveda House y L.A. Firehouse No. 1. El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles fue fundado en 1781. La plaza construida en los aAAos 1820 fue gobernada por dAA(c)cadas por el magnAAnimo Juez AgustAA-n Olvera. Wine Street fue renombrada en su honor despuAA(c)s de su muerte y tomo una dureza de callejAA3n representada en las primeras pelAA-culas de Hollywood. En los aAAos 1920, Christine Sterling hizo una campaAAa para salvar Avila Adobe de una demoliciAA3n y transformar Olvera Street en un destino turAA-stico reconocido internacionalmente, el cual se inaugurAA3 en 1930. Hoy la antigua plaza y las tiendas de Olvera Street, junto con sus restaurantes, museos y vendedores atraen a un millAA3n de personas anualmente bajo el auspicio de El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument.
#103
Cambodians in Long Beach
2008
A relatively new immigrant group in the United States, Cambodians arrived in large numbers only after the 1975 U.S. military withdrawal from Southeast Asia. The region's resulting volatility included Cambodia's overthrow by the brutal Khmer Rouge. The four-year reign of terror by these Communist extremists resulted in the deaths of an estimated two million Cambodians in what has become known as the "killing fields." Many early Cambodian evacuees settled in Long Beach, which today contains the largest concentration of Cambodians in the United States. Later arrivals, survivors of the Khmer Rouge trauma, were drawn to Long Beach by family and friends, jobs, the coastal climate, and access to the Port of Long Beach's Asian imports. Long Beach has since become the political, economic, and cultural center of activities influencing Cambodian culture in the diaspora as well as Cambodia itself.
#105
Camp Mather
2008
Since the 1920s, Camp Mather has beckoned to outdoor enthusiasts to come enjoy restful, carefree times in the Sierra. Bordering Yosemite National Park, Mather was established as a construction camp for laborers building the O'Shaughnessy Dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley. The camp began welcoming San Franciscans after construction was completed and then, as now, offers a welcome respite from city life. Guests stay in employee cabins and swim in the lake near the site of a former sawmill. Horseback riding, hiking, swimming, and three-squares-a-day have long been hallmarks of the Mather experience. From its humble Hog Ranch beginnings through the Mather Station days, Camp Mather has been a cherished spot enjoyed by multiple generations of San Francisco families.
#106
Camp Pendleton
2005
Camp Pendleton was established in 1942 by the Navy Department as the West Coast training facility for the United States Marine Corps. Located in rugged northwest San Diego County, Camp Pendleton quickly became one of the largest training centers for infantry, aviation, and amphibious units and has long been the threshold for Marines embarking to participate in armed conflicts in the Far East and around the globe. From World War II to Operation Iraqi Freedom, Camp Pendleton has served as the backdrop and staging ground for troops, artillery, tanks, and infantry. Named for Maj. Gen. Joseph H. Pendleton, who pioneered Marine activity in San Diego, Camp Pendleton is situated on approximately 250,000 acres on the California coast and its access to land, sea, and air has been instrumental in cross-training Marines. Thousands of Marines have called CamPen home since its inception, including the oldest and most decorated Marine unit, the 1st Marine Division.
#107
Camp Roberts
2005
Camp Roberts, in the Salinas Valley, is one of California's largest military training camps. Named for a heroic World War I tank driver, it took the threat of global war in 1940 to kick-start its construction. Soon Camp Roberts had a capacity to house and train 23,000 men. During the war, almost half a million men trained here. Row upon row of wooden buildings, replete with churches, stores, a hospital, and an amphitheater where A-list stars performed, made it a mobilized city of 45,000 at its peak. In 1946, it became a ghost town overnight. Revived during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, it passed into National Guard control in 1971. However, all branches of the military continue to train here, and the camp has renewed relevance for troops bound for the Middle East.
#109
Campbell
2004
The charming city of Campbell sits amid bustling urban neighbors in California's "Silicon Valley." For many years known as the "Orchard City," Campbell is still very much a small town clinging fiercely to its identity. Benjamin Campbell founded a hay and grain farm on what is now downtown Campbell in 1851. Shrewdly selling off one of his acres for $5 for a railroad depot, Campbell soon subdivided his farm. The resulting town evolved into a rail center for shipping fruit across the continent and around the globe. Campbell Fruit Growers' Union, a large co-operative, sent apricots and prunes to dry yards that were at one time the largest in the world, and canneries like the J.C. Ainsley Packing Company and Geo. E. Hyde & Company became local giants.
#110
Canyon Country
2012
Located in northern Los Angeles County in the Santa Clarita Valley, Canyon Country was once the ancestral home of the Tataviam people, who were the area's first inhabitants as early as 500 ad. The first recorded American resident was Col. Thomas Mitchell, who established the area's first school in 1872 with his wife, Martha. In 1876, when Southern Pacific Railroad president Charles Crocker drove in the golden spike that connected Northern and Southern California at Lang Station, Canyon Country's significance as a crossroads community began. The town also became a section of US Route 6, the longest transcontinental highway. Today, Canyon Country is a blend of old and new, juxtaposing hundred-year-old ranch houses with 21st-century golf courses and providing locations for Hollywood's newest depictions of the Old West.
#111
Canyon Lake
2007
Canyon Lake lies on the western edge of Menifee Valley, between Sun City and Lake Elsinore, and is both a private gated community and an incorporated city with a population approaching 10,000. This is quite a change from 1890 when only one family lived here near Salt Creek and San Jacinto River. In 1882, when the California Southern Railroad began service between Perris and Elsinore, the area was known as Railroad Canyon, but after three washouts, the line was abandoned. The Temescal Water Company later purchased the land and constructed a dam, thus creating Railroad Canyon Lake. The Evans family operated a fishing resort there for 30 years until 1968, when Temescal developed the private community of Canyon Lake. This original weekend retreat is now home to retirees and young families as the area surrounding Canyon Lake is rapidly becoming more urban.
#112
Capitola
2013
School is out and temperatures nudge the triple digits as a great migration begins. Each year, inhabitants of California's sweltering interior valleys journey to the coast. Here, they dash toward the surf and sprawl contentedly in the cool mists of a summer day at the beach in Capitola. Some have made this trip annually all their lives. Parents and grandparents owned or rented cabins on streets named for the stifling cities they had just left, like Stockton, Sacramento, and San Jose. Opening on July 4, 1874, Capitola is "The Oldest Camping Ground on the Pacific Coast." Its visionary owner, German immigrant Frederick Hihn, shaped the grounds in European style, wound up to run as efficiently as a German clock. As the resort progressed from a tent camp into a dignified Victorian retreat by the sea, its character similarly advanced. Incorporating as a city in 1949, Capitola reached its 75th birthday as a tidy village of historic cottages, beach-oriented shops, and esplanade concessions bordering a seasonal lagoon.
#113
Cardiff-by-the-Sea
2009
Cardiff-by-the-Sea is a beautiful Southern California coastal town nestled between the San Elijo Lagoon to the south and rolling hills to the east. Known simply by locals as Cardiff, it was named by Esther M. Cullen, who arrived from Boston in 1910 with her husband, J. Frank Cullen, a man determined to transform the swampy expanse of fertile farmland into a coastal playground and town. During the 1920s, the town evolved quickly into a bustling community with a school district, post office, train station, and water irrigation district. The independent character of today's residents can be gleaned throughout the history of the area, from Cullen's determination to build a town in a region thought to be unsuitable for inhabitation, to the citizens' battle in the 1980s to retain autonomy as the town was incorporated into a larger city. Today Cardiff-by-the-Sea is one of five communities comprising the city of Encinitas and is proud of the small-town atmosphere first cultivated by the pioneering spirit of its early settlers.
#114
Carlsbad
2009
Once a small coastal community known for avocados and flower fields, Carlsbad has grown into a sprawling suburban city, with a small beach-town feel that still maintains ties to its roots. The discovery of its mineral wells in 1885, and the subsequent naming of the city after the famed European spa in Karlsbad, Bohemia, put Carlsbad on the map as a world-class resort destination. Miles of beautiful beaches, and three lagoons located within its boundaries, have shaped Carlsbad into a recreational destination as well. The Flower Fields, with vibrant rows of colorful ranunculus, now serves as a reminder of the past and a link to the future, as shopping and businesses have grown up around them, helping Carlsbad evolve into the diverse, progressive city it is today.
#115
Carmel Valley
2009
From the Ventana Wilderness, the Carmel River descends 36 miles through steep canyons into the spreading Carmel Valley. Rain-gorged in spring, it rushes to the Pacific Ocean at Carmel Bay. In summer, shallow riverbanks welcome deer, mountain lions, and waterfowl. For millennia, native tribes fished along the river, which was discovered in 1602 by Sebastian de Vizcaino. He called the waterway El Rio del Carmelo, describing it as "lined with black poplars and other trees of Castile." Ranches, dairies, and orchards thrived under Spanish, Mexican, and finally American flags. The Carmel River, like the valley it defines, has accommodated native, farmer, resident, and now the vacationer as it flows along through time. Today vineyards, tasting rooms, boutiques, and resorts decorate the rural landscape, beckoning visitors and locals alike.
#116
Carmel-by-the-Sea
2006
A local poet once described Carmel-by-the-Sea, with its haunting pines, fog, and white sand, as our inevitable place. The area had been inhabited for more than 3,000 years when Fr. Junipero Serra chose the site for his mission headquarters in 1771. The romantic name, Carmel-by-the-Sea, was the gift of a group of women real estate developers, later used in advertising lots for brain workers at in-door employment. Many Stanford and UC Berkeley professors, artists, writers, and musicians left a lasting legacy here in their art and in their rejection of largescale commercial development. Although impoverished artists may no longer afford to live here, many residents and millions of sojourners still consider the lovely village packed with galleries and eateries their inevitable place.
#117
Carmel
A History in Architecture
2007
Carmel is a microcosm of California's architectural heritage, sited at one of the most scenic meetings of land and sea in the world. Mission San Carlos Borromeo became a root building for California's first regional building style, the Mission Revival. Carmel City, as it was called in the 1880s, was marketed as a seaside resort for Catholics. Its pine-studded sand dunes survived the imposition of a standard American gridiron street pattern, with a Western, false-front main street, to become Carmel-by-the-Sea. Artists, academics, and writers embraced the arts-and-crafts aesthetic of handcrafted homes built from native materials, informally sited in the landscape. In the mid-1920s, Tudor Revival and Spanish Romantic Revival styles enhanced the storybook quality of the community. Carmel's architectural character is primarily the product of working builders. Its design traditions have been interpreted and modified for modern times by noted architects, building designers, and craftsmen. Individual expression continues as an ongoing aesthetic theme.
#118
Carmichael
2004
The early inhabitants of the Mexican land grant known as Rancho San Juan, sprawling alongside the American River, could never guess that their humble settlement would someday become a bustling and scenic suburb with some of California's most desirable real estate. Yet that is the tale of Carmichael, which evolved from an initial 2,000-acre purchase by founder Daniel W. Carmichael to the busy section of homes and businesses we know today. Showcased in this engaging volume of more than 200 vintage images are many aspects of life in Carmichael, from the wide-open pastures where roadside stands once offered fruits, vegetables, and eggs along today's Fair Oaks Boulevard to the 1920s service stations that sprang up, along with schools, churches, and shopping centers, to serve the burgeoning population of that era. The development of other important aspects of civic life, including road construction, community educational facilities, and shopping centers such as Crestview are explored in these pages as well.
#119
Carpinteria
2007
A small jewel on the map along the coast of southern Santa Barbara County, Carpinteria or Carp has an enduring and endearing idiosyncratic character that suits locals, welcomes visitors, and resists reinvention. Charlie Chaplin was married in Carpinteria, and Charles Lindbergh was an occasional fly-in visitor. The world's fastest human once hailed from Carpinteria, the same place where a single grape arbor consistently delivered 10 tons of grapes annually. Unspoken traditions included upstanding teachers by day using aliases at night to drive in rough-and-tumble jalopy races. The infectious small-town sensibility remains so intact that most Carpinterians don't vacation elsewhere. Many of the vintage photographs in Carpinteria, which were collected from local families and institutions, including the Carpinteria Valley Museum of History, prove that the city's visuals are as spectacular as its history is intriguing.
#120
Carson
2006
Most of the rolling ranchlands between what developed into the cities of Torrance and Long Beach in Los Angeles County's South Bay region were the domain of the Dominguez family's Rancho San Pedro. Among the families that married Dominguez sisters was that of George Henry Carson, whose seven sons and eight daughters helped ingrain the Carson name throughout the region. After World War I, the area prospered, developing its own businesses and identity so that the issue of possible cityhood ended in 1968 with incorporation. The city of Carson has been home to California State University, Dominguez Hills, the Goodyear blimp, oil refineries, industrial parks, track-and-field champions, 1984 Olympic bicycling events, and some of the most extraordinary racial diversity found anywhere, with Latinos, African Americans, and Filipinos each making up more than 20 percent of the total population.
#122
Catalina Island
2004
Throughout its history, the 76-square-mile island of Catalina has played host to Native Americans, smugglers, otter hunters, ranchers, miners, entrepreneurs, vacationers, movie stars, and nature enthusiasts. William Wrigley Jr. (of chewing-gum fame) bought the island in 1919 and later constructed the recognizable casino building, which was never used for gambling but did become one of the best-known ballrooms in America. In the 1970s, the Wrigley family deeded 88 percent of the island to the Catalina Island Conservancy, which protects the natural state of the island and her inhabitants. Today nearly one million tourists visit annually to take in the fishing, parasailing, glass-bottomed tour boating, scuba diving, cycling, camping, galleries, shopping, and dining.
