Durham

9780738558172

$24.99

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.

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Smartsville and Timbuctoo

9780738556062

$24.99

Smartsville and Timbuctoo (California State Landmarks Nos. 321 and 320) are essentially one place with two names. As worked-out claims and floods forced placer forty-niners up from the sandbars into the hills above the Yuba River, and as word spread around the world about gold in the California hills, towns and communities formed. The Smartsville and Timbuctoo area was once the most populated place in eastern Yuba County. Black Bart, Jim "the Timbuctoo Terror" Webster, and other desperadoes haunted the local roads. Eventually fires, worked-out diggings, and the Sawyer Decision succeeded in driving out all but the most dedicated (and in some cases eccentric) residents. Neither town, though, is ready yet for the dustbin of history: the population might once again explode--this time not with gold seekers but with long-distance commuters, turning the former boomtowns into future bedroom communities.

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Galt

9781467124799

$24.99

New York native Dr. Obed Harvey came to California to seek his fortune in the Gold Rush. Like so many others, he turned to farming the great Central Valley. With the help of the Central Pacific Railroad, Dr. Harvey established a town around the railroad that ran through his property. His friend John McFarland, a rancher, chose the name Galt after his boyhood home in Canada. Over the years, unique businesses like the Sego Milk Plant and the Galt Winery came and went. The citizens celebrated the Fourth of July with parades and attended the Sacramento County Fair, held in town. Still a farming community with a small-town atmosphere, Galt is noted for Spaans Cookie Co., McFarland Living History Ranch, and the Rae House Museum.

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Pinole

9780738570426

$24.99

Pinole began as the cornerstone of a massive land grant nearly 200 years ago and grew to become an economic center of early Contra Costa County. Today it is a diverse and public-spirited small city with a high regard for, and interest in, its heritage. Pinole was named for the gruel (penole or pinolli) made from seeds, grain, and acorns given by welcoming Native Americans to explorers in the Pedro Fages expedition in 1772. Pinole's rich commercial and farming history--made possible by its access to San Pablo Bay and by the convergence of two railroads that ran through the heart of the community--is chronicled here with numerous photographs from the latter part of the 19th century through 2009, recalling buildings, people, and events that still live in the hearts of the city's modern-day residents.

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Jews of Oakland and Berkeley

9780738570334

$24.99

From the time the Jewish people of Oakland first settled in that city, they have developed their own institutions and style. Starting with the purchase of land for a cemetery in the 1860s, they created a robust and unique lifestyle. Throughout the 20th century, Jews in Berkeley have contributed both cultural and intellectual elements that resonate through American Jewish life. Building on the work of the founders and expanding from a local society to a regional population, the Jews of the East Bay continue to serve as a model for Jewish life through their innovative programs and commitment to service.

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Palm Haven

9781467130486

$24.99

In 1917, it was not San Jose, California, but a small residential subdivision at its southern edge called Palm Haven that incorporated itself as an independent city. Patterned after the popular residence parks of the day, it boasted palm tree–lined streets, entrances marked by decorative pillars, its own trolley stop, and a grassy central plaza planted with trees. But it was Palm Haven's independence that attracted a remarkable mix of business and government leaders, entrepreneurs and inventors, and artists and independent thinkers. They advised US presidents, introduced broccoli to the American diet, and left a mark on local, regional, and national history that resonates today.

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Sundance

9780738581095

$24.99

Sundance, in the northeast corner of Wyoming, may not be the only place with that name, but it is the original Sundance—the place where the Kid got his name. There was no settlement of any sort when Crook County was created in 1875. The town was founded in 1878, named after the mountain that stands south of town where the Plains tribes held their sun dance ceremonies. Sundance is not that different from the many other small towns that sprang to life in the boom of gold, cattle, and oil throughout the West, but it is different in that it has ridden through the booms and the busts and still survives. This book contains images of people's lives as they worked and played, lived and died. It tells of those who passed through, and those who stayed and helped the community establish its roots and grow.

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Big Piney and Marbleton

9780738575889

$24.99

Big Piney and Marbleton are one mile apart, and attempts to combine the two towns have been unsuccessful. The area had been home to family-operated cattle ranches starting in 1878, and a year later Daniel B. Budd and Hugh McKay brought 1,000 cattle from Nevada and were stopped here due to the weather. Founded by Daniel, Big Piney was incorporated in a boggy area on July 5, 1913, and is the oldest settlement in Sublette County. Daniel's eldest son, Charles, had hoped to build the town up on the bench to alleviate the problem of wet land. He founded Marbleton, the newer town, which was incorporated in 1914. Big Piney has been called the "Icebox of the Nation" because it had the coldest year-round average temperature in the country when it was officially made a weather station in 1930. Cattle remain a vibrant part of the local economy, and the land has been drilled for oil since the 1920s. Both towns have known several booms and busts, typical of the energy industry.

