California

Plan all your California getaways with our Golden State catalog. Whip up the coast on the PCH to old San Francisco, where Gold Rush fever is slow to fade. Leave some flowers for Cecil B. DeMille and Johnny Ramone at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Get a progress report on the receding waters of the Salton Sea and the expanding minds in Northridge. From the fertile fields of Nevada County to the Venice Beach Boardwalk, experience the largesse and diversity of California's history with our California history books. [View all California books]

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Rialto

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Lake Elsinore

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Sacramento

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Dublin

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Susanville

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Long Beach Fire Department

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Hammonton and Marigold

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Sausalito

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Sacramento Beer

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Kerman

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Central Coast Aviators in World War II

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San Gorgonio Search and Rescue Team

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The Picture Man: From the Collection of Bay Area Photographer E.F. Joseph 1927-1979

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Inland Empire

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Westlake

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Cherry Valley

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Moorpark

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Fair Oaks

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Long Beach State:

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Long Beach Chronicles

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Ventura

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Glendora

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Running Springs

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Sacramento

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The New Deal in Orange County, California

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Around Crockett

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Rialto

9780738528922

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Rialto, California has always been a growing place. At first a charming town populated mostly by citrus growers, the city seemed to know no limits in the 1950s as Route 66 attracted more and more commuters to the area. For several years, Rialto was officially the fastest-growing city in the United States. Rialto's lush groves and towering eucalyptus windbreaks were gradually replaced by subdivisions, but the spectacular San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains remained.

Lake Elsinore

9780738555881

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The city of Lake Elsinore is home to Southern California's only natural lake. Since the 1800s, the lake has provided respite and recreation, beginning as a campsite for early pioneer travelers and later evolving into a world-class playground for the rich and famous. In 1951, Lake Elsinore's popularity suffered when the lake dried up, causing many of the recreational activities to move away. Today the lake is maintained at an ideal 1,240 feet above sea level and filled with weekend watercraft and fishermen, while families picnic nearby and the city enjoys a major growth in population and businesses.

Sacramento

9780738571522

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In 1850, Sacramento was a city of 10,000 men with almost no women or children, a transient population going to and from the gold mines in the Sierra Nevada. The waterfront on the Sacramento River was a chaotic scene of oxen and mule teams, piles of supplies on the wharf, and abandoned ships whose crews had jumped ship for the goldfields. The city also became a major railroad junction and agricultural hub in the 1800s before it became the center of state government, and much of the bustling city's early life was captured on picture postcards.

Dublin

9780738547664

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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.

Susanville

9780738558431

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Nestled in a high-desert valley in northeastern California, bordered by both lush evergreen forests and arid sagebrush, Susanville is a community of independent spirits. First a rugged trading post for Noble's Train wagon trains, in 1854, pioneer Isaac Roop wrought the first permanent settlement by allotting a large piece of his land for the city, which eventually would be named for his daughter Susan. Early settlers worked the surrounding ranches, farms, and mines, and the community began to thrive. Businesses sprang up, including general stores, saloons, stables, and hotels. Soon the hallmarks of domestic society, churches and schools, were established as well. At the beginning of the 20th century, a better water system was installed and a high school was built. As life adjusted to the advent of electricity, the telephone, and a new railroad, Susanville prospered, with the lumber industry at its core. Though the old mill's 5:00 whistle has since fallen silent, the city continues to welcome visitors with its stunning natural surroundings, charming historic downtown, and friendly people.

Long Beach Fire Department

9780738530017

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The Long Beach Fire Department's adaptability has been tested by a wide variety of disasters that have marked it as a unique firefighting force on the West Coast. Thousands of residents and others have owed their very lives to the
department since its 1897 formation. The LBFD moved into action during the devastating 1933 Long Beach earthquake, in which its own Fire House No. 1 was reduced to rubble. Its
firefighters have quelled oilfield blazes through the 20th century, and its fireboats have poured water onto flames engulfing the docks and warehouses of the bustling port. Other duties have included such side excursions as working
standby during Howard Hughes's 1947 flight of the Spruce Goose and taking care of Sam the cat, a Station 6 mainstay who slid down the fire pole to the delight of television audiences.

