Tracy

9780738528724

$24.99

Situated in the San Joaquin Valley near some of California's largest transit corridors, the city of Tracy is poised to become an important and influential community. Today, Tracy is a modern and bustling town that some 70,000 people-along with a growing assortment of businesses-call home. But the journey from a railroad coal-loading station to farming community to commercial center is as full of twists and turns as the early roads across the Altamont Pass. The old buildings lining Sixth Street have surprising stories to tell, just like the roads, fields, and homesteads that have defined Tracy over time.

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Lemoore

9780738581545

$24.99

The Tachi-Yokut Indians made a subsistence living around the great inland sea known as Tulare Lake, near present-day Lemoore, long before Dr. Laverne Lee Moore came to town in 1871. Still before Moore came other Anglo settlers. The Rhoads family settled and built an adobe house, which remains today, where Daniel and Sarah Rhoads raised a family, ranched, and did business in 1856. Rhoads was part of the group that rescued the ill-fated Donner party. The U.S. Post Office saw fit to name the town after its founder. During World War II, Lemoore was the site of a U.S. Army Air Force training camp. Since 1963, it has been home to one of the largest inland U.S. air bases: Naval Air Station Lemoore.

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Southern San Joaquin Valley Scenes

9780738502458

$24.99

Known as the fruit basket of the world, the Southern San Joaquin Valley is a great expanse of land rich in both resources and heritage. From the early Franciscan Friars, fur trappers, and explorers to the late-twentieth-century technological revolution, the area is rich in California history.
The Southern San Joaquin Valley encompasses three counties in south central California, stretching from the citrus and cotton fields of Tulare and Kings Counties to the oil-rich land of Bakersfield and Kern County. This book contains nearly two hundred images of people, places, and events in the valley, some taken by noted photographers such as Carleton Watkins and C.A. Nelson, and others captured by everyday folks as family mementos. Ranging from a simple streetscape of early Visalia to photographs of field workers in Kern County, they provide an interesting glimpse of the valley's past, as seen by historians and other recorders of historical events.

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Laguna Beach

9780738569505

$7.99

Laguna Beach boasts a rich history.

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Mono Lake Basin

9780738559094

$24.99

Mono Lake dominates the volcanic landscape east of the Sierra Nevada between Yosemite National Park and Nevada. The lake's unusual water chemistry produces algae and brine shrimp, feeding millions of birds and creating strange mineral formations called tufa, for which the lake is famed. From the early days of the Kuzedika Paiutes to the arrival of miners and settlers in the late 19th century, the lake has stood sentinel for the surrounding camps, mines, and towns. Around the lake, the town of Lee Vining has served travelers and residents since 1926, and Carson Camp has been a recreational destination for generations. Some of the world's earliest hydroelectric plants were established here, and Los Angeles began diverting streams and channeling their waters beneath the Mono Craters to the city's aqueduct in the 1940s. Impacts of those water diversions gradually became apparent, generating controversy around this otherwise placid landscape.

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Redlands

9780738528830

$24.99

The home of sunshine, snow-capped mountains, and oranges, Redlands is the model city of the Southern California dream. Founded by two Easterners seeking health, pleasure, and residence, this jewel of the Inland Empire grew to become the center of a worldwide citrus empire. Both navel oranges and visitors flourished in the warm, dry climate, each nourishing the wealth and philanthropy that would become the hallmark of Redlands. At the industry's zenith, more than two dozen packing houses shipped the golden fruit around the world. Money also grew in orange groves that carpeted the area. Citizens proudly watched as monuments, parks, homes, and buildings blossomed, beautifying the town and giving physical form to the generous local character. Through the years, a unique sense of philanthropy and community improvement, begun by the Smiley Brothers, proved infectious to the town spirit, and remains a guiding source of inspiration today.

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Lakeside, California

9780738520858

$24.99

Purchased by the El Cajon Valley Land Company in 1886, Lakeside began as a small hamlet along the banks of the San Diego River. Home to the only natural lake in San Diego County, Lakeside offered visitors throughout the century a scenic backdrop for boating, fishing, hunting, riding, and hiking. Captured here in over 200 vintage images is the history of this town located just 25 miles east of San Diego. After the San Diego Mission was established in 1769, the Padres explored the backcountry, seeking grazing lands for their livestock. Following the San Diego River upstream they came to a broad valley, which they named El Cajon, "the box." In 1886, 6,600 acres were sold to the El Cajon Land Company for the Lakeside town site and a large inn was built as a resort. Due in large part to the trains coming through Lakeside in 1889, Lakeside had become a thriving community by the turn of the century.