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South Davis County

9781467131636

$24.99

South Davis County is bounded by the majestic Wasatch Mountain Range to the east and the Great Salt Lake to the west. Bountiful, Centerville, Farmington, and Kaysville are the major population centers—all originating as early Mormon settlements. Concerned that their livestock might harm new crops and gardens being planted in Salt Lake City, their leader, Brigham Young, sent herds of cattle, mules, and horses north to graze along the lakeshore in 1847. Small farming communities established the following spring supplied goods and produce to the growing populations of Salt Lake City to Ogden. Organized as Davis County in 1850, Farmington was the center of government. Railroad service, established in 1870, allowed the farmers and ranchers to reach markets within hours of harvesting. And in 1956, a six-foot pipeline was completed, delivering water from the Weber River to the communities along the front. Rapid expansion has resulted, but the pioneer spirit still prevails.

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La Honda

9780738547381

$24.99

Less than 45 miles from San Francisco and Silicon Valley, La Honda is an isolated rural community nestled in the majestic coastal redwood forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Pioneers in the late 19th century were loggers and ranchers who competed against grizzly bears and mountain lions for food. Outlaws like the Younger brothers (partners with Jesse James) used La Honda's isolation to avoid justice. Gradually the community became a mountain retreat for cityweary San Franciscans, and in the 1960s, La Honda was home to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest author Ken Kesey and his psychedelic Merry Pranksters. Today's La Honda is an enigma—its size and character have barely changed while the rest of the San Francisco Peninsula has exploded around it.

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Highlandlake and Mead

9780738596013

$24.99

Today, Mead is a vibrant Little Town with a Big Future, but when Lorin C. Mead homesteaded 80 acres in 1871, it was nothing more than virgin prairie with a small spring-fed pond he named Highland Lake after Sir Walter Scott's poem The Lady of the Lake. In 1873, he completed the Highland Ditch and enlarged the pond into a reservoir. The availability of irrigation water attracted additional settlers, and soon a village named Highlandlake sprang up along the shore. In late 1905, a promised railroad bypassed Highlandlake and instead established a beet dump along the eastern border of Paul Mead's farm. Paul, the son of Lorin C. Mead's brother Dr. Martin Luther Mead, immediately platted a new town, naming it after his father. Mead thrived until the Great Depression, during which several businesses were lost, including both banks. For almost 60 years, the town struggled to overcome the resultant losses until finally, in the 1990s, families rediscovered Mead's quaint charm and rural beauty.

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Glenn County

9781467131841

$24.99

A brief look into the history of Glenn County will show you that Glenn County was created out of the northern portion of Colusa County on March 11, 1891, and was named after the prominent wheat farmer known as the Wheat King of the World, Dr. Hugh J. Glenn. A more in-depth look at the formation of Glenn County will show that its separation from Colusa County created a fierce contest among the people of those counties. Trains filled with hundreds of citizens traveled to Sacramento to lobby the governor; a few people were even hired from outside of the county to vote for the separation. There are reports that guns were brought to the courthouse for the first election of Glenn County officials in May 1891. To this day, there remains an air of discontent between the two counties.

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Rio Linda and Elverta

9780738531144

$24.99

Rio Linda and Elverta are now modern suburbs north of busy metropolitan Sacramento. But when Edwin Pitcher first opened his hotel, the Star House, on Nevada Road in 1860, it was only a place to water horses and spend the night on the long, open road to the new state capital. Elverta was the
first community to appear here in 1908, and in 1913, a development group, Suburban Fruitlands Company, promoted Rio Linda as ideal land for growing fruit. Unfortunate orchardists who believed the advertising saw their seedlings wither in hardpan, but those who stuck it out turned to lucrative poultry ranching. Until the 1960s, the area was a major California egg producer. Nearby McClellan Air Force Base, established just before World
War II, was a major employer until it reverted to other military uses in 2001
and is still a point of pride for residents.