#123
Catalina by Sea
A Transportation History
2006
A fancy flight of lyrics specifies that Santa Catalina Island is "26 miles across the sea." But mapmakers put the distance at 19.7 miles from the closest island point, Doctor's Cove (near Arrow Point), to the closest mainland locale, Point Fermin at San Pedro. Today boats and helicopters operating out of the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Newport Beach, and Dana Point transport musing songwriters and everyone else to Catalina for the song's much-promised "romance, romance, romance, romance," as well as fishing, sightseeing, and gainful employment. But the history of getting to and from the island's ports of Avalon and Two Harbors has been an epic across centuries of business and pleasure, involving a collective flotilla of side-wheelers, yachts, lumber schooners, steamships, water taxis, converted military vessels, crew boats, and today's fast and convenient jet boats.
#125
Cemeteries of San Diego
2007
San Diego has a rich and unique cultural history that can be effectively told through the commemoration of its dead. Local cemeteries throughout the city reflect San Diego's multiethnic cultural dynamism and pinpoint marked shifts in power from Native American to Spanish to Mexican to American governance. They also reveal the current struggle for space in a burgeoning metropolis. Graveyards, with their individually detailed and hauntingly beautiful monuments, offer an unrivaled historic yet continuous glimpse at the essence of this diverse community. The story of San Diego's cemeteries is a telling narrative that offers remarkable insight into the evolution of "America's Finest City."
#126
Cemeteries of San Diego County
2008
From its Native American and mission graveyards to its modern megacemeteries, San Diego County's historical landscape has an incredibly diverse array of final resting places. Cemeteries of San Diego County takes the reader in-depth to reveal the region's dynamic cultural history through dramatic modern photographs and never-before-seen vintage images of the county's most sacred spaces—its lost and forgotten historical burial grounds. A number of these graveyards have disappeared entirely, erasing the last vestiges of too many of the region's formative pioneers. This book uncovers the location of dozens of local cemeteries and reestablishes them as consecrated grounds.
#127
Cemeteries of Santa Clara
2005
Strolling through Santa Clara's historic cemeteries, you will find architectural treasures, thoughtful or cryptic verses carved in stone, and monuments everywhere that resist and challenge the ceaseless waves of time and change. Santa Clara Mission Cemetery and Mission City Memorial Park were both founded before the city itself. Santa Clara Mission Cemetery was established by the Jesuit fathers along with Santa Clara College in 1851. Many pioneers are interred
here, and beneath the Varsi Chapel floor lies what may be the oldest mausoleum in the valley. Mission City Memorial Park, known simply as the graveyard when it was founded in 1850, once doubled as a dump and a refuge for stray farm animals. It is now a beautifully landscaped, 30-acre cemetery memorializing valley residents of the past 150 years.
#128
Cemeteries of the Eastern Sierra
2007
California's Eastern Sierra region, encompassing Inyo and Mono Counties, is a paradise of striking contrasts and beauty. Early settlers came to this area—now known chiefly for recreational activities such as fishing, hiking, and skiing—for its mining and agricultural prospects. Towns like Bodie, Lundy, and Keeler rose with the promise of quick riches but failed when the promise dimmed. Throughout this unique landscape are sprinkled the poignant resting places of early pioneers. Reflecting the diversity of the natural setting, the area's cemeteries range from the Mono County Cemetery overlooking Mono Lake to the overgrown cemetery at the Civil War-era Fort Independence to the garden cemeteries of Bishop. The monuments in these cemeteries, along with the beautiful country that surrounds them, honor the men and women who once carved lives out of this rugged wilderness.
#130
Centerville, Fremont
2011
The tale of Centerville, Fremont—part of the sprawling landscape of the southeast San Francisco Bay—begins with near forgotten histories such as the once sprawling grandeur of the Alviso rancho and the California 100, a battalion raised in Centerville for the Civil War. Centerville celebrates a sporting-mad past, centrally located on the "Way to San Jose" from Oakland on the long, straight stretch once famed for horse and then bicycle racing and later as a motor-touring destination on the early Route 17. By the 1890s, Centerville was home to Washington Union High School and the Centerville Athletic Club and began collecting trophies in football, rugby, baseball, and other sports. Fabled athletes of later eras include Wimbledon tennis queen Helen Wills Moody, football coach Bill Walsh, and hall of fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley.
#131
Central Americans in Los Angeles
2010
The second-largest Latino-immigrant group in Los Angeles after Mexicans, Central Americans have become a remarkable presence in city neighborhoods, with colorful festivals, flags adorning cars, community organizations, as well as vibrant ethnic businesses. The people from Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama living in Los Angeles share many cultural and historical commonalities, such as language, politics, religion, and perilous migratory paths as well as future challenges. The distinctions are also evident as ethnicities, music, and food create a healthy diversity throughout residential locations in Los Angeles. During the 1980s and 1990s, an unprecedented number of new Central Americans arrived in this cosmopolitan city, many for economic reasons while others were escaping political turmoil in their native countries. Today they are part of the ethnic layers that shape the local population. Central Americans have embraced Los Angeles as home and, in doing so, transported their rich heritage and customs to the streets of this multicultural metropolis.
#132
Ceres
2010
Fertile soil drew Ceres founder Daniel Whitmore to the flat land south of the Tuolumne River in California's San Joaquin Valley in 1867. Named for the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres was laid out in 1875 among the stalks of grain. A devout Baptist, Whitmore offered free lots to anyone who wanted to make Ceres their home with a pledge never to use alcohol. As irrigation water and railroad tracks were later introduced, the town flourished as an agricultural community where peaches, almonds, and walnuts are grown. Today Ceres has retained its agricultural roots, and drinking is now permissible. In fact, one of the nation's largest wine producers, Bronco Winery, calls Ceres home. Residents come together as a community with the Ceres Street Faire, summer Concerts in the Park, Farmers Market and the dazzling Christmas Tree Lane.
#134
Cherry Valley
2008
Nestled in one of Southern California's deep mountain passes, Cherry Valley has long been heralded for its pastoral beauty. The Cahuilla Indians were the first to inhabit the area, followed by Gold Rush settlers. In 1853, Dr. Isaac Smith built the first ranch here, which was later used by the Butterfield Overland Stage as a stop between San Bernardino and Yuma, Arizona. Smith's Station, as the ranch was known, became an important link for passenger and mail service between Southern California and the rest of the nation, slowly developing into a successful hotel and eventually a resort. The valley was named for its abundance of cherry trees, and in 1914, the community celebrated its first cherry festival, a tradition that continues today. Cherry Valley residents are particularly proud of their community and are dedicated in maintaining the rural residential and agricultural lifestyle they so dearly cherish.
#135
Chico
2005
Over time, the land of the Mechoopda Indians, where elk herds grazed on blue-stemmed grass, became Rancho Arroyo Chico, the land chosen by California pioneer John Bidwell for his stately creekside mansion. Bidwell later founded the town of Chico with its wooden plank sidewalks and iron-front and brick commercial buildings. Today Chico is a dynamic modern city with its own California State University, a wide, tree-lined Esplanade, and—thanks to the legacy of Annie Bidwell—the eighth-largest municipal park in the nation.
#136
Chinatown in Los Angeles
2009
The history of Chinatown in Los Angeles is as vibrant as the city itself. In 1850, the U.S. Census recorded only two Chinese men in Los Angeles who worked as domestic servants. During the second half of the 19th century, a Chinese settlement developed around the present-day El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument. Chinese Americans persevered against violence, racism, housing discrimination, exclusion laws, unfair taxation, and physical displacement to create better lives for future generations. When Old Chinatown was demolished to make way for Union Station, community leader Peter SooHoo Sr. and other Chinese Americans spearheaded the effort to build New Chinatown with the open-air Central Plaza. Unlike other Chinese enclaves in the United States, New Chinatown was owned and planned from its inception by Chinese Americans. New Chinatown celebrated its grand opening with dignitaries, celebrities, community members, and a dedication by California governor Frank Merriam on June 25, 1938.
#137
The Chinese Community of Stockton
2002
Stockton, referred to as Sam Fow by its Chinese community, was the third largest metropolitan area leading to the goldfields of California at the turn of the 20th century. The Chinese immigrants came from Kwangtung, China, to find their fortune, and instead found a series of restrictive laws aimed at keeping them from participating in the development of the burgeoning frontier town. Their story is here, in over 200 vintage images of community life and resilience.Despite legislation such as the Foreign Miners' taxes and the California Alien Land Act, and most recently the construction of the Crosstown Freeway combined with the redevelopment project that disseminated the heart of Chinatown, the Chinese of this area were major contributors to California and Stockton's economy. They have maintained a balance between their heritage of familial and religious obligations and western education and activities. Included are photographs dating from the late 1920s of traditional Chinese associations and more recent community activities. These images showcase once thriving businesses, educational and religious efforts, and familial milestones.
#138
Chinese in Hollywood
2013
Hollywood has long exerted an international influence on the global imagination. In the first half of the 20th century, Chinese American actors who aspired to a career in Hollywood found their opportunities limited to roles that propagated Asian stereotypes. Meanwhile, many Chinese roles were given to non-Asian actors playing yellowface. It has been a long, hard road for Chinese in Hollywood who have striven to build meaningful careers behind and in front of the camera. This book focuses on the contributions of Chinese and Chinese Americans to the film and television industries as well as those who lived and worked in the Hollywood area. Vintage photographs celebrate pioneers such as Anna May Wong, Tyrus Wong, Milton Quon, James Wong Howe, and many more. From the silent film era to the present, the history of Chinese in Hollywood will surpass 100 years.
#139
Chinese in Mendocino County
2009
Mendocino County's name comes from the Native Americans who resided seasonally on the coast. The county is known as a scenic destination for its panoramic views of the sea, parks, wineries, and open space. Less well known are the diverse cultural groups who were responsible for building the county of Mendocino. The Chinese were instrumental in the county's development in the 1800s, but little has been written documenting their contribution to local history. Various museums throughout the region tell only fragments of their story. Outside of the over-100-year-old Taoist Temple of Kwan Tai in the village of Mendocino, which is well documented, this volume will become the first broad history of the Chinese in Mendocino County.
#140
Chinese in San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley
2007
The fertile Santa Clara Valley—once called the Valley of Heart's Delight and later Silicon Valley—has long been home to a substantial Chinese population. Like other immigrants, they arrived seeking opportunity and armed with survival instincts and the ability to persevere, but the struggles they faced were unique. From 1866 to 1931, five distinct Chinatowns existed in San Jose, each one devastated by mysterious fires or stifled by unjust laws. Early Chinese in the region labored relentlessly, building railroads and levees and toiling as laundrymen, grocers, cooks, servants, field hands, and factory workers. In the 20th century, new industries replaced agriculture, and an influx of Chinese invigorated the valley with innovative ideas, helping it emerge as a leader in technology.
#141
Chino
2011
Chino Valley was once part of the immense Rancho Santa Ana del Chino grant conferred in 1841 to Don Antonio Lugo, the former alcalde of Los Angeles. Forty years later, a portion of the rancho was sold to Richard Gird, an American entrepreneur and prospector from Tombstone, Arizona. With characteristic Yankee ingenuity, Gird increased his holdings to nearly 50,000 acres in a short period of time, planned and developed the present-day city of Chino, and transformed the valley into an agricultural empire based on sugar beet production. Chino later emerged as the center for the California dairy industry, evolved into a suburban weekend refuge for pleasure-seeking Los Angelenos, and continues today as a desirable community for growing businesses and comfortable living.
#142
Chula Vista
2008
In 1868, Frank Kimball and his brothers purchased a 26,000-acre Mexican land grant rancho in the San Diego area. The area comprised the present-day communities of National City, Bonita, and the western half of Chula Vista. Kimball developed National City first and secured a branch of the Santa Fe Railway. The railroad company financed the building of nearby Sweetwater Dam, thus allowing the development of Chula Vista in 1888 as a planned agricultural community. Chula Vista remained as planned until World War II when the arrival of Rohr Aircraft Corporation caused a population boom that would continue even after the war, creating the desirable "bedroom community" that Chula Vista is today.
#144
Citrus Heights
2011
Citrus Heights, while only recently incorporated, is a town with roots that go back 150 years. Fields of lavish, green grass and groves of beautiful oak trees greeted earlier settlers, who saw fertile land for farming and sustaining growing families. With early residents' insights for agricultural use and development of roads, schools, and places of worship, Citrus Heights has grown from a farming settlement to a modern suburb and a favorite place for families to thrive in Sacramento County.
#146
Clayton
2006
Today's Clayton is an elegant, relaxing place, an oasis of calm isolated from the rest of fast-paced Contra Costa County. This place exists because of the vision of founder Joel Clayton, who was born in Bugsworth, England, in 1812. Clayton made his way to the United States, where he became an entrepreneur and land developer in the East before moving with his family to California, where he envisioned and then built an agricultural and mining center in these rolling hills in 1857. The miners and farmers here worked the land to serve the rapidly developing urban civilization in the Bay Area, which before long reached the little village. Gradually the farms and mining camps gave way to country estates and, later, to the sylvan community we know today.