Hammonton and Marigold

9780738547602

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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.

Sausalito

9780738530369

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Sausalito got its Spanish name, meaning little willow grove, from British seaman William Richardson. He hoped that this deep-water anchorage, so close to the Golden Gate, would become the entrance to a busy city. But the tall ships mostly rushed past his Whaler's Cove to anchor in San Francisco. Later Sausalito's gentle hills and sun-washed harbor became a favorite playground and retreat for wealthy San Franciscans, and large hotels like the El Monte prospered. Before construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito was a transportation nexus for trains and ferries, and in a sudden mobilization during World War II, 22,000 people a day worked three shifts building liberty ships at Marinship. Sausalito was homeport for many seafaring adventurers, daring rumrunners during Prohibition, and later for beatniks, poets, hippies, and artists drawn to Sausalito's spectacular vistas and relatively rural atmosphere. Making their abodes on riotously rickety houseboats or in cabins perched on steep slopes, they left an artistic legacy to the community.

Sacramento Beer

9781467138475

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Historically speaking, Sacramento benefited from a gold rush, an agricultural boom and, more recently, a brewing renaissance. The region's craft beer scene exploded from six to more than sixty breweries in about a decade, and the roots of that culture stretch back more than a century. Before Prohibition, thousands of acres of local hops supplied brewers across the country. Local farms are once again taking advantage of the temperate climate. In 1958, the University of California–Davis started America's foremost brewing science program, producing some of California's top brewers. Rubicon's 1989 award-winning IPA was just the beginning for the current, innovative resurgence. Author Justin Chechourka explores the complexities and nuance of this fermenting heritage.

Kerman

9781467115421

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Kerman sits in the heart of California's great San Joaquin Valley. First established in 1891 as a train stop for the Southern Pacific Railroad, the town site was originally named Collis Station for the railroad's president, Collis P. Huntington. Even in its earliest days, agriculture was the driving force behind Kerman's economy. Advances in irrigation as well as Kerman's close proximity to two of the region's largest rivers—Kings and San Joaquin—resulted in abundant access to water, attracting farmers and land investors at the start of the 20th century. As the community grew, alfalfa hay, raisins, and dairy products became mainstays in Kerman's agricultural production. By 1910, Kerman had a volunteer fire department, a library, and new businesses. Images of America: Kerman explores the first 80 years of a town that continues to grow and diversify.

Central Coast Aviators in World War II

9781467139526

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During World War II, thousands of volunteer combat aviators trained at places like Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and Hancock Field in Santa Maria. Some air cadets and WASPs—young women pilots—lost their lives in training accidents. The graduates would go on to fight in both the Pacific and European theaters. They faced flak bursts and collisions that resulted in horrifying explosions and were sent on strafing runs that made them targets in a lethal shooting gallery. Downed airmen encountered both unexpected kindness and cruel deprivation as prisoners of war. Through interviews and official records, Jim Gregory tells the stories of heroic Central Coast veterans who fought a war that stretched from New Guinea to North Africa.

San Gorgonio Search and Rescue Team

9780738555768

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In February 1958, a tragic climbing accident occurred on Big Falls, in Forest Falls, California, resulting in the death of a 13-year-old boy. Rescue attempts were futile because there were no experienced personnel or climbing equipment available. As a result of this unfortunate tragedy, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department
spearheaded a recruitment of volunteers, forming the county's first mountain search and rescue team. Since that time, the San Gorgonio Search and Rescue Team has performed thousands of searches, rescues,
and body recoveries. The organization is the oldest of its kind in San Bernardino County and is proud to have second-generation team members. This book tells the story of these dedicated volunteers through photographs taken by team members and through the stories retold by those who were there.