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Rohnert Park

9780738589244

$24.99

Fifty-five years ago, there was no Rohnert Park, only a vision in Paul Golis's mind. In 1962, just five years after construction of the first homes on land between Cotati and Santa Rosa, the community of Rohnert Park was incorporated. With a population of 40,000 today, the city has matured into more than simply a bedroom community. The planned neighborhoods Paul Golis and Maurice Fredericks designed for the first two sections, known as A and B, each included a school, pool, and park. These designs inspired many future city planners.

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Thornton

9780738558950

$24.99

In 1953, developer Sam Hoffman set out to build modern brick homes in a brand-new neighborhood north of Denver. He envisioned a planned community with land reserved for schools, churches, and shopping centers. Many veterans of World War II, with their young families, moved into houses built by Hoffman's F&S Construction, and these new citizens formed the Thornton Community Association, which eventually led the effort to incorporate the city in 1956. The history of Eastlake, founded in 1905, is tied to that of Thornton, and it is therefore included in this volume as well. Eastlake retains its own identity even though it now lies within Thornton's boundaries, and both communities continue to see housing and population growth as new families move in seeking the same opportunities as those who first settled here.

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Muckenthaler Cultural Center

9780738575513

$24.99

The Mediterranean-style Muckenthaler villa was first a family home and is now a cultural center for the arts. Built in 1924, the 18-room villa is situated on 8.5 acres atop a Fullerton hill that was selected for its picturesque views of orchards to the south. Walter Muckenthaler and his wife, the former Adella Kraemer, lived there for more than 30 years, where they entertained friends, family, and dignitaries in landscaped gardens, bred rare birds, and enjoyed life as respected community members in a growing Orange County town. In 1965, seven years after Walter's passing, Harold Muckenthaler, the couple's only son, wished to have his childhood home utilized as a cultural center for the public and donated the house and property to the city of Fullerton. In 1999, the Muckenthaler villa received designation by the National Register of Historic Places. Today, tens of thousands of annual visitors enjoy the distinctive architecture, gardens, and grounds of the Muckenthaler Cultural Center, as well as unique art exhibitions, theater, music, dance, storytelling, classes, and seasonal festivals.

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West Valley City

9780738595412

$24.99

In the fall of 1848, Joseph and Susanna Harker became the first pioneers Over Jordan as they crossed to the west side seeking a new home in the valley. Other families soon followed, and by the 1880s, canals brought irrigation water, allowing farming settlements to spread out toward the Oquirrh Mountains. The agrarian communities of Hunter, Granger, Redwood, and Chesterfield began to take shape. The decades after World War II saw enormous growth, new neighborhoods, and the Valley Fair Mall. When the area finally incorporated as West Valley City in 1980, it was immediately one of Utah's largest cities. The city has seen remarkable progress in its first three decades, including being a venue city for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and emerging as Utah's most ethnically diverse city.

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Lake Mathews and Gavilan Hills

9780738547794

$24.99

The sparsely populated Cajalco basin holds a rich and varied history. Native American pictographs, grinding slicks, and mortars dot the landscape, while mine shafts and tailings reflect the arduous labor of tin and gold miners in an earlier time. Except for these seekers of fortune, hermits, and the occasional rancher or sheepherder, there were few inhabitants in this region until Lawrence Holmes planted 50,000 carob trees in the 1920s and sold off plots to potential carob barons. Soon the valley boasted carob and citrus groves, homes, a school, and
a store. The need for water in Los Angeles brought significant change to the valley when the Metropolitan Water Department constructed a terminus reservoir for the proposed Colorado River Aqueduct during the 1930s. This and many other events in the history of Lake Mathews and Gavilan Hills are illustrated here for the first time through 200
photographs, many never seen before by the public.

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A Monterey Album

9780738520988

$24.99

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.

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Poudre Canyon

9781467133708

$24.99

Carved eons ago by the Cache la Poudre River, the Poudre Canyon, north and west of Fort Collins, Colorado, has long been a favored recreation place, for fishing, hiking, camping, and more, of area residents and tourists. The canyon has many colorful tales to tell; this book takes readers on a drive through that history, milepost by milepost, stopping at historic places and taking some side trips along the way. Beginning with trappers and mountain men, the canyon has been traveled since the early 1800s, and Native Americans roamed here for times unknown before that. Explorers came, as did seekers of gold and silver. The expanding railroads resulted in logging enterprises, and mining interests brought about better access to mining towns. Near the end of the 19th century, tourists began to enjoy the hunting and fishing of the area. In 1920, the road, which had been blocked from either direction by a place in the canyon called the Narrows, finally went through all the way, bringing resorts and tourists.

Citrus Heights

9780738574592

$24.99

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.