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Willows

9780738580609

$24.99

Hot, thirsty range cattle led cowboys to a shady, spring-fed pond midway between the coastal and sierra foothills in Northern California. The area was referred to as the Willows. It was a place no doubt well known to the native Wintun Indians long before white men came exploring. Settlers began buying up land at $4 an acre after the Gold Rush. Milton French was ranching to the west of town as early as 1857. In June 1876, Johnson and Hochheimer opened a general store. Daniel Zumwalt provided land to railroad magnate Charlie Crocker, who extended train service to the the Willows by 1878. Broad streets were laid out in an east-to-west orientation. The town was on its way to becoming the center of one of the most productive agricultural areas in the state, thanks to the development of deep-water wells and the building of canals.

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Santa Paula

9780738571652

$24.99

This visual history of the 20th century's middle decades in Santa Paula illustrates how a rural city settled into its middle age. As a sequel to Images of America: Santa Paula, which covered the pioneering and settlement years of 1870 to 1930, it continues this Ventura County city's story through the Depression decade and the World War II and Korean War home front years that led up to the sixties. The time from 1930 to 1960 was prosperous for the two main industries in Santa Paula and its environs: citrus cultivation and oil production. The population increases reflected the job opportunities that these industries presented, bringing other families, businesses, and opportunities to the growing city.

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Baseball in Orange County

9780738593289

$24.99

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.

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Amador Central Railroad

9780738575506

$24.99

Resting in the community park in Ione, California, is old No. 7, affectionately known as "Iron Ivan," the last steam engine that served on the Amador Central Railroad. At the southern edge of town, one can glimpse the rails it once rode. Built in 1904, the Amador Central Railroad--a 12-mile, standard-gauge short line that snakes its way through the Sierra Nevada foothills from Ione to Martell--served both passengers and freighters for a century until 2004. It was said to be the slowest line in California, with over 75 curves and a grade of four percent in some places. In 2010, Sierra Pacific Industries sold the railroad to a nonprofit consortium to preserve the historic line.

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San Diego Police Department

9780738529981

$24.99

The San Diego Police Department dates to 1889, when out-of-control crime forced the end of the highly ineffective city marshal's office. With violence on every corner and Tombstone's venerable Wyatt Earp running the marshals' gambling interests, change was desperately needed. But the first days of the SDPD weren't easy. Within two years of its formation, the city's economy tanked, 36,000 of the town's 40,000 citizens left, and the department's newly appointed chief refused to take the job. Still, San Diego
eventually developed into one of the nation's largest cities and most popular tourist destination—a multifaceted metropolis perched between the extremes of Los Angeles and Mexico, the Pacific Ocean and the desert. Today more than 2,000 highly trained sworn SDPD officers, 700 support staff, and more than 1,000 volunteers form one of the world's most innovative and internationally recognized police forces.

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Sacramento on the Air

9781626191655

$21.99

In 1921, a chance encounter with a radio receiver sent Sacramento Bee newspaperman Carlos McClatchy on a determined path to break into broadcasting. Ushered by the enterprising McClatchy family, the Bee became the first Pacific Coast newspaper to enter the radio business. For decades, broadcasting in Sacramento was shaped by the brilliant but fatally flawed Carlos McClatchy; his strong-willed, micromanaging father, C.K.; and his sister Eleanor McClatchy, who sacrificed her own aspirations for the sake of the family business. From a single five-watt station, the family built a large media company, established a radio network with William Randolph Hearst and helped shape media in the American West. Historian Annette Kassis tells the fascinating story of the pivotal McClatchy family and the path they charted through the ether above Sacramento.