#147
Cleveland National Forest
2008
On July 1, 1908, Pres. Theodore Roosevelt created the U.S. Forest Service's Cleveland National Forest. Named for pro-forest Pres. Grover Cleveland—and currently including over 460,000 acres in the mountainous backcountry of San Diego, Orange, and southwestern Riverside Counties—the Cleveland is one of the largest and oldest land-management agencies in the three-county region. During the last century, the dedicated men and women of the Cleveland have worked to establish the administrative systems, build necessary facilities and infrastructure, manage use and users, conserve resources, and protect the forest from the endemic and sometimes large and deadly wildfires, such as the infamous and destructive 2003 Cedar Fire and the October 2007 Southern California firestorms. Today the Cleveland National Forest continues to be a major tourist and outdoor recreation destination for hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, as well as for millions of Southern California residents.
#148
Cloverdale
2008
Cloverdale lies nestled among forested hills and colorful vineyards at the north end of Sonoma County's famed Alexander Valley. Originally inhabited by the Makahmo Pomo with white settlers beginning to arrive in the 1850s, the town later became known as "The Orange City" because of its flourishing groves of citrus. In the latter years of the 19th century, Cloverdale welcomed trainloads of visitors arriving to enjoy its signature event, the annual Citrus Fair, to relax at Russian River resorts or to experience the geothermal wonders of The Geysers. During the same period, unique communities developed outside of town—a religious colony around a charismatic healer, a utopian community of French socialists, and an agricultural settlement of Italian immigrants that became the unparalleled Italian Swiss Colony winemaking enterprise. Over the years, Cloverdale has been a farm town, a regional transportation hub, a stopping point for Redwood Highway travelers, and a thriving lumber town. More recently, Cloverdale has been refashioning itself into a distinctive tourist destination while retaining its identity as a friendly hometown.
#149
Clovis
2011
In the late 1800s, Clovis M. Cole purchased large tracts of land in California's San Joaquin Valley with the intent to farm wheat. Marcus Pollasky, a businessman from the East with a keen eye for a profit, proposed building a railroad that would bring more people and gains to the area. The two struck a deal. Cole sold key landholdings to Pollasky, and the town was given Cole's first name. Businesses grew along Front Street, and families purchased nearby 20-acre parcels where they built homes and grew abundant crops. Living in Clovis became a way of life as dedication to family, friends, and community defined the area.
#153
Colma
2007
The official slogan of this quaint and curious town proclaims, "It's great to be alive in Colma " In no other city in the United States would such a slogan have the meaning that it does here. Colma, only 2.25 square miles, has 1,500 living residents but more than a thousand times that in its deceased population. Seventeen cemeteries cover 75 percent of Colma's land. There is, however, more to Colma—formerly named Lawndale—than its cemeteries and monuments. A vibrant community, it boasts a rich history, including agricultural and business history, sports teams, schools, a theatre, and drayage businesses. Together, these components comprise a unique and important town and a critical part of San Mateo County's heritage.
#155
Colton
2004
Take a train to Southern California, and you'll pass through Colton. Once the home of Gabrielino and Serrano Indians, Colton is now known as the "Hub City," the only place in the United States where the Union Pacific and the Burlington, Northern & Santa Fe railroads cross. Westward-bound rail passengers travel through the horseshoe-shaped valley along the same trails that served Spanish explorers journeying from Mexico to Monterey in the 1770s. The valley's early settlers made use of the rich soil and ready transportation, cultivating fruit trees and shipping their harvest north and east. Legendary figures have also roamed Colton's streets, including the famous Tombstone gunslingers Wyatt Earp and his brother Virgil, who was Colton's first marshal, and their father, Nicholas, who served as a justice of the peace and city recorder. Over the 150 years of the community's history, many have passed through Colton, and all have left their mark on this classically Californian town.
#156
Columbia
2005
Columbia started life in 1850 when Dr. Thaddeus Hildreth and his brother set up the camp known as Hildreth's Diggins in the lovely Sierra foothills. More than 150 tumultuous years later, Columbia is an amazing example of a true gold rush community frozen in time. But this is no ghost town either—the downtown area, with its plank sidewalks, ornate hotels, and saloons, is preserved as a California State Historic Park. The town today is a living, breathing, modern community at peace with both its past and its present. It's easy to imagine characters from the Old West swaggering through these streets, which served as the backdrop to Gary Cooper's Marshall Will Kane in High Noon. Of course, given Columbia's frequent historical reenactments, one doesn't have to think too hard to conjure such imagery.
#157
Community Hospital of San Bernardino
2009
Dr. William Henry Mills, fellow in the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians in London, arrived in San Bernardino, California in February 1903. Recruited by Dr. George Rowell as a medical partner, Dr. Mills quickly realized that surgical facilities in San Bernardino were woefully inadequate. Determined to improve medical care, in 1906 Mills converted an old wooden residence at the corner of Fourth and F Streets into the Marlborough Hospital. In 1909, with the need for additional space acute, Dr. Mills approached his friend, attorney Ralph Swing, for funding to purchase land at the site of an old adobe saloon located at the corner of Fourth Street and Arrowhead Avenue. In March of 1909, Swing and Mills purchased the land and began construction of a two-story stucco hospital building with beds for 42 patients and a modern operating room. Ramona Hospital, later renamed Community Hospital, opened its doors in February 1910 and has operated continuously, providing state-of-the-art medical care for area residents.
#159
Concord
2009
Located in central Contra Costa County in the shadow of Mount Diablo, the land that includes Concord was originally a Mexican land grant given to Don Salvio Pacheco in 1834. The original Mexican land grant families of Concord were quickly supplanted by American settlers during the Gold Rush in the 1840s and 1850s. The original Spanish name for the town, Todos Santos, was changed to Concord by the American settlers and their local newspaper, against the wishes of the Pacheco family. The name stuck, and the town became Concord in 1869. Now a town of over 120,000 people, Concord's development is a true American story of Native Americans, Spanish explorers, Mexican Californios, and settlers from across the country and around the world.
#160
Conejo Valley
2010
The amorphous Conejo Valley today encompasses the southeastern portion of Ventura County in and around Thousand Oaks, including Newbury Park and Lake Sherwood, near where the I-101 exits Los Angeles County at Westlake Village on its way west and north. Human history in the Conejo Valley dates back to the hunting and gathering days of the Chumash Native Americans. The short Spanish and Mexican periods added a few adobe buildings, erected for respites taken by vaqueros and later cattle rustlers on these rolling grasslands north of the coastal Santa Monica Mountains. In the 19th century, a grand hotel was constructed, and a stage route was established. Grain farmers tried to tame the thirsty hills of the Conejo Valley before the arrival of scenic neighborhoods and malls after World War II.
#161
Consolidated Aircraft Corporation
2008
Founded by Reuben H. Fleet in 1923, Consolidated Aircraft Corporation (later Convair) became one of the most significant aircraft manufacturers in American history. For roughly 60 years, this prolific company was synonymous with San Diego. In fact, whole sections of the city were designed to provide homes for the Convair workers and their families. These men and women were responsible for building some of the most significant aircraft in aviation history, including the PBY Catalina, B-24 Liberator, F-102 Delta Dagger, as well as the reliable Atlas missile, which was vital in launching America into space. To this day, more than a decade after the company passed from the San Diego scene, tens of thousands of San Diegans still celebrate a seminal connection with Reuben Fleet, his company, and his popular slogan, “Nothing short of right is right.”
#162
Corona
2005
Several times in the late 20th century, Corona was cited as the fastest-growing city in California, doubling and tripling its former sleepy-town size of around 25,000 in the 1970s to 150,000 in a matter of just decades. Corona has come a long way from its former offshoot identity as South Riverside in the late 19th century. Incorporated as Corona in 1896, it
survived as a dry-farming community until the arrival of citrus crops. Its status as a way station for travelers between Los Angeles and the outlying desert communities was dramatically altered in the mid-1910s when it became an internationally recognized road-racing draw for the likes of Barney Oldfield and other great speedsters of the day. As a
bedroom community today for workers in Orange and Los Angeles Counties, it is virtually a prototype of Southern California suburban growth.
#163
Coronado
2011
During the 1880s, a great land boom was sweeping California. Two visionary entrepreneurs, Elisha Babcock and H. L. Story, imagined Coronado as a resort and brought their dream to reality by luring the wealthy and famous to their exclusive red-roofed hotel on the beach. John D. Spreckels continued to build upon that dream, leaving a legacy through his many gifts to the city. The U.S. Navy has played a prominent role in Coronado's development, with North Island officially known as the birthplace of naval aviation, and later, with U.S. Navy SEALs stationed at Naval Amphibious Base. Coronado and North Island are surrounded by water and only accessible by the peninsular Silver Strand and the iconic Coronado-San Diego Bay Bridge. This creates a small town atmosphere with a unique combination of cosmopolitan beach resort and navy town, rich in history.
#165
Cotati
2004
The town of Cotati, once the Coast Miwok village of Kot'ati, was by 1850 a 17,000-acre diamond-shaped ranch set in the center of Sonoma County's golden fields. Dr. Thomas Stokes Page and his heirs ran that ranch until the 1890s, when they laid out a town and a distinctive hexagonal plaza with streets named after Dr. Page's sons. That wheel-like plaza earned centrally located Cotati the title, "Hub of Sonoma County." For many years Cotati was the gathering place for hundreds of hardworking chicken ranchers, who bought up small farms in the surrounding countryside, but it was transformed in the 1970s into a hippie haven fed by nearby Sonoma State University. Old chicken houses then became student housing and the Plaza hub that was the setting for traditional community festivals became a vibrating stage for dancing and demonstrations. Cotati's famous downtown nightclub, the Inn of the Beginning, was the proving ground for many now-famous musicians, including John Lee Hooker, Huey Lewis, Vince Guaraldi, Roseanne Cash, and Kate Wolf.
#167
Covina Valley Citrus Industry
2011
Drawn by the California dream of golden sunshine and promise, many settlers came to the Covina Valley, where, after clearing the rocks, sagebrush, and cactus, they found rich alluvial soil. With the addition of water, everything grew in abundance. Citrus gradually became the best cash crop. This is the story of the men and women who made the citrus industry work in and around Covina, how they founded towns and eventually planted 25,000 acres of oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits. They endured droughts, floods, freezes, insect invasions, and unscrupulous buyers who almost ruined them financially. Together they developed water resources and the first stockholder-owned citrus cooperative, and brought railroads, transforming the Covina Valley into a major citrus producing and processing center.
#168
Crescent City and del Norte County
2006
The rugged coastline and wild rivers of Del Norte County were once home to the Yurok and Tolowa Indians, who built their dwellings with planks cut from virgin redwood. The Klamath River was an early supply route to the gold mines, but its treacherous waters were soon abandoned in favor of the ocean port at Crescent City. Although its lighthouse guided many heavily laden ships to safe harbor, famous shipwrecks still lie off Del Norte’s rocky coast. Pack mule teams streamed east, bound for mining camps, and ranches in the Smith River and Elk Valleys developed to supply them. River salmon became a major industry, and later the ocean’s bounty supported fishermen. Redwood groves fed a thriving timber industry for over a century. Never lacking in drama, Del Norte’s history includes a U.S. oil tanker sunk by a Japanese submarine in 1941 and, in 1964, a tsunami that swept through Crescent City, destroying almost all of its downtown.
#169
Crestline
2005
Before the word "resort" was applied to them, all the communities of the San Bernardino Mountains boasted a wild and woolly lumberjack lifestyle. But soon, efforts to take advantage of the clean air, alpine vistas, and winter snows of this region—just a few hours away from Los Angeles—led to a new kind of development. The town of Crestline, while possessing striking scenery, was also essential in the creation of Lake Arrowhead as the staging area for cement and supplies arriving to build Lake Arrowhead's dam. An outpost in the heart of the San Bernardino National Forest, today's Crestline is a year-round resort and residential community near the popular Lake Gregory, built during the Depression and now part of a county regional park.
#170
Crockett
2004
The small town of Crockett rests on the shore of the Carquinez Strait, a narrow shipping waterway running from San Francisco Bay into the Sacramento Delta region. Crockett's early history was heavily influenced by the shipping industry, and the shoreline was filled with warehouses and wharves. Twin cantilever bridges across the Carquinez Strait at Crockett distinguish the town's skyline from other ports in the area. A third span was recently added across the strait and named in honor of Crockett native Alfred Zampa. Much of Crockett's identity has been associated with the C&H sugar refinery, and for more than 50 years, Crockett was a devoted company town.
#172
Daly City
2003
Nestled in the shadow of San Bruno Mountain and known as "The Gateway City" for its proximity to San Francisco, Daly City is much more than a typical suburb. A thriving and diverse community built along El Camino Real (The King's Highway), the road that connected all of the Spanish Missions in California, the city has evolved from a quaint agricultural town to an important business, residential, and transit center. This new collection of images, mostly vintage and rarely seen photographs, tells the city's journey from the original Spanish land grant through its 1911 incorporation and on to modern times. The town has always been cosmopolitan, developed with the help of Irish, German, and Italian settlers, and today's large numbers of Hispanic and Filipino residents. Aside from natural wonders like San Bruno Mountain and the dramatic Pacific coastline, Daly City also has man-made landmarks like the Cow Palace, which has long been host to large-scale events such as the Grand National Rodeo and political conventions. Nearby Colma is known for its cemeteries, but as readers will see in this book, shares a surprisingly rich history with Daly City.