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Wineries of the Gold Country

9781467130417

$24.99

Say the words California Gold Rush, and images of miners plying glittering gold from streams and mines come to mind. But there is a larger story in the California Gold Country than just the discovery of this precious metal. Immigrants from around the world rushed into the area, bringing with them their own languages and traditions in a quest for riches. One of those traditions was wine making, which, for some, would prove to be a greater boon than panning for gold as they discovered that the region's soils and microclimates were ideal for vineyards.

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Calabasas

9781467134156

$34.99

Calabasas is located in the hills west of the San Fernando Valley in the northwest Santa Monica Mountains. The Chumash Indians were the first to settle in this picturesque region, abundant with wildlife, water, and shady oak trees. The early years of Calabasas offer a colorful history full of buried treasure, cattle and sheep ranches, stagecoaching, ghost sightings, and some of Southern California's roughest and toughest residents. Between the 1920s and 1970s, countless films and television episodes were filmed in the west San Fernando Valley area alone. It was a time when Westerns ruled the scene, and the studios bought up huge tracts of underdeveloped acreage in the hills around Calabasas to serve as movie ranches. Today, Calabasas is primarily a city of master-planned communities that are home to over 23,000 residents, including many of Hollywood's rich and famous. In banning secondhand smoke, plastic bags, and Styrofoam, Calabasas has been on the forefront of enacting environmental stewardship to preserve its historical roots and protect its open spaces.

Owyhee County

9781467133098

$24.99

The sprawling high desert wilderness of southwestern Idaho was virtually unknown to whites in 1863, when Mike Jordan and a band of placer miners dipped their pans into the creek that bears his name and found gold. The electrifying news spread, and the people came. Towns sprang up overnight on the mountaintops. Some disappeared almost as quickly as they had appeared. Men needed to work the mines! cried Idaho's newspapers. The word went out, and the miners came from Nevada, California, Colorado, and across the West. Soon the great mines of War Eagle Mountain rivaled Nevada's fabled Comstock Lode. With the exception of Silver City, one of America's largest intact ghost towns, the boomtowns, as well as the mines, are gone; however, descendants of the miners remain. Owyhee County is the size of Delaware and Connecticut combined—7,679 square miles—with a population of only 11,500. It is a rarely visited land of few roads and fewer people, sagebrush desert, deep basalt canyons, romantic vistas, and mysterious mountains that still hide their gold and silver.

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Gridley

9781467133593

$24.99

Traveling from Galena, Illinois, George Washington Gridley was 32 years old when he first gazed upon a broad verdant valley in California in 1850. He looked northward from the top of the buttes and knew at once that he had found his future home. Gridley settled four miles north of the buttes and began to establish the agricultural empire that was to become his monument. In partnership with the California & Oregon Railroad, Gridley requested the railroad consider building a station at the tracks for farmers and ranchers to ship their livestock and produce. The town of Gridley was established with the building of the train station, along with an added park area donated by the railroad.

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San Diego County Parks

9781467125994

$24.99

From its earliest park in 1913, the County of San Diego has more than 100 years of serving the public with unique park and recreational experiences while preserving significant natural and cultural resources. Officially, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors established the Department of Recreation in 1946. Today, the department manages over 50,000 acres of parks, campgrounds, trails, recreation centers, sports complexes, and ecological and open-space preserves. The county covers an area that includes coastline, mountains, deserts, lakes, lagoons, and other habitats—it is the nation's most biologically diverse county—and the department's properties mirror this biodiversity. They also contain sites that reveal the county's history: Mexican-era ranchos, an overland stage station, remnants of an early gristmill, Victorian mansions, traces of flume systems, Depression-era construction projects, an 1887 boathouse, and parks that reflect the advent of early automobile tourism.

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Fountain Valley

9780738547459

$24.99

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.

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Cheyenne Frontier Days

9780738596402

$24.99

Cheyenne Frontier Days™ originated in 1897 after a few individuals conceived a signature event as a way to revive the thrilling incidents and pictures of life in the Old West. Their vision included a celebration that would bring visitors from all over the world to the capital city of Wyoming. From its beginnings, Cheyenne residents valued a rural lifestyle that inspired them to create a frontier festival. For more than a century, Cheyenne Frontier Days™ has been the spirit, heart, and soul of the community and the cowboy way of life. Today, it has evolved into the world's largest outdoor rodeo and celebration of its kind.

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Carson

9780738531045

$24.99

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.

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Centerville, Fremont

9780738581774

$24.99

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.