The Picture Man: From the Collection of Bay Area Photographer E.F. Joseph 1927-1979

9781467125659

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From 1927 until his death in 1979, E.F. Joseph documented the daily lives of African Americans in the Bay Area. His images were printed in the Pittsburgh Courier and the Chicago Defender but not widely published in his home community. A graduate of the American School of Photography in Illinois, Joseph photographed the likes of such celebrities and activists as Josephine Baker, Mahalia Jackson, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Thurgood Marshall. However, what is perhaps more compelling within these pages are the countless images of everyday citizens--teaching, entertaining, worshipping, working, and serving their community and their nation.

Inland Empire

9780738559070

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Southern California's vast Inland Empire is one of the fastest growing regions of the United States. It is a wonderland of old-growth vineyards, citrus groves, hot-water resorts, Wild West landmarks, and Native American territories. America's fabled Mother Road, Route 66, runs right through it. Its fertile valleys are encircled by mountains with famous resort areas such as Idyllwild, Big Bear Lake, and Lake Arrowhead. Those mountains are surrounded in turn by some of the world's best-known desert resort and recreational areas, including Palm Springs, the Mojave, Death Valley, and Joshua Tree National Park. Inland Empire is the first book of its kind, offering a postcard-perfect grand tour of the entire region.

Westlake

9780738559117

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The Westlake section of Daly City is the quintessential postwar suburban-modernist development, and it was the singular vision of Henry Doelger that made it so. Westlake was to the San Francisco Bay Area what Levittown was to New York after World War II, providing affordable housing for thousands of service veterans and war-industry personnel who remained in California after their tours of duty. The area abuts San Francisco's Sunset District, where Doelger built thousands of homes in the shifting sands before battling the dunes in northern San Mateo County in 1948. Doelger was lauded as the Bay Area's bestknown builder of homes, apartments, and shopping centers. Daly City increased in size almost by half when Westlake was annexed in 1948.

Cherry Valley

9780738559520

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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.

Moorpark

9781467134491

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The story of Moorpark begins with a town that was built in the right place at the right time. In the 1890s, when the Southern Pacific Railroad announced plans to relocate its Coast Line through Chatsworth to Ventura, land speculation ensued. Robert W. Poindexter, secretary of the Simi Land and Water Company, owned the plot of land that became Moorpark and laid out the townsite in 1900. A depot was quickly built, and soon, trains were arriving daily. Shortly thereafter, an application for a post office was also approved. After the completion of the Santa Susana tunnels in 1904, Moorpark began to grow. Historically, Moorpark's main source of revenue has been agriculture. Initially, dry land farming, including apricots, was preferred. As irrigation techniques improved, walnuts and citrus became the major crops. Its extensive apricot production endowed Moorpark with the title Apricot Capital of the World. After World War II, the poultry industry became big business, with turkey, chicken, and egg ranches dotting the landscape.

Fair Oaks

9780738530888

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Fair Oaks, in the gently undulating foothills along Highway 50, has something in common with its vast neighbor, Sacramento. Early land speculators, politicians, and Chicago businessmen formed a partnership to sell off one of their "Sunset Colonies," deservedly dubbed Fair Oaks, promising water systems and a suburban railroad to help colonists grow prize citrus. The farmers came, but when the investors retreated east, a railroad and water had not appeared. A later investment group did build a bridge and railroad, encouraging more farmers until, at the height of the Great Depression, nature laid a cold hand on the land, freezing all of the citrus. But other orchard crops and vineyards flourished, while more bridges and proximity to the state capital helped transform the farm town into a charming suburb, where residents can still gather at the local cafe or brave the red bluffs and rushing waters of the American River.

Long Beach State:

9781626196018

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Long Beach State grew up right along with the sprawling Southern California suburbs. Born in 1949, it swelled to accommodate the post-world war enthusiasm for education and land. The rapid expansion brought its share of growing pains. Students took classes in a cramped converted apartment with no books and playing ring-around-the-rosie for physical education. Money was scarce, and faculty at times feuded with the administration. But the new college's "let's put on a show" spirit produced a scrappiness that endures today. Read about the personalities that grew the college from Fred Bixby's bean fields into one of the largest universities in California.