#173
Dana Point
2007
For two centuries before it was sculpted into a modern marina, the curve of the Pacific coast that is now Dana Point Harbor was a natural anchorage within Capistrano Bay for winddependent trading ships. Boston sailor Richard Henry Dana arrived on one and later described the site as "the only romantic spot in California" in his 1840 classic, Two Years Before the Mast. Situated halfway between San Diego and Los Angeles, Dana Point's rugged coves attracted mainly fishermen and surfers. Then in the 1920s, the marine terraces above the surf were carved into streets, but the community's development was stilled by the national financial crash of 1929. Now Dana Point has matured into a popular recreation and resort port, as well as a thriving residential city, while much of the natural beauty that inspired namesake Dana has been preserved.
#174
Davis
1910s-1940s
2000
Founded in 1868, Davis 's history is divided into an initial "village " period (1860s -1900s), a middle four-decade "town " period (1910s -1940s), and a current and on-going "city " period (1950s to present). Much of what people think of as quintessential "Davis " was created in the middle, town period. About 1910 and with the start of the University of California experimental farm, Davis began to grow and become a striving and thriving town. Focusing on the four decades of the 1910s to the 1940s, this book contains over two hundred images of Davis, including downtown streetscapes and businesses, public events and gatherings, prominent families and homes, churches, government, the Old East, Old North, and College Park neighborhoods, schools, and the University Farm.
#175
Death Valley
2008
Death Valley, its harsh and rugged landscape established a national monument in 1933 and named a national park in 1994, has long held a fascination for visitors, even before it became tourist friendly. Shortly after the first visit of nonnative inhabitants, a party of forty-niners looking for a shortcut to the goldfields of California crossed this land with tragic results, inadvertently giving the valley its moniker. Despite the immense suffering in their midst, prospectors began exploring the area looking for mineral wealth. Boomtowns formed, prospered, and died all within a few years, most disappearing completely into the desert. Adding to Death Valley's mystique was the shameless self-promotion of Death Valley Scotty, which lasted for a period spanning more than 50 years.
#176
Del Mar Fairgrounds
2008
The Del Mar Fairgrounds—which hosts the county's annual fair and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club—unites local communities in an arena that attracts worldwide attention. The stunning beauties who were crowned Fairest of the Fair and the smoldering good looks of Tommy Hernandez as Don Diego symbolized the hospitality of the San Diego County Fair, whose historic roots began humbly in the genteel port town of National City, just 10 miles north of the Mexican border. That 1880 inaugural autumn fair, initiated by developer Frank A. Kimball, showcased citrus, agriculture, and horses. Today the 22nd District Agricultural Association hosts the summer fair, which features international superstars, flower shows, livestock contests, exhibits, sports events, carnival rides, and its famed fast food, together with the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's racing meet, which has helped make the city of Del Mar a star-studded world-class destination with a colorful history.
#177
Delano Area
1930-2000
2000
Delano's roots were firmly established in 1873 with the construction of the Southern Pacific Railroad. However, with the building of the Friant-Kern Canal System through the Southern Joaquin Valley and the promise of a continued water supply for the area's populace and crops, the city's continued growth was ensured. Dorothy Kasiner takes the reader through a photographic tour of this historic town, highlighting its achievements and pioneering spirit.The abundance of water prompted local agriculture to erupt into a multi-million-dollar business, and the influences were felt in the towns surrounding Delano, including Richgrove, Earlimart, and Terra Bella. This collection of photographs portrays the early days of the area, including the part played by the Delano Airport in the defense of the Pacific Coast during World War II, the effects of the 1952 earthquake, and the region's most controversial agricultural labor strike.
#178
Delano Area
1776-1930
1999
Delano's roots began when the first white man came into contact with the Yokuts of the San Joaquin Valley. Further development came as the Southern Pacific Railroad attempted to connect San Francisco with Bakersfield and the rails east. At the end of the track, Delano became a boom town overnight, a shipping center for sheep, cattle, and gold. This collection illustrates the Delano area's history from 1776 to 1930, touching on an 1891 train robbery by the famous outlaws, the Dalton brothers, introducing the reader to the Jack Rabbit King of Kern County, and exploring the kindling pioneer spirit of men and women struggling against the elements to build a life out of the wilderness surrounding Delano. Small neighboring settlements that were influential in Delano's growth and development are also featured here, including Famosa, McFarland, Pond, Alpaugh, Pixley, Terra Bella, Columbine, Richgrove, Ducor, Earlimart, Jasmine, Allensworth, Rag Gulch, California Hot Springs, and Woody.
#180
Desert Hot Springs
2014
Cabot Yerxa's discovery of natural hot and cold mineral water in 1914 was the impetus for the establishment of Desert Hot Springs. His eccentric pueblo-style home, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is a unique tourist attraction. L.W. Coffee also recognized the value of the hot water, so he drilled wells and opened his famous bathhouse in 1941. The development of more than 200 spas followed. Angel View Children's Hospital, established in the 1950s, uses the therapeutic water to treat disabled children. The city's extraordinary, pure cold water wins awards such as "best tasting in the world." Desert Hot Springs is the location of architect John Lautner's first desert commission, and Mary Pickford's house still stands at the famous B-Bar-H Ranch that was frequented by movie stars during the 1940s and 1950s. The historic Two Bunch Palms Resort and Spa is known as an exclusive celebrity hideaway. The city, believed to have an unusually strong vortex, is located just south of Joshua Tree National Park. An elevation of 1,200 feet affords most residents magnificent views of both Mount San Jacinto and Mount San Gorgonio.
#183
Dixon
2005
The charming town of Dixon lies on the pastoral plains of Solano County. Its history stretches back to the 1850s and a settlement called Silveyville, where Elijah Silvey guided in pony express riders and stagecoaches with a red lantern swung from the porch of his hotel. When the California Pacific Railroad bypassed their young town to build a depot on Thomas Dickson's ranch, the cooperative citizens of Silveyville opted to move their buildings four miles to the station on log rollers, pulled by gangs of men and 40-mule teams. Legend has it that the first train schedules arrived with the name misspelled as "Dixon," but Thomas Dickson agreeably went along with the change. Now a town of almost 18,000, it is home to the Dixon May Fair, the oldest fair in the state, and the Lambtown, U.S.A. Festival. It remains, as it has throughout its history, the same cooperative, close-knit community.
#184
Donner Summit
2011
The pass over Donner Peak in Northern California is known as Donner Summit and has been a critical route across the Sierra Nevada Mountains for centuries. First it was used by Native Americans, then early settlers, and then emigrant wagon trains such as those used by the ill-fated Donner Party, in whose honor the region is named. The first transcontinental railroad in the United States and the first transcontinental highway in America both made use of the Donner Summit route to gain access to California; even early aviators used a beacon at the Summit for guidance across the Sierras. Most of the communities and points of interest along the railroad and highway route up and over Donner Summit are covered in this book.
#185
Downey
2010
Pioneers traveling in the former Shoshonean lands that became, the city of Downey in eastern Los Angeles County were drawn to the water sources of the San Gabriel River and Rio Hondo. In 1837, historian Hugo Reid described a village called Carpenters Farm along the banks of the Rio Hondo. Don Carpenter's Rancho Santa Gertrudes occupied a portion of the original 300,000-acre Nieto land grant of prime ranch and farmlands, a fertile "garden spot." In 1859, a year before becoming California's youngest governor at age 32, John Gately Downey and druggist James McFarland effectively closed the era of missions and ranchos by buying 17,600 acres of Rancho Santa Gertrudes at a sheriff's auction for $60,000. Downey offered land at $10 an acre with a low interest rate, claiming it "the best land for homesteads and vineyards, in this section of the state." The community of Downey began shaping up in 1873 as the Southern Pacific Railroad connected the early settlements of Gallatin and College.
The Images of America series celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents the distinctive stories from the past that shape the character of the community today. Arcadia is proud to play a part in the preservation of local heritage, making history available to all.
#186
Downtown Pasadena's Early Architecture
2006
At sunset, the San Gabriel Mountains form a rosy sculptural backdrop for Pasadena, a city of stately street trees and lush gardens. Attracted by a paradisiacal climate, health seekers and wealthy Easterners flocked to its resort hotels the Green, the Maryland, the Huntington, the Painter, the Raymond and built grand residences along Orange Grove and Grand Avenues. Scores of commercial and industrial buildings rose downtown, punctuated by public works, civic buildings, schools, and churches that doubled as works of art, like the Colorado Street Bridge, the Christian Science Church, and the California Mediterranean style city hall. Preservation efforts have succeeded in putting Old Pasadena and the Pasadena Civic Center on the National Register of Historic Places, and continued restoration has made the city's unique architectural treasures a major attraction in Southern California.
#187
Downtown Stockton
2004
Between 1850 and 1950, Stockton grew from gold rush depot to booming California metropolis. Capitalizing on its abundance of water and rich soils, Mediterranean-like climate, hard-working population, and efficient transportation system, Stockton quickly became an epicenter of "the breadbasket of the world." The historic downtown skyline reflects the abundance and adversity of California's Central Valley over the years, and Stockton's ever-changing, ever-expanding role as a modern city.
#188
Duarte
2009
Mexican Army veteran Andres Duarte was granted 6,595 acres along the southern foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in 1841 by the governor of Alta California. Rancho Azusa de Duarte eventually was carved into 40-acre parcels, and arriving families from the East and Midwest built schools, installed water lines, and grew crops. By 1900, two major rail lines served the area's thriving citrus industry. Duarte's beneficial climate led to the establishment in 1913 of a tuberculosis sanitarium, which became City of Hope, the world-class cancer treatment center. Bandleader Glenn Miller settled in Duarte. The city's location along old U.S. Route 66 brought many visitors to and through town. A strongly independent civic spirit led to a momentous 1987 U. S. Supreme Court decision to disallow the expulsion of the Duarte Rotary from Rotary International for admitting three women. As for Andres Duarte, he is commemorated by a 2007 bronze equestrian statue, located across Huntington Drive from the city hall that bears his name.
#189
Dublin
2007
Nestled in the wooded hills east of the San Francisco Bay, Dublin's sprawling valley has welcomed people from a variety of backgrounds
throughout its rich history. At the heart of the tri-valley region, this former agricultural area has grown exponentially over the years, forming a modern
city with a solid community-oriented heritage. From California's first native inhabitants, through the Spanish and Mexican periods, to the arrival of the first American settlers, Dublin has long been at the crossroads of culture and settlement.
#191
Dunsmuir
2010
In the 1880s, the Central Pacific Railroad labored through the rugged upper Sacramento River canyon to connect California with the far northwest. Where the canyon's steep walls open up to a view of snowcapped Mount Shasta, a railroad switching yard, a depot, a roundhouse, a turntable, and repair shops were constructed. Surrounded by virgin timber, rushing waters, and dramatic geologic formations, this railhead camp—named for a Canadian collier—grew. Completion of the rail line brought commerce and growth as timber was harvested and streams were prospected for gold. Visitors were, and continue to be, drawn by the pure mountain air, scenic beauty, healing mineral waters, hunting, and world-class trout fishing. Though facing many obstacles, including storms, fires, and floods, the town thrived. Incorporated in 1909, Dunsmuir became the headquarters for the Southern Pacific Railroad's fabled Shasta Division in 1916. Today Dunsmuir is known as California's Historic Railroad Town and is recognized in the National Register of Historic Places.
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Durham
2008
Durham has a long and rich history of agriculture and farming. An unincorporated town, Durham has historically depended upon an engaged citizenry to guide its growth and ensure a quality environment for its residents. Named for the Durham family, including Robert W. Durham, who was the business manager for forty-niner Samuel Neal, and Robert's nephew W. W. Durham, the town now boasts a population of 2,500. The Durham Land Colony, a state-sponsored experiment in socialism, brought a large influx of residents to the area in 1918, divided large land holdings into small farms, and established the Durham Park. The colony failed, but the farmers stayed, and they and their descendants took on positions of leadership in the evolving community.
#193
Eagle Rock
2009
Eagle Rock grew as a small farming community just north of Los Angeles on Tongva ancestral lands that had become the great eastern pasture of the Rancho San Rafael. Eagle Rock enjoyed a geographic unity and a strong identity that revolved around its prominent namesake promontory. By 1906, trolleys made for an easy commute to Los Angeles, and Eagle Rock, which incorporated as a city in 1911, became increasingly integrated in the urban fabric yet remained defined by its residential nature and small-town character. Occidental College saw the quaint neighborhood at one end of York Valley as a place to grow. The annexation of Eagle Rock by Los Angeles in 1923 brought ample water supply as well as Eagle Rock High School, a center of town life into the 21st century. Freeway construction and shifts in business patterns affected Eagle Rock's growth in the post-World War II years, but the pleasant neighborhood identity remains despite its proximity to urban bustle.
#194
Eagle Rock
1911-2011
2011
Eagle Rock has grown from an open farming community, populated by a few hundred souls, into a busy and diverse neighborhood of Los Angeles. The incorporation of Eagle Rock City in 1911 began the political process necessary to sustain and service this expanding community. The Eagle Rock City that was annexed by Los Angeles in 1923 was much smaller than the area included by the City of Los Angeles in the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council in 2002. The town grew through the century by attracting the loyalty of people living in then-outlying areas. Eagle Rock: 1911-2011 continues the exploration begun in the Images of America volume, Eagle Rock, detailing this expansion and the community's everyday life and interaction with the city and the world.