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Laotians in the San Francisco Bay Area

9780738595863

$24.99

Throughout the 19th and up to the mid-20th centuries, immigrants from China, Japan, Korea, India, and the Philippines came to America through San Francisco. The end of the decades-long Vietnam War changed the modern Asian American demographics of the city, this time with refugees coming from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The San Francisco Bay Area remains a hub for Laotian American culture, history, and community resources, and it has been a center for Laotian American advancement since the early 1980s. After calling the United States home for more than 30 years and battling the scars of war, a new Laotian American society is seeking meaning from its past while moving forward with hopes of a better future as Americans.

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Isleton

9780738528632

$24.99

In the heart of the Delta, between the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, the small town of Isleton boasts a fascinating history as well as the popular Crawdad Festival that draws thousands to the area each year. Built primarily by farmers who found the reclaimed marshland perfect for their agricultural endeavors, the community also became a center for Chinese customs and life when immigrants began to establish themselves in the area in the 1860s. The Chinese were soon followed by other ethnic groups, including Japanese, Philippino, Portuguese, and others who joined them in farming the land, working in the canneries, and raising their families. Though much smaller today than at its peak just prior to World War II, Isleton has made great efforts to preserve its unique character, and today many of its structures are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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Greater French Valley

9780738569185

$24.99

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.

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Shenandoah Valley and Amador Wine Country

9780738556031

$24.99

The grape has been grown and fermented into wine in the foothills of Amador County since the first days of the Gold Rush. While many dreamed of overnight riches in the gold fields, others saw wealth in the region's red soils and Mediterranean climate, patiently planting gardens and orchards, wheat, and vine. These vines, some of the oldest zinfandel in California, have produced distinctive wines in a viticultural tradition that has survived the ravages of mining, disease, and Prohibition. After Prohibition, the region slipped into quiet jug production until its rediscovery in the 1960s. While the Shenandoah Valley is undeniably the heart of Amador's winemaking region today, vineyards flourished historically from Sutter Creek to Fiddletown, from Jackson to Ione, and tasting rooms are open countywide.

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Flintridge

9780738555850

$24.99

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.

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Early National City

9780738559100

$24.99

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.

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Brighton

9780738569413

$24.99

The town of Brighton was founded by railroad man and real estate developer Daniel F. Carmichael at the junction of the Denver Pacific (now Union Pacific) and Denver and Boulder Valley Railroads. Carmichael determined, "There should be a town here that would do credit to the splendid valley." The junction, originally named Hughes after the first president of the Denver Pacific Railroad, had a long history as a crossroads of the West. The town grew into an agricultural center for the Platte River Valley with a thriving sugar beet industry, dairies, and canning factories, but the changing economy would transform Brighton first into a suburban community and now into one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States.

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Theatres of San Jose

9780738569062

$24.99

San Joseans have long had their pick of the best in stage and screen entertainment. In the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries, theatres were beloved places. Whether in downtown, the neighborhoods, or surrounding communities, theatres provided the thrill of a night on the town. Most of the early theatres built in San Jose exist only in photographs, many exhibited in this book for the first time. A few, such as the palatial California Theatre and the venerable Jose Theatre, serve exciting new uses in today's entertainment marketplace. Even such relative newcomers as the Century 21 Theatre and its fellow domed cinemas have begun to gain a romance of their own.

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Long Beach Fire Department

9780738530017

$24.99

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.

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Calle Olvera de Los Angeles

9780738524993

$24.99

El mercado mexicano de Olvera Street y su plaza forman el hogar de la cultura Latina en la región 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 Señora la Reina de Los Angeles, Pico House, Sepúlveda House y L.A. Firehouse No. 1. El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles fue fundado en 1781. La plaza construida en los años 1820 fue gobernada por décadas por el magnánimo Juez Agustn Olvera. Wine Street fue renombrada en su honor después de su muerte y tomo una dureza de callejón representada en las primeras pelculas de Hollywood. En los años 1920, Christine Sterling hizo una campaña para salvar Avila Adobe de una demolición y transformar Olvera Street en un destino turstico reconocido internacionalmente, el cual se inauguró en 1930. Hoy la antigua plaza y las tiendas de Olvera Street, junto con sus restaurantes, museos y vendedores atraen a un millón de personas anualmente bajo el auspicio de El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument.

San Gorgonio Search and Rescue Team

9780738555768

$24.99

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.