Long Beach Chronicles

9781609495480

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Incorporated in 1888, Long Beach was the nation's fastest-growing city for much of the early twentieth century. Tim Grobaty, columnist for two decades for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, looks back at the major events and compelling personalities that shaped the city's formative years. Early settlers such as William Willmore, Charles Rivers Drake and the Bixby family are brought into sharp focus as Grobaty recounts the city's defining moments. From the naming of city streets to early local newspaper wars, and culminating with the devastating earthquake of 1933, Long Beach Chronicles presents a fascinating collection of tales from the city's provocative past.

Ventura

9780738530338

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The city of Ventura traces its heritage back to the founding of Mission San Buenaventura in March 1782. The intervening eras have seen cattle drives down Main Street, revival tents in the marshy area now known as Pierpont, and the days when the Ventura trolley was the quickest way around town. The attractive images in this postcard tour through bygone times also include the stately Schiappapietra Mansion on Santa Clara Street, which was sadly torn down in the mid-1950s. The county seat of Ventura County, the city of Ventura retains a picture-postcard ambiance, and these images illustrate how that charm always has been a part of Ventura heritage.

Glendora

9780738558004

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Azusa Valley, before the 1850s, was a wilderness of ancient live oak trees; thick stretches of cactus, chaparral, and sagebrush; and large boulders from thousands of years of erosion. Pioneers staked claims and began to clear the land. Though many gave up and moved back East, the permanent settlers persevered, and Glendora emerged as a town around 1887. Glendora incorporated in 1911, and an immensely profitable citrus industry kept it thriving. Today it is a quaint community, proud of its citrus-trade heritage.

Running Springs

9780738546797

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For centuries, the mountains and valleys that became the Running Springs area have swelled with natural resources, supplying the hunting and gathering needs of Native Americans who harvested acorns and herbs and hunted deer and other wildlife to sustain themselves through the winters in the valleys below. Nineteenthcentury gold prospectors passed through the Running Springs vicinity on their way to the Holcomb Valley. Lumbermen came to harvest the virgin timber, supplying the construction requirements of the booming population of Southern California as well as the need for "shook," the thin-shaved boards used to make packing and shipping boxes for the fast-growing citrus industries. The early days of Running Springs are detailed in this winding trip through San Bernardino County's namesake mountains in vintage photographs, which also profile the nearby settlements of Arrowbear Lake and Green Valley Lake.

Sacramento

9780738594804

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Of the state of California and its resources, much of late years has been written and printed for dissemination among people of the eastern states. Particularly has such information been published concerning the resources of the southern section of the state. As yet but little has been written of the central section—a vast, rich, but comparatively undeveloped territory—which in the very near future will as much astonish the world by the demonstration of its agricultural wealth, as did the state in 1849 by the richness of its gold mines. In the pages following, nothing but facts, capable of absolute and satisfactory demonstration, are presented. Of the section of which this work treats, the facts furnish an ample and convincing argument of its resources and capabilities. It has been the endeavor of the writers—and they are gentlemen of state-wide reputation—to present but the actual facts.

The New Deal in Orange County, California

9781626194885

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Unpredictably harsh elements wreaked havoc in Orange County during the Great Depression. The 1933 Long Beach earthquake claimed 115 lives, shattering lands eastward across the Los Angeles County line into the Orange County cities. Then 60 people perished in the devastating 1938 Santa Ana River flood, which washed out roads and buildings and much of the county's namesake citrus industry. Orange County's 130,000 people received a greater density of federal public aid than LA County's 2.2 million and San Diego County's 210,000. Join Charles Epting on this tour of the buildings, bridges, harbors, trails, libraries, highways and other infrastructure gains--many still in use--that were revitalized by the Works Progress Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps and other agencies of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal.

Around Crockett

9780738559278

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The territory around Crockett may seem little more than a nook along the Carquinez Strait in West Contra Costa County, but it was once home to many small towns. Although independent, each town relied on the others for goods and services. Using vintage postcards, readers will take a trip through the region's past, visiting Crockett, the Selby Smelting and Refining Company, Vallejo Junction, Carquinez Bridge, Valona, C&H Sugar Factory, Scow Town, and Port Costa along the way.