#195
Early Amusement Parks of Orange County
2008
The Orange County coast had its Joy Zone and its Fun Zone in the early decades of the 20th century. Knott's Berry Farm sprouted from a simple berry stand in Buena Park. The spot that would become Walt Disney's theme-park empire began as a citrus grove in Anaheim. Before long, Orange County was recognized as the nurturing ground for the growing amusement park industry. This book concerns the early history of such parks in the county east and south of Los Angeles, before high-tech digitization, when custom cars, enormous alligators, stunt planes, dolphin leaps, and movie stars' wax likenesses thrilled patrons. Some amusement parks have come and gone over a century of development, and some are still here, changing with the times to create new adventure and excitement for park goers.
#196
Early Anaheim
2006
As one of the largest cities in one of the nation's most populous counties, Anaheim anchors a host of Orange County attractions, not the least of which are Disneyland, the 2002 World Champion Anaheim Angels, and the Anaheim Convention Center. But Anaheim's early history followed the hardscrabble route, with fitful years of early cityhood steered in part by hardy immigrant German vintners who, with a civic-mindedness, advanced the establishment of the churches, schools, banks, civic services, and a Carnegie Library that made Anaheim thrive. This collection of more than 200 vintage images reveals the foresight of such men as John Frohling, Charles Kohler, George Hansen, John Fischer, August Langenberger, and others who shaped the beginnings of one of California's great cities.
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Early Costa Mesa
2009
Three emerging communities from the partitioned Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana formed the improbable start for a city that would eventually proclaim itself the "City of the Arts." These farming communities—Fairview, Paularino, and Harper—attracted families and businesspeople. Community leaders then took pragmatic steps to meet local needs such as schools, churches, and a water supply. Harper's first land developer appealed to folks of modest means by advertising, "You! Five Acres." By 1920, Harper needed a broader identity and a local businessman proposed a naming contest, offering a $25 prize. "Costa Mesa," recognizing the area's heritage and geography, reaped the reward. Eight years later, voters handily defeated the City of Santa Ana's annexation attempt by a margin of five to one. The Great Depression, the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, and the 1938 Santa Ana River flood then besieged the fledgling community. Undaunted, Costa Mesa continued to grow. By 1939, the stage had been set for the postwar miracle that would become the modern city of Costa Mesa.
#201
Early Cupertino
2006
A priest with Juan Batista de Anza's expedition in 1776 named a wild creek where the group camped after St. Joseph of Cupertino, Italy. A village known as Westside adopted the name in 1904 as it grew up by that stream, now Stevens Creek, near the road that is now De Anza Boulevard. Like its Italian namesake, Cupertino once had wineries, and vineyards striped its foothills and flatlands. Later vast orchards created an annual blizzard of spring blossoms, earning it the name Valley of Heart's Delight. The railroad came to carry those crops to market, and the electric trolley extended to connect Cupertino's first housing tract, Monte Vista. When the postwar building boom came, Cupertino preserved its independence through incorporation, but that bold move would not stop the wave of modernization that would soon roll over the valley.
#204
Early Hayward
2004
The vibrant East Bay city of Hayward was named for William Hayward, a 49er and American squatter who endeared himself to Mexican landowner Guillermo Castro by making him a good pair of boots. With Castro's permission, William stayed to open Hayward's Hotel on what is now Main and A Streets. That fortuitous location, near the convergence of the eight tributaries forming San Lorenzo Creek, made the region a natural transportation hub between the bay and the fertile Livermore Valley. Stagecoach lines, a narrow-gauge railroad, and later modern transportation links encouraged more immigrants to settle. Today Hayward is a diverse city of almost 150,000 people, and home to a campus of the California State University.
#206
Early Livermore
2006
Englishman Robert Livermore jumped ship in Southern California in 1822, yet just 15 years later became the respected owner of the 40,000-acre Las Positas land grant. Here he built his new Californio wife an adobe house in 1839. The wealth that flowed into California during the gold rush allowed Livermore to import a two-story house around the Horn, but entrepreneurs and squatters flowed in as well. Nathaniel Patterson opened the first hotel in the old Livermore adobe, frequented by miners on their way from the South Bay to the Sierra gold mines. Laddsville, a village built where the roads to Stockton and Dublin met, was also a going concern until the Central Pacific pushed over the Altamont Pass. On this line grew the town founded by William Mendenhall in 1869, named for pioneer Livermore, who had died more than a decade earlier. Soon Livermore became the valley's commercial center for hay, wheat, barley, wine grapes, and ranching.
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Early Los Altos and Los Altos Hills
2010
Los Altos would never have existed if not for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Since the 1850s, Los Altos, Spanish for "heights" or "foothills," was the name generally applied to the two ranchos (San Antonio and La Purisima Concepcion) between Palo Alto and Mountain View southwest of El Camino Real. In 1906, visionaries Paul Shoup, who worked for the railroad, and Walter Clark, a Mountain View real estate developer, saw the potential to turn Sarah Winchester's ranch near Stanford University into an ideal San Francisco suburb. They would capitalize on new commuters-those who wanted to live in comfort in the country but work in the city. Slowly, a new town grew in influence well beyond its original Altos Land Company plat, realizing tremendous post-World War II expansion. Now two communities solidly embedded in Silicon Valley, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills share a school system, downtown shopping, libraries, and water system, as well as a history of interesting people.
#209
Early Mendocino Coast
2008
Driving Highway 1 along the Mendocino coast is a scenic adventure that draws thousands of visitors every year. Following the coast from Gualala on the south to Needle Rock in the north can be a challenge and features back-road driving. But imagine 100 years ago. Were there roads then too? How did people move along the coast? And what were they doing? Why did they settle here? Forget the Gold Rush and the forty-niners—timber was king here. Logging, milling, and shipping wood was the focus of the economy. Railcars steamed through the forests, and ships pulled up to rickety landings to load shipments for faraway places. Today some coast views remain the same, while others have changed dramatically, and whole towns have vanished over the century.
#210
Early Mill Valley
2005
Mill Valley rests in the shadow of Mount Tamalpais, the tallest peak of the Coast Range. Ancient redwood groves cloaking the mountain's flanks and nearby canyons attracted a pioneer sawmill that gave the town its name. As the timber industry was replaced by dairies, Mill Valley became a destination for those drawn to beauty: hikers, campers, naturalists, artists, writers, and dreamers who gave the town its early bohemian atmosphere. Tamalpais Scenic Railway once ran the "crookedest railroad in the world" to the summit, where passengers exulted in the taste of salty ocean winds, rolling fog, and stunning vistas of the inner bay and ocean shores. Pres. Theodore Roosevelt reserved some of the area's majestic trees, now national parkland webbed with 200 miles of scenic trails, and named them Muir Woods for naturalist John Muir.
#211
Early National City
2008
Below the surface of bustling National City lies the story of olive and citrus orchards, grand Victorian homes, great wealth, and the coming of the first railroad. Founded in 1868 by Frank Kimball, National City is credited with multiple distinguished firsts. On the county level, the San Diego County Fair originated here, the first novel published was by a National City pioneer, the first free kindergarten opened here, the first automobile was built here, and the first railroad terminus was located here. On the state level, the first woman to serve as an elected member of a school board lived in National City. Today the city is home to 61,000 residents; and as an accessible and diverse community, all eyes now look upon National City as it begins to experience a renaissance of growth and commerce.
#214
Early Pasadena
2008
The name Pasadena evokes images of a sunny paradise filled with the wafting scent of orange blossoms and roses. The world looks to Pasadena every January 1, when the world-famous Tournament of Roses carries on a century-long tradition and the Rose Bowl game reigns as college football's "granddaddy of them all." Many of the city's other cultural and architectural icons also trace their roots to Pasadena's early days. From citrus groves to resort hotels, a bicycle highway and a commuter blimp, presidential visits, and summer snowstorms, the rich and varied history of early Pasadena can be seen in this volume's many unique photographs. Many of these images, taken from the archives at the Pasadena Museum of History, have never before been published. They reflect the colorful origins of a city that remains to this day a popular tourist destination, California cultural center, and a beloved home to thousands.
#215
Early Placentia
2007
Today Placentia is part of the vast suburban Orange County sprawl that extends eastward from Los Angeles into Southern California's "Inland Empire." This landscape of homes and shopping centers was a windswept wilderness until a Mexican land grant helped transform it into ranches that dry-farmed hay and irrigated fruits and vegetables. The arrival of the Valencia orange and the discovery of oil reshaped the future of Placentia again as groves and derricks covered the land in the first half of the 20th century. The railroad also arrived, followed by more oil discovery to the east and the coming of laborers of Mexican heritage, who formed a community to the south. Schools, churches, and civic buildings remained ancillary to the predominantly agrarian society and economy that existed through the World War II era.
#216
Early Pomona
2007
The first settlers to carve the Pomona Valley out of the California wilderness were Ricardo Vejar and Ygnacio Palomares, who received land grants in 1837 for fighting for Mexico's independence. Nearly three decades after California was ceded to the United States, Southerners escaping the aftermath of the Civil War migrated to the area, and the city was incorporated in 1888. Pomona's landscape evolved from vast Mexican ranchos into prosperous vineyards and orchards, and later into one of Los Angeles' major suburbs. Pomona today is home to the world's largest county fair, the Los Angeles County Fair, as well as to California Polytechnic University and Western University of Health Sciences. The city boasts a thriving art colony, three historic districts, and a unique mix of architecture, including Victorian, Craftsman, transitional, and Spanish-style homes. The more than 150,000 Pomona residents pride themselves on a neighborly small-town flavor that belies the city's large population.
#220
Early San Rafael
2008
The Coast Miwok and the early friars of Mission Dolores chose San Rafael both for its good weather and running streams, and the mission was named after the Archangel Raphael, the patron saint of bodily healing. When looking for a country estate, many wealthy San Franciscans sought the clean air and ideal weather here to escape the city's damp fog. San Rafael grew fast thereafter—it was the first city in Marin County to incorporate, the first to build a railroad, and the first to build a luxury hotel. San Rafael is the seat of county government, the center of commerce, and a cosmopolitan community in a natural setting. The dusty village of long ago was refined by fine schools and churches, the coming of the library, and by the ambitious efforts of the San Rafael Improvement Club. These early efforts made this a charming place to live, with Victorian homes, sylvan streets, and historic buildings in the business district. The pioneers would be pleased with the state of today's San Rafael.
#222
Early Santa Monica
2006
As west as metropolitan Los Angeles' trendy Westside gets, Santa Monica has enjoyed a colorful history as both a resort community and a bedrock hometown on the Southern California coast. As a playground and ready-made set for Hollywood, traditional hotbed of progressive politics, and amorphous fun zone for a greater century of visitors, the city of Santa Monica has remained at the forefront of the evolution of California culture. Prior to World War II, Santa Monica was a collection of distinct neighborhoods Santa Monica Canyon and Ocean Park among them and its pier, built in 1909 beneath the bluffs of Palisades Park, became a regional draw, especially after the nation's largest dance emporium, La Monica Ballroom, was built on it. The vintage photographs in this tour through Santa Monica's beginnings and its growth through the early 20th century were selected from the archives of the Santa Monica Historical Society Museum.
#225
East Sacramento
2004
In the 1890s, the Sacramento Electric Power and Light Company extended streetcar tracks eastward, thereby creating a suburban oasis that developers Charles Wright and Howard Kimbrough sold as "just a 15 minute ride from downtown." Today's East Sacramento boasts some of the more desirable real estate in and around California's capital city, including McKinley Park and the "Fabulous Forties," a collection of upscale homes from 40th to 49thStreets—where Ronald Reagan resided when he was governor. Also located in East Sacramento is the campus of California State University, Sacramento, where a young Tom Hanks got his start in The Cherry Orchard.
#226
Echo Summit
2014
Echo Summit played a major role in early California and Nevada history. Beginning in the early 1850s, fortune-seekers rushed westward over Echo Summit in search of gold in El Dorado County. The discovery of silver and gold in Virginia City in 1859 reversed the travel eastward. After 1869, travel over Echo Summit was reduced to a trickle. Today, Echo Summit is a major route to the south Lake Tahoe basin. There are sites along the summit ridge, like Echo Lake, Berkeley Echo Lake Camp, and Echo Summit Lodge, that have contributed to the history of Echo Summit.
#227
El Cerrito
2005
El Cerrito, Spanish for "Little Hill," is a bustling and modern community today, sandwiched between Albany and Richmond along busy San Pablo Avenue. Quaint houses in the hills look down upon an active commercial strip with two BART stations and over the bayfront, where warehouses and processing plants in neighboring Richmond hum night and day. But as modern it is, El Cerrito has roots that run deep. In the early 1900s, only about 1,500 people lived in these hills, then a scruffy cattle-grazing enclave known as Rust. Founder William Rust had a blacksmith shop at the site of the present-day Pastime Hardware. Soon the name was changed to El Cerrito. A tax was levied on the 20- odd saloons scattered through town so that streets could be paved and a modern city administration could be set up. The town grew steadily, especially in the postwar boom years, and today houses roughly 23,000 people in a pleasant and sylvan bayside environment.