Cover image for San Gorgonio Search and Rescue Team, isbn: 9780738555768

Mapleton

9781467132695

$24.99

Located south of Provo and artistic Springville, Mapleton was named in 1901 for its abundance of colorful maple trees. For centuries, American Indian tribes had regarded the bench overlooking Hobble Creek and the valley below as sacred ground and gathered there annually. Catholic explorers hiking down Spanish Fork Canyon, nestled beneath a majestic mountain, first mapped the area in 1776. These Spaniards named the peak Sierra Bonita, though nearly everyone today calls it Maple Mountain. By 1850, Mormon pioneers had settled in Springville, using the rich earth between the creek and the river as farmland. Little by little, they built homes and stayed. The continued perseverance of this community to maintain its country charm is evident throughout the city. Conservation of the foothills and open spaces is an ongoing concern to residents.

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Around Aladdin

9781467115483

$24.99

Aladdin is located in northeast Crook County, in the far northeast corner of Wyoming. The town, the lowest settlement in the state at 3,749 feet, is surrounded by vast plains of waving grass, wooded mountains, and rolling hills. Coal mining brought the early families to the area and has since formed the histories and memories of the people who came and worked to build farms and ranches. Descendents of many of the original settlers still reside in the community, working and raising their families. Around Aladdin contains the stories and memories of those that came to make this part of Wyoming a place to call home for a long, long time.

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Fair Oaks

9780738530888

$24.99

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.

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Big Horn City

9780738581569

$24.99

Big Horn City was the first town established in 1881 in what later became Sheridan County, Wyoming. Nestled in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains, it is no wonder the Crow and Sioux Indian tribes coveted the Little Goose Valley for its abundance of wild game. Sheridan County's first white resident and founder of the town of Big Horn City was Oliver Perry Hanna. Numerous immigrants soon found their way to Big Horn City along the Bozeman Trail to begin a new life. The Bozeman Trail Museum, which serves as a place for local families to share their collectibles, was a blacksmith shop on the Bozeman Trail.

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Escondido Grape Day Festivals

9780738559490

$24.99

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.

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Manhattan Beach Police Department

9780738520896

$24.99

The small community of Manhattan Beach, located in the county of Los Angeles, is situated on the shore of the Santa Monica Bay. Late in the 1800s, there was little need for law enforcement: this unspoiled terrain along the ocean coastline with its shifting sands, scrub brush, and native wildflowers had yet to be cultivated. By 1912, the sparsely populated area had been incorporated and the city fathers appointed the first peace officer, Fred W. Petway, who was one of three marshals to serve the new town. In 1924, the position of police chief was created with the appointment of Fred Garvin. However, it would be many years before a first-class police department would oversee the safety and security of the growing community. This volume tracks a century of social change and dramatic episodes that challenged a long line of dedicated men and women in law enforcement. Each of these professionals raised the bar on the high standard of police department service that operates in this seaside municipality today.

Cover image for Manhattan Beach Police Department, isbn: 9780738520896

Los Alamos Valley

9781467133319

$24.99

Los Alamos is a small town on its way to big things. It is a growing tourist destination yet retains its pastoral charm. The history of the Los Alamos Valley can be viewed as a microcosm of the history of California, for it contains within its span Chumash Indians, mission neophytes and horse herds, Spanish land grants, cattle ranches, vaqueros, bandits, oil bonanzas, a narrow-gauge railroad, fertile soil for bountiful crops, vast vineyards, tourism, and even an element of Hollywood. Its location on the Central Coast of California means sunny skies, cool evenings, and cool, damp breezes. The character and resilience of the Los Alamos Valley inhabitants, however, is the real story. Theirs is a history of intermingling cultures and races, a steadfast preservation of traditions, and a pioneer streak of stubborn perseverance in the face of natural and economic adversity. The images in this book were gathered as the result of a community effort.

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Orem

9780738578828

$24.99

In 1861, a group of hardy pioneers ascended the "Provo Bench" that overlooks Utah Lake. With dreams of fruit orchards and vegetable fields, they uprooted the sagebrush, dug irrigation canals, and planted crops. These farms were successful, and they helped transform Orem into a dynamic community by the time the railroad arrived. The produce was boxed and shipped across Utah on the Orem Line, and the Provo/Orem area earned the nickname "Garden City of Utah." Incorporated in 1919, Orem was transformed again during World War II when the U.S. government constructed Geneva Steel Mill on the shores of Utah Lake. Blue collar workers joined farmers and ranchers in building a city. Orem supports higher education and is home to Utah Valley University. Although malls and subdivisions have replaced many of the orchards and the steel mill has closed, Orem remains rooted in its past while growing towards its future.