#228
El Monte
2006
El Monte became an established community late in the 1850s-much earlier than most cities in what later became Los Angeles County-as the western terminus of the Santa Fe Trail. Its situation between the watersheds of the Rio Hondo and San Gabriel River made it one of early California's most fertile farming areas, with English walnut trees and dairy farms dotting the countryside. The city incorporated in 1912 and, in the ensuing decades, became the home of Gay's Lion Farm, where Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer kept the various big cats that roared on a logo announcing 1,001 movies. Crawford's store became known as the "largest country store in the world," and the car culture that enveloped Southern California in the postwar years went through significant developmental chapters in El Monte, home of such regionally famous stops as El Monte Drive-In Theatre, Legion Stadium, and the circular, iconic Stan's Drive-In diner.
#230
El Sobrante
2012
El Sobrante is a semirural community in Contra Costa County situated between the towns of Richmond, Pinole, and Orinda. In Spanish, el sobrante means "the surplus," but is more commonly translated as "the leftovers." The name is derived from the Rancho El Sobrante, which was carved from land surrounded by Mexican land grants. Unlike many of its neighbors, El Sobrante never attracted any large company or business interest that would have determined its pattern of growth. As a result, the town was free to develop in a way that reflects the wishes and hopes of its residents. Its people take pride that their community is a quiet place with small businesses, unpretentious homes, and open space where people can walk, ride horses, or simply enjoy nature.
#231
Elk Grove
2007
Elk Grove's roots go back to 1850, when the community consisted of only a stage-stop hotel. In 1876, this small farm town in the shadow of Sacramento became a crossroads along the new railroad tracks. As the railroad era progressed, it brought significant changes to Elk Grove—fields were transformed into orchards, vineyards, and eventually, residential developments. But Elk Grove remained just a part of southern Sacramento County until citizens prevailed in their attempt to establish cityhood. The city was formally incorporated on July 1, 2000, with 72,665 residents and, by 2006, had grown remarkably to exceed 130,874.
#232
Emeryville
2005
Emeryville, one tough square mile wedged between Oakland and Berkeley with its back to the bay, has a gritty, colorful history and a bright future. Before the Gold Rush, its creek-fed grasslands served as a huge slaughtering ground for the Peralta family's hide and tallow operations. Later, railroad tracks crisscrossed a community formed on the fringe of Oakland to catch its cultural and industrial refuse. The stench from stockyards and slaughterhouses, the happy roar of a crowd at the Oakland Oaks Ball Park, acidic plumes from steel and petroleum manufacture, pomaded swells rubbing elbows with rowdies at the racetrack, and smoky gambling dens were all part of old Emeryville. Recently, an innovative, business-friendly city government brought about a striking economic transformation, making once-blighted Emeryville—now home to corporate giants like Pixar Animation Studios and IKEA—the envy of its neighbors.
#235
Encino
2009
The San Fernando Valley area that became the modern city of Encino has gone through a surprisingly international sequence of ownership, beginning with Native American tribes, then the Spanish and Californios, followed by the French, Basques, and Americans. In the post-World War II boom, Encino became an affluent enclave of those who portrayed all of the above on the screen: Hollywood movie and television stars. Encino originated around an artesian spring that served for several thousand years as the gathering place of three tribes: the FernandeAAo, Tongva, and Chumash. This spring, which was documented in Fr. Juan Crespi's diary during the Portola Expedition in 1769, today still provides water within the grounds of Los Encinos State Historic Park. El encino is Spanish for "the oak," and the area was so named for the vast panorama of oak groves covering it.
#236
Escalon
2008
Between San Francisco and the Sierra Nevada stands the small farming community of Escalon. In the mid-1800s, miners and freight haulers traveled rough roads through this unpopulated part of the state to the foothills, much as tourists today travel its highways on their way to Yosemite National Park. Pioneer John Wheeler Jones settled here with his family in the late 1800s and was instrumental in the development and growth of agricultural production, the routing of the railroad through the area, and the creation of this crossroads community. John's son James chose the name Escalon, Spanish for "step" or "stepping stone," for this important gateway to the Sierra Nevada.
#237
Escondido Grape Day Festivals
2010
Escondido is the lilting Spanish name meaning "hidden" and was given to an irregular-shaped inland Southern California valley where an investment group planted 100 acres of grapes in the early 1880s. The dry-farmed grapes grew unusually large and sweet, which prompted business leaders to envision an attraction similar to Pasadena's Tournament of Roses. The first Grape Day Festival in 1908 commemorated an auspicious occasion in Escondido's water history and celebrated the grape as a symbol of the agricultural abundance of the region. The event attracted thousands of guests who could view the valley, farm displays, a grand parade, and entertainment while eating their fill of free grapes. But by mid-century, Grape Day disappeared along with the grape in Escondido. With the memory of the grape remaining clear, the Escondido Historical Society began the revival of the celebration in the 1970s. The centennial Grape Day Festival took place September 6, 2008.
#238
Eureka and Humboldt County
2001
The cry amongst the redwoods-Eureka!-was the shout heard from early pioneers in 1850 as they came to settle in Humboldt County. Discovery of gold permanently changed the area's history, and eventually lead to the extraction of Humboldt's other natural resource: the "red gold" of its forests. Captured here in over 200 vintage photographs is the pictorial history of this bountiful county and its residents.As the gold fever faded in the late 1800s, Humboldt County's primary source of industry became the lumbering of its vast redwoods. Pictured here are the men and machines that felled, transported, and milled the lumber, as well as photographs of the elegant Victorian mansions of the industry's lumber barons, such as William Carson. Weaving the history of Humboldt County together are the stories of its earliest residents, including the Native American tribes, fevered Gold Rushers, the early Chinese community, railroad workers, shipyard sailors, and industrious farming families, all of whom created the foundation it prospers on today.
#239
Eureka and Sequoia Park
2008
The cry of "Eureka!" in 1848 brought over 200,000 men to what would soon become the state of California. Some went north to the narrow strip of land along California's north coast and there they found "red gold"—that is, redwood timber. As miners became lumbermen, the city of Eureka became the bustling urban center of the region, hewn street by street out of the vast forest that once reached all the way to the Humboldt Bay. Today most ancient redwoods are located in protected state and federal park lands. However, Eureka set aside a small patch of primeval redwood forest for future generations to enjoy. Established in 1894 from an uncut logging claim of former gold miner Bartlin Glatt, it was inaugurated as Sequoia Park in 1907. For over a century, this unique city park—with its paths through ancient redwood groves, abundant ferns, Douglas iris, and rhododendrons; its waterfalls; and its duck pond—has provided residents with a place of unrivaled natural beauty.
#241
Fairfax
2006
Fairfax is surrounded by oak-draped glens that have enchanted many, including its early owner and namesake, Lord Charles Snowden Fairfax. The hereditary baron, whose family once owned much of Virginia, entertained guests in grand Southern style on his lovely estate known as Bird's Nest Glen. Later the home became Pastori's, the beloved local landmark hotel and restaurant visited by famous guests like Irving Berlin, who once serenaded diners from a piano perched on a tree house. The 1906 earthquake chased refugees from San Francisco across the bay, and new Fairfax subdivisions appeared, along with the Fairfax Incline Railway, built to help sell hillside lots. In the same era, its meadows, hay fields, and dairy ranches provided the setting for early silent movie Westerns. Today Bird's Nest Glen is known as the Marin Town and Country Club property, and the city boasts a thriving business district and prosperous residential areas. But it has never lost its rustic charm and hospitality.
#242
Fairfield
2005
Now a fast-growing city of over 100,000, Fairfield was once the home of the Patwin Suisuni Indians, whose famous Chief Solano became one of the few native landowners in California in the 1830s. Halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento on the route to the gold fields, the town was founded by clipper ship captain Robert Waterman. A shrewd trader, Waterman offered the new Solano County government free land and cash to relocate to his new city, making it the county seat. Soon the railroad, and later the state highway, chose a route through Fairfield, creating an urban center for the beautiful agricultural valleys that surround it.
#243
Fallbrook
2007
Pioneers trickled into the areas of Rainbow, Fallbrook, and DeLuz in the mid-1800s, attracted by the mild climate and the promising soil, which rewarded their efforts with bountiful harvests of honey, olives, and fruit. Railways transported new settlers and commerce to the quiet countryside and shipped produce out, bringing prosperity to "the Friendly Village" and to the surrounding areas. Each of the towns, hidden by mountains and just far enough away from main roads, stayed small for a long time. The eventual construction of schools and post offices testified to the permanence of the settlements and to the growing community spirit. DeLuz, once the largest of the towns, declined after floods destroyed the rail connection to San Diego and Colton. The railway between Fallbrook and Oceanside brought growth to Fallbrook, while in Rainbow time stood still. Today nursery plants from Rainbow, avocados from Fallbrook, and DeLuz gourds find their way to Hawaii and across America, and the towns remain quiet and friendly places to live.
#244
Farming in Torrance and the South Bay
2008
Jared Sydney Torrance originally founded Torrance in 1912 as an industrial city. But the land and its surrounding South Bay region thrived through agricultural activities, beginning in 1784 on the Rancho San Pedro. Farming activities continued after Ben Weston became the first one to buy land from the Dominguez family's rancho in 1847. Farming remained an important part of city commerce in the transition to a thriving Los Angeles County suburb in the late 1950s. Throughout those early years, family farmers contributed to the city's economy by raising cattle, pigs, and turkeys, as well as sugar beets, alfalfa, beans, hay, oats, barley, and flowers, and operating dairy farms. Other South Bay cities also relied on agriculture for economic growth, including Carson, once home to a thriving cut-flower farm industry, and Gardena, the one-time berry capital of Southern California, as well as the Palos Verdes Peninsula, where dry farming was a successful industry.
#245
Ferndale
2004
The enchanting "Victorian Village" of Ferndale in the Eel River Valley is designated a "Distinctive Destination" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is a California Historical Landmark. Named by its founders, the Shaw brothers, to honor the six-foot-tall ferns that once choked the thickly forested valley floor, the town became a vital center for goods bound by water for San Francisco and a crossroads for stages to Eureka and Bear River. For many years after the Shaws first paddled their canoe across the Eel River in 1852, travelers forded it by ferry. This changed when Fernbridge was constructed in 1911, at that time the longest reinforced concrete-arch span bridge in the world.
#247
Filipinos in Carson and the South Bay
2009
One of Carson's most distinct features is its diversity. The city is roughly one-quarter each Hispanic, African American, white, and Asian/ Pacific Islander. This last group's vast majority are Filipinos who settled as early as the 1920s as farmworkers, U.S. military recruits, entrepreneurs, medical professionals, and other laborers, filling the economic needs of the Los Angeles region. This vibrant community hosts fiestas like the Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture and has produced local community heroes, including "Uncle Roy" Morales and "Auntie Helen" Summers Brown. Filipino students of the 1970s organized to gain college admissions, establish ethnic studies, and foster civic leadership, while Filipino businesses have flourished in Carson, San Pedro, Wilmington, Long Beach, and the surrounding communities. Carson is recognized nationally as a Filipino American destination for families and businesses, very much connected to the island homeland.
#248
Filipinos in Hollywood
2008
The memoirs of Filipinos in Hollywood span more than 80 years, dating back to the early 1920s when the first wave of immigrants, who were mostly males, arrived and settled in Los Angeles. Despite the obstacles and hardships of discrimination, these early Filipino settlers had high hopes and dreams for the future. Many sought employment in Hollywood, only to be marginalized into service-related fields, becoming waiters, busboys, dishwashers, cooks, houseboys, janitors, and chauffeurs. They worked at popular restaurants, homes of the rich and famous, movie and television studios, clubs, and diners. For decades, Filipinos were the least recognized and least documented Asians in Hollywood. But many emerged from the shadows to become highly recognized talents, some occupying positions in the entertainment industry that makes Hollywood what it is today—the world's capital of entertainment and glamour.
#249
Filipinos in Los Angeles
2007
The year 2006 marked the centennial of Filipino migration to the United States, when 15 migrant workers called sakadas arrived in Hawaii to work on the islands' sugar plantations. Today the largest concentration of Filipinos outside of the Philippines exists in Southern California. In the 1920s, the first substantial wave of newcomers settled in downtown Los Angeles, eventually migrating to areas just northwest of downtown, a district now designated by the city as Historic Filipinotown. The majority of early Filipino settlers were males who found employment in service-oriented industries, including work as janitors, dishwashers, and houseboys. Filipino Americans now contribute to all aspects of life and culture and live in virtually every Los Angeles neighborhood and suburb, including Eagle Rock, Cerritos, Glendale, Carson, and West Covina.
#250
Filipinos in San Diego
2010
Filipinos have been a part of the history of the United States and San Diego for over 400 years. The Manila-Acapulco galleon trade ships included Filipinos on sailing expeditions to California, including the port of San Diego. After the Philippines became a territory of the United States in 1898, many Filipinos began immigrating to San Diego. The community grew rapidly, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s. After World War II, Filipino veterans returned with their war brides and the community began to build further. The Immigration Act of 1965 increased Filipino immigration into San Diego to include military personnel, especially those enlisted in the U.S. Navy, as well as professionals. Today Filipino Americans are the largest Asian American ethnic group in San Diego.
#251
Filipinos in San Francisco
2011
Tens of thousands of Filipinos who have lived, worked, and raised families for over five generations in this unique city stake their rightful claim to more than a century of shared history in San Francisco. The photographs herein attest to the early arrivals, who came as merchant mariners, businesspeople, scholars, and musicians, as well as agricultural and domestic workers. But their story has often been ignored, told incompletely by others, and edited too selectively by many. The Filipino American experience both epitomizes and defies the traditional immigrant storyline, and these pictures honestly and respectfully document the fruits of their labors, the products of their perseverance, and, at times, their resistance to social exclusion and economic suppression.
#252
Filipinos in Stockton
2008
The first Filipino settlers arrived in Stockton, California, around 1898, and through most of the 20th century, this city was home to the largest community of Filipinos outside the Philippines. Because countless Filipinos worked in, passed through, and settled here, it became the crossroads of Filipino America. Yet immigrants were greeted with signs that read "Positively No Filipinos Allowed" and were segregated to a four-block area centered on Lafayette and El Dorado Streets, which they called "Little Manila." In the 1970s, redevelopment and the Crosstown Freeway decimated the Little Manila neighborhood. Despite these barriers, Filipino Americans have created a vibrant ethnic community and a rich cultural legacy. Filipino immigrants and their descendants have shaped the history, culture, and economy of the San Joaquin Delta area.
#253
Filipinos in Vallejo
2005
Filipinos came to Vallejo as early as 1912, and some families here can count five generations back to their roots in the Philippines. Many came to Mare Island Naval Shipyard, where Filipinos found steady, well-paying jobs that spared them from menial work and stoop labor in the fields of California. With each major conflict of the 20th century, and finally with the relaxation of immigration quotas in 1965, waves of Filipino newcomers arrived on these shores. They advanced in their work at the shipyards, settled down, and started families, buying homes and establishing successful businesses. Now this active, politically empowered Filipino community numbers in the tens of thousands, yet traditional histories ignore its contribution to Vallejo's heritage.
#255
Filipinos in the East Bay
2008
Filipinos are a community nearly 2.5-million strong in the United States in 2007. At the turn of the 20th century, the first wave of Filipino migration began, continuing until the start of World War II. During this time span, sponsored students, veterans of the Philippine-American War and their families, and young men recruited in the Philippines to serve in the U.S. military or work in California and Hawaii's expanding agricultural industries would all arrive in the United States. On the San Francisco Bay Area's eastern shore, Filipino presence in the labor force transitioned with the region's economic and social evolution from mainly farm and service laborers to industrial workers to professional, administrative, and service workers. Today the East Bay is a vibrant center of the Filipino community's deeply rooted and rich cultural, political, and economic life.
#257
Flintridge
2008
Frank Putnam Flint began accruing ranches in the San Rafael foothills of La Canada during his term as a U.S. senator (1905-1911), initially with the purchase of the Turner Ranch. Flint's dream of an enclave for Republican society ended abruptly when his brother, Motley Flint, ensnared him in an entrepreneurial endeavor that became the infamous C. C. Julian petroleum scandal. This imbroglio overshadowed Frank Flint's myriad accomplishments, and he died aboard ship on a world cruise with his wife, Katherine, during the scandal's 1929 fallout. The memory of Flint's dream remains in Flintridge homes, built by Southern California's finest architects, and in the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, Saint Francis High School, Flintridge Preparatory School, Flintridge Riding Club, and the beautiful winding woodland roads that Flint conceived during horseback rides. Devotees of the Flint ideal battled with La Canada factions during city incorporation to commemorate him by saddling the various La Canada communities with the lengthy name of La Canada Flintridge.
#259
Folsom
1999
With the nearby discovery of gold in 1848, Folsom, which began as a remote camp for trappers and traders, quickly
became a prosperous mining town in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains. When the railroad arrived, Folsom boomed, serving as a transportation hub and gateway to the gold country. Downtown's Sutter Street became a busy center for merchants, hotels, and commerce, as well as the terminus for the Pony Express. Encompassing 135 years, this book celebrates Folsom's diverse heritage from its beginnings as "Granite City" to the recent growth attributed to the influx of high-tech corporations. Over two hundred images illustrate its history, including personal glimpses of family and home life, churches, schools, holiday celebrations, local culture, politics, and social organizations, to photographs of well-known landmarks and institutions such as the Cohn House, Sutter Street, the Folsom Powerhouse, the railroad, and of course, the infamous Folsom Prison.
#260
Fontana
2005
The self-proclaimed "City of Innovation" has a great tradition of reinventing itself. Today's Fontana was once known as "Rancho de San Bernardino." The first recorded owner, Don Antonia Maria Lugo, passed the land down to his sons, and in 1851, the Lugo brothers sold their stake to Mormon settlers, who soon relocated to Utah. Various agricultural developers, including A.B. Miller, saw potential in the land, changing its name to "Fontana" from its earlier railroad name "Rosena." But citrus and grain were not the main exports for long. During World War II, the city switched gears to become an industrial powerhouse as Southern California's leading steel producer. At the junction of Interstates 10 and 15, modern Fontana is a vital nexus of transportation and commerce, with the legendary Route 66 passing through its well-preserved downtown district and Route 99 through its southern boundary.
#261
Forestville
2008
Visitors to Forestville are taken aback by its picturesque valleys laden with roaming vineyards. However, Forestville is more than a gateway to the Russian River; it is a diverse array of businesses, wineries, farming, and recreation. Forestville grew from the Spanish land grant traded by Capt. Juan Bautista Rogers Cooper from his brother-in-law Gen. Mariano Vallejo in 1834 into the town known by passing travelers as "Swindle Rig." In 1867, the town was named Forestville after Andrew Jackson Forrister, a saloon owner. It was set apart from other settlements by having the first powered sawmill in California and the FaudrAA(c) Chair factory, the largest manufacturing plant in Sonoma County of that era. Collectors still seek out the factory's rawhide-bottom chairs. As a popular stop on the railway line, many vacationers from San Francisco passed through on their journeys to the Russian River. In 1963, the town continued to be different, setting aside land for a community youth park, so it is no wonder the town's slogan is "Forestville the Great Life."
#263
Fort Bragg
2014
In 1857, Fort Bragg was an Army post on the Mendocino Indian Reservation. Coastal California north of San Francisco had been home to the Pomo and Yuki people for thousands of years. In the early 1800s, that area was visited by Russian, English, and French fur trappers. In 1850, an opium trader carrying goods from the Orient to gold-rush San Francisco shipwrecked near Fort Bragg. Would-be salvagers discovered giant redwood trees, and lumber mills soon sprang up at the mouth of every stream. "Dog-hole schooners" transported lumber, passengers, and supplies, and the world-wide Dollar Shipping Lines started here. Former reservation lands were acquired by lumber interests, and the city of Fort Bragg sprang up around them, all while photographers, artists, and writers documented the "far West." Today, the former California Western logging railroad transports tourists through the redwood forests. Hollywood movies continue to be set in the New England-style towns along the rocky Mendocino Coast, and Paul Bunyan Days celebrates old-time logging skills. The area's colorful past permeates and enriches local culture.
#264
Fort MacArthur
2006
Fort MacArthur, in San Pedro, became the Army's major regional induction center after Pearl Harbor, processing over three-quarters of a million soldiers into World War II. Named for Lt. Gen. Arthur MacArthur, a Civil War hero, military visionary, and father of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, "Fort Mac" began as a remote military reservation in 1888, was a full-fledged Coast Defense fort by 1923, a blur of GI activity as a portal to all theaters during World War II, a reserve base in 1946, a Nike missile installation in 1954, and again a military reserve base in 1976 following the Vietnam War. The base also played an important role in transforming San Pedro into the Port of Los Angeles, in implementing changes in military technology, in racial integration of the Army in the late 1930s, and in labor history as its soldiers became strikebreakers in the tense early days of the Second World War. The fort's museum, comprising 20 acres above the harbor, is a lasting reminder of the 20th century's vital West Coast national defense facilities.
#265
Fort Ord
2004
From its establishment during World War I to its closure at the end of the Cold War, the Army installation best known as Fort Ord made a significant contribution to our national defense. Founded as a training area for Presidio of Monterey troops in 1917, Fort Ord covered more than 28,000 acres near the city of Monterey in its heyday. The local topography made it ideal as an infantry training center, and this was its primary mission throughout much of the 20th century. Most recently, Fort Ord was home to the 7th Infantry Division (Light), which was inactivated in 1993. In September 1994, Fort Ord closed its gates and became a part of military history.
#266
Fort Ross and the Sonoma Coast
2004
The Kashaya Indians made foot trails through the grassy mountain slopes of Sonoma's northern coast for centuries before colonists from the Russian-American Company arrived in 1812. These Russians, the vanguard of European settlement, built Fort Ross from virgin redwood on a bluff overlooking the sea. Although they stayed only 30 years, they left behind a heritage that includes the earliest detailed scientific and ethnographic studies of the area and California's first ships and windmills. Soon others came to ranch, lumber, and quarry, shipping their harvest and stone to help build and feed San Francisco. Ranches and mill sites evolved into towns, often bearing the names of the rugged men who first settled there. Much of the coastline remains as it was in centuries past, its rich history still visible in ship moorings and chiseled sandstone, and new residents and visitors are still drawn to this dramatic meeting of blue Pacific and forested coastal mountains.
#267
Fortuna and the Eel River Valley
2011
Nestled along the Eel River in Northern California's Humboldt County, Fortuna has changed and grown according to economic and historical forces. Harvesting, milling, and shipping of redwood lumber provided the economic mainstay for nearly 100 years. The fertile Eel River Valley became known for its apples, potatoes, and a large dairy industry. Relative isolation ended in 1914 with the completion of the railroad from San Francisco, and in the 1920s expanded automobile traffic brought growing numbers of tourists to the redwood forests. "Friendly Fortuna" is a city of celebrations, known for its annual rodeo, first held in 1921. Organizations such as the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department, founded in 1904, form the heart of the community. The Pacific Lumber Company town of Scotia, the now-vanished mill town of Newburg, and other neighboring communities such as Fernbridge—born in 1911 to house the men building what would become the world's longest concrete bridge—have also woven their stories into the tapestry of Eel River Valley history.
#268
Foster City
2005
Many of California's cities evolved haphazardly, the natural but disorderly result of an early settlement expanding over time. Foster City, on the other hand, is an example of a community that was carefully envisioned and built according to a master plan. The city was conceived in the 1950s when real estate developer T. Jack Foster and his sons began the arduous task of preparing tidal mudflats on the San Francisco Bay's shore to support a series of roads, housing developments, industrial parks, and a picturesque but functional system of lagoons. Through the years, Foster City has risen from these humble beginnings to become a major Bay Area city, one that is home to 30,000 diverse residents and several important corporations.
#269
Fountain Valley
2007
Along the banks of the Santa Ana River, between the larger cities of Santa Ana to the east and Huntington Beach to the west, lies Fountain Valley, named for its abundance of natural artesian wells and once swamp-covered landscapes. Formerly a portion of the Rancho Las Bolsas land grant of the late 1700s, the area—once called Gospel Swamp and later Talbert—was known for cattle grazing, agricultural productivity, and game hunting, as well as for fiery tent-revival sermons delivered by itinerant preachers. As agrarian lands became subdivisions in the 1950s, the farmers and ranchers saw the writing on the wall for future development. In 1957, Fountain Valley incorporated, becoming the 21st city in Orange County and the county's first master-planned community. In a half century, Fountain Valley has earned recognition, nationally and internationally, as a forward-looking city.
#272
Fullerton
2004
Saber-toothed tigers and wooly mammoths once roamed free in Fullerton. The Gabrielinos, Indians who were on Fullerton lands as long ago as 1,000 years, supplanted these prehistoric animals many years later. When George H. Fullerton made the decision to route the Santa Fe Railroad through the fledging townsite in 1887, he secured Fullerton's economic future. The right-of-way for the railroad traffic would spur the growth of the Valencia orange industry started by a descendent of the famous Johnny Appleseed as well as the production of oil wells that still pump to this day.
#274
Garden Grove
2005
While its name connotes a pastoral vision beyond a pleasant wide place in the road, Garden Grove has expanded exponentially since pioneers founded it in 1874. Early cattle ranches gave way to walnut and citrus groves during the 20th century, as this land between the cities of
Long Beach and Anaheim grew into one of Orange County's most populous municipalities, incorporating in 1956. Hotels sprang up in Garden Grove in reaction to the nearby vacation draws of Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, and the county's popular beach communities. In later decades, Garden Grove's distinctive identity was further shaped by its role as home to one of the largest Korean-American communities outside of Korea and home to televangelist Robert Schuller's famed Crystal Cathedral.
#275
Gardena
2006
From its beginnings around 1880, Gardena was noted for its cultural mix. Its Spanish rancho-era name perfectly described the community's regionally famous vegetable and strawberry fields, which were primarily tended by settlers of Japanese descent, in Los Angeles County's South Bay area. The city of Gardena, incorporated in 1930, remains one of the nation's most ethnically balanced communities, drawing visitors worldwide to its diverse cultural activities. For nearly 40 years, Gardena was the only place in the county to have legalized gambling, and the city's unique history includes the fact that more public poker tables once existed here than in the rest of the United States combined. Located at the nexus of four major freeways, the "City of Opportunity" thrives today with more than 60,000 people on six square miles only a short distance from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
#276
Garvanza
2010
Named for the garbanzo bean that Julio Verdugo raised on his Rancho San Rafael, the town of Garvanza was laid out by Ralph Rogers in 1886. The community soon became a haven for artists and others seeking a refuge from the growing urban life of Los Angeles. Early institutions included the Church of the Angels and the Judson Studios, founded by painter William Lees Judson to create art through stained glass. The town's identity was eventually overtaken by neighboring Highland Park, but the community name was reestablished in the 1990s by today's residents, who are as in love with its beauty as those 110 years earlier.
#278
Georgetown
2010
At the beginning of the 20th century, historian Herman Daniel Jerrett noted that there was "no other part of the world with a placer seam formation filled with small gold-bearing veins and veinlets, so great or so crumpled, crushed and its fold mashed together, as that on the Georgetown Divide." First a simple base and supply camp for early miners, Georgetown survived despite repeated challenges from fires and economic slumps. Now rebuilt, it offers physical proof of the hardy pioneer spirit that settled this small town in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Historic Main Street offers numerous examples of "fireproof" architectural styles, more hopeful than realistic, including the 100-foot-wide Main Street itself, unique in Mother Lode mining towns.
#280
Gilroy
2003
Located along the El Camino Real at the crossroads of the Pacheco and Hecker Pass highways, Gilroy is surrounded by the rich farmland of southern Santa Clara County. The region boasts a mineral hot springs, prime grazing land in the eastern foothills, and redwood forests to the west. In addition to successful lumbering enterprises, vast cattle ranches, and thriving resorts, Gilroy claims to be "The Garlic Capital of the World." From the early settlements of the Ohlone, through the vibrant Rancho era and post "gold-fever" boom, to the present-day world-famous Garlic Festival, this book illustrates the unique history of this town at the southern end of Silicon Valley. Drawn from the archives of the Gilroy Museum and the albums of pioneer families are more than 200 vintage images of the businesses, dwellings, pastimes, hopes, and high-jinks of the individuals who made Gilroy what it is today.
#281
Glendale
1940-2000
2006
The Second World War changed Glendale in the same way that it overhauled many cities in Southern California, with new war-related industries requiring more workers in bigger facilities. Many men and women of the armed forces decided to make Glendale their home after the war. The
population stabilized in the 1960s, but a new wave of development swept through Glendale as it became surrounded by freeways, as the Galleria mall was built, and as Brand Boulevard became a center of commerce. The city's cultural composition also changed when more Latinos, Armenians, Asians, and other distinct peoples began to make Glendale home, boosting Los Angeles County's third most populous city over the 200,000 brink. The year 2006 marked the city's centennial and the bicentennial of Jose Maria Verdugo's Rancho San Rafael, from which the city grew.
#282
Glendora
2001
Growing up under the Spanish mission system, much of Glendora's vibrant history is founded on the sweat of the farmers, ranchers, and entrepreneurs who tempered the land and made it what it is today. Author David Landers captures the history of Glendora and the surrounding area through over 200 vintage images, from its early hacendados days to its glory as one of the nation's largest citrus producers. Easterner Henry Dalton came to the Glendora area in 1843, and, capitalizing on the revolutionary troubles that California was embroiled in with Mexico, created a community of ranches, farms, vineyards, and tanneries. The 1870s brought many new settlers, including some of the future leaders of the city that would be called Glendora: Cullen, Bender, La Fetra, and Warren. Chicago industrialist George Whitcomb bought over 200 acres, and the city of Glendora was finally established. Pictured here are some the earliest photographs of the region, including images of the Santa Fe Railroad that established the citrus industry in Glendora, the Glendora Fruit Association and the families that diligently worked for it, the packing houses, buildings, and early residents.
#284
Gold Rush Towns of Nevada County
2006
Nevada County is webbed with some of the richest veins of goldbearing quartz in the world. First discovered in 1849 as placer gold washed into creek beds, hydraulic miners later used massive jets of water to melt mountains and free the precious metal. Rich lodegold districts such as Grass Valley and Nevada City were the most productive in California, and innovations such as hydraulic mining began here and spread throughout the nation. Whimsical names like You Bet, Red Dog, Rough and Ready, French Corral, and Blue Tent hint at the colorful beginnings of dozens of camps that grew from wild and chaotic tent towns to bustling young communities, complete with schools, churches, and businesses. Boomtowns North San Juan, North Bloomfield, and Columbia propelled Nevada County to the head of the state's economy by 1900 and hundreds of miles of gold-bearing quartz veins continued to be tapped in underground tunnels for another 50 years or more.
#285
Granada Hills
2007
The modern history of Granada Hills began in 1913 with the completion of the Los Angeles aqueduct and the arrival of abundant freshwater to the former land of Mission San Fernando. Citrus orchards flourished on the Sunshine Ranch, acreage originally cultivated by former senator George K. Porter. In 1926, the community of Granada was formed as a rabbit-raising colony, promising residents country living and economic prosperity. Granada added "Hills" to its name in 1942 to avoid confusion with a similarly named Northern California town, and thanks to the postwar baby boom, the population grew by 1,000 percent between 1950 and 1960. The community soon earned a reputation as "The San Fernando Valley's Most Neighborly Town" as residents came together to celebrate the hometown team's 1963 Little League World Series victory and the formation of the nation's first all-girl American Youth Soccer Organization league, and as neighbor helped neighbor
after the devastating 1971 and 1994 earthquakes.
#286
Grass Valley
2006
Grass Valley was named for its spring-fed meadows, but its history springs from deep below the soil. An immeasurable wealth of gold lay in ancient river courses, embedded in quartz, or scattered capriciously in surface gravel. Vibrantly entrepreneurial since its inception, Grass Valley echoed with the roar of stamp mills crushing gold-bearing quartz 24 hours a day, every day, for decades. Its mines produced $350 million, and millions more are thought to be buried beneath the modern city. Grass Valley's wealth drew flamboyant stars like Lola Montez and gold-camp-urchin-turned-star Lotta Crabtree. It was here that philosopher Josiah Royce was born and Cherokee writer Yellow Bird (John Rollin Ridge) lived his final days. Grass Valley was often the subject of Alonzo Delano's tales of the gold rush, and more recently, it was the setting and inspiration for Wallace Stegner's best seller Angle of Repose.
#287
Graton
2009
The town of Graton is located in the beautiful and fertile Green Valley, which was first settled in the mid-1800s by pioneer families such as the Sullivans, Gregsons, and Winklers. When the railroad came through the area, realtor James Gray and banker J. H. Brush bought land and created one of the first subdivisions in Sonoma County. They named the streets after themselves and their children, and in 1905, Graton was born. Along with the agricultural industry in California, the town thrived until the 1970s and then declined, only to be reborn in the 1990s. Throughout all Graton's phases, Oak Grove School (1854), the Pacific Christian Academy (1918), and the Graton Community Club (1914) remained vital. Graton is now part of a premiere wine-growing region, and visitors as well as locals are attracted to its vibrant downtown businesses, award-winning restaurants, and artistic community.
#288
Greater Carpinteria
Summerland and La Conchita
2009
Carpinteria once featured a racetrack at one end of town and a gargantuan statue of Santa Claus at the other—"anchor" operations highlighting this unique southern corner of coastal Santa Barbara County. A few miles south, in the northern corner of Ventura County, nestles La Conchita, where an early seaside stagecoach route and a famous banana plantation helped shape the local flavor. The historical characteristics of Summerland, on the coast north of "Carp," as Carpinteria is known, have included a J. Paul Getty oil operation and youth baseball played on fields lighted by piped-in natural gas. The three distinct communities of Greater Carpinteria are tied together by both the spectacular coastal landscapes—beautiful beaches and majestic mountain ranges—as well as the area's intrinsically linked schools and businesses. It is an eclectic paradise between Ventura and Santa Barbara that draws a million visitors a year.
#289
Greater French Valley
2009
The Greater French Valley covers the hills and valleys of southwest Riverside County, north of Temecula and south of Hemet. Lueseno Indians knew this area well, seeking out food and water year after year. After the Spanish era, French and Basque shepherds drove through. Some settled along with the Italian-Swiss and the English, bringing sheep-raising, cattle-grazing, bee apiaries, and dry-land grain farming to the area. French Valley, Auld Valley, the Tucalota, Sage, and Rawson Country bear names of hardworking immigrants that settled, prepared for their families, developed community and one-room schools, as well as a social life that lived and breathed rural America. Today in this area, backgrounds, generations, and their stories blend together, sharing the warmth and legacy of a bygone era.
#292
Griffith Park
2011
Carved from the former Spanish land grant known as Rancho Los Feliz, Griffith Park, a rugged, 4,300-acre wilderness located in the heart of Los Angeles, has been the principal playground for Angelenos for over a century. Since 1896, when the land was donated to the city by controversial philanthropist Col. Griffith J. Griffith, generations of weekenders have picnicked, camped, golfed, ridden horses, hiked, bicycled, and played ball in the park. To this day, visitors still climb aboard its mini-train and merry-go-round and explore its zoo, museums, amphitheater, and world-famous observatory. The park, which lies in the shadow of the Hollywood sign, has been a frequent filming site for legendary movies like Back to the Future, Birth of a Nation, and Rebel Without a Cause.
#293
Grover Beach
2008
The city of Grover Beach is nestled in the dunes of the California coastline in San Luis Obispo County. In 1842, Jose Ortego received a Mexican land grant and made the first claim on the area. Ortego sold his 8,838 acres to Isaac Sparks in 1867, and Sparks later sold half to John Price. Price sold his share to Dwight William Grover for $22,982.20 in gold. By 1887, Grover had filed with the county and founded the Town of Grover. Developers John F. Beckett in 1892 and Horace V. Bagwell in 1935 followed. Growing gradually, the city incorporated in 1959, changed its name to Grover Beach in 1992, and received Amtrak rail service in 1996—a permanent connection to the surrounding communities and commerce. The city has come full circle, from D. W. Grover's dream to reality.
#295
Half Moon Bay
2005
First dubbed San Benito and then "Spanishtown," Half Moon Bay is a coastside town with a long and intriguing story. Many know it for its lovely natural surroundings, quaint downtown architecture, and relaxed atmosphere, but not many people know that this town was the first to be established in San Mateo County as a result of 1840s land grants to early Spanish settlers. Isolated on the coast for a time, it became home to Mexican, Chilean, Italian, Portuguese, and other cultures after the 1850s, when roads finally reached over the mountains. During the 20th century, a wide variety of businesses thrived here, as people arrived by road, water, and even railroad. Farms, churches, schools, businesses, and homes sprang up, and the town modernized, though today's Half Moon Bay looks much like it did 100 years ago.
#296
Hamilton Field
2008
In response to the growing need for military air defense in the 1920s, a parcel of Novato farmland on the San Pablo Bay was chosen as the future site for Hamilton Field. Constructed in the early 1930s and dedicated in 1935, Hamilton was originally established as a bombardment base of the 1st Wing of the air force. The base played a pivotal role during World War II as a flight-training facility and was an official point of departure for bombardment groups heading to the Pacific. Renamed the Hamilton Air Force Base in 1947, the base is also known for its well-planned community layout and landscaping, as well as its architecturally cohesive design in the Spanish Eclectic style. Decommissioned and vacated by 1975, the former base now serves as a planned housing, business, and civic park. Hamilton remains an important historical and community asset of Novato and Marin County.
#297
Hammonton and Marigold
2007
This is the story of one community and two towns: Hammonton and Marigold, companyowned dredger towns located 10 miles east of Marysville, California. Their founding was a direct result of the gold rush of 1849 and the subsequent hydraulic mining that followed. The towns' history was wrought by the families who inhabited them and the many men and women who would build their community together through the years. In Hammonton and Marigold, there was no upper or lower class; the people were all working for dredging companies and considered equals. Although the company towns were shut down and the families all displaced, in 1957, the community itself carried on to the present day, holding annual reunions and even publishing a quarterly newsletter.
Authors
Pete Smith
Author · 1 books
Pete Smith was born in London and immigrated to Africa in 1957. He has been a professional pianist all his life and now resides on the island of Crete in Greece with his wife and furry family. His love of his animals has given him the inspiration to write.
Jeff Rubin
Author · 6 books
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
J.R. Sanders
Author · 2 books
Award-winning author J.R. Sanders is a native Midwesterner and longtime denizen of the L.A. suburbs. His nonfiction articles appear in such periodicals as Law & Order and Wild West magazines. His books include Some Gave All, which gives true accounts of forgotten Old West lawmen killed in the line of duty. J.R.’s first Nate Ross novel, Stardust Trail - a detective story set among the B-Western film productions of 1930s Hollywood - was a 2021 Spur Award Finalist (Best Western Historical Novel) and Silver Falchion Finalist (Best Investigator). His second Nate Ross novel, Dead-Bang Fall, won the 2023 Shamus Award (Best Original PI Paperback).
Brian Tom
Author · 2 books
Author Brian Tom was born and raised in Marysville. He is the founder of the Asian American Studies Program at the University of California, Davis-one of the first (June 1969) AAS programs in the country. He wrote the AAS proposal, taught three of the first five classes, and hired the first tenure-track faculty. He practiced law in San Francisco for over 25 years. He is the founder and director of the Chinese American Museum of Northern California. Lawrence Tom was born in Marysville's Chinatown. He was the comptroller for the California State Department of Transportation and is the tour director for the Chinese American Museum of Northern California "