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Niles Canyon Railways

9780738529837

$24.99

All aboard for this photographic journey through the unique railroad history of Niles Canyon, near the city of Fremont. The melodic wail of the steam whistle first echoed off these canyon walls in 1866 when the Western Pacific Railroad laid track into Niles as part of a planned route from San Jose to Sacramento. That was three years before the transcontinental route from Sacramento to Omaha was completed in May 1869. Four months after the driving of the Golden Spike that joined the eastern and western United States by rail, the connecting route from Sacramento to Oakland through Niles Canyon was finished—the very last leg of a rail route that truly joined the Atlantic to the Pacific waters for the first time.

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Mexican Americans in Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach

9780738546995

$24.99

The century-old presence of Mexican Americans in Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach is an important, colorful part of the history of Los Angeles County's South Bay region. This evocative pictorial history documents the ways in which this group left significant marks on the economic, agricultural, academic, religious, professional, and governmental fabric of both communities. World War II heroes, star athletes, lawyers, professors, teachers, city councilmen, a judge, an astrophysicist, and many other professionals have come from this heritage. The first known Mexican American in Redondo Beach was Mauro Gonzales, who arrived in 1900 to unload ships at the city's old wooden pier. He was followed in 1910 by Domingo Moreno, who fostered 12 children, and Mauricio Colin, who had 13, after they escaped the Mexican Revolution. They initiated a large and vibrant Mexican American community, one that has virtually been ignored by conventional histories.

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Redwood City

9780738559247

$24.99

Redwood City's slogan, "Climate Best By Government Test," describes the fair weather at San Mateo County's seat, which was established in 1851 as the bayside terminus for the peninsula's lumber industry. Wharfs located along Redwood Creek formed the basis of the town's commercial district, and in the 20th century, the city's port expanded with new industries, such as the Pacific-Portland Cement Company, the Morgan Oyster Company, and Leslie Salt. Meanwhile, Redwood City's downtown area hosted many civic events, numerous theaters, and the region's largest retail district. In the 1950s, the city grew along Woodside Road and, soon thereafter, when Redwood Shores was added to its boundaries, expanded north. Today Redwood City has come full circle with a revitalized downtown and a beautifully restored courthouse square.

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Plumas County

9780738524092

$24.99

The expansive national forests, craggy canyons, sparkling waterways, and downy meadows of Plumas County lie along the union of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountain ranges in northeastern California. Native home to the Maidu tribes and settled by Euro-American gold seekers, Plumas County evolved as an industrial fulcrum of the Feather River watershed and is a treasured reminder of the strength of the pioneering spirit.

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Canyon Country

9781467129978

$24.99

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.

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Murrieta Hot Springs

9780738559568

$24.99

The sulfurous, effervescent waters of Murrieta Hot Springs have long attracted visitors. Native American petroglyph and pictograph images directed weary travelers to the springs where Juan Murrieta later bathed his sheep and a San Diego firm laundered clothing. In 1902, an enterprising German immigrant named Fritz Guenther developed acreage around the springs into a world-class resort and health spa at the Murrieta Hot Springs. After the Guenther family sold the resort, a stream of owners reportedly laundered money for the Teamsters Union and vended cancer cures, vegetarian foods, and holistic philosophies to those who ventured near enough to inhale sulfur rising in thick clouds of steam. Now the springs bubble under the watchful eye of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. They have renovated the grounds and buildings to honor the resort's former glory and have developed it into Calvary Chapel Bible College and Conference Center.

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Newport Beach

9780738530345

$24.99

Of all the West Coast communities lapped by the Pacific Ocean, Newport Beach has stood for generations as the epitome of seaside affluence. Its beaches, harbor, yacht clubs, surfing spots, restaurants, and other playground attributes give it the outward appearance of a carefree vacationer's paradise. That truth coexists with another, that Newport Beach has also been a workaday town with traditional businesses. The more than 200 images compiled for this handsome representation of Newport Beach illustrate both the resort aspects that have made the city a worldwide favorite and the building-block businesses that have kept it a viable family community. That's why many corporate and Hollywood giants, such as John Wayne, have called Newport Beach home.

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Oakland and Surroundings

9780738594729

$21.99

We have aimed to furnish in convenient form for distribution a selection of some of the most important features of Oakland and its surroundings, as represented in its scenery as well as public and private buildings, which of themselves are monuments to the taste and prosperity of our citizens. To these have been added descriptive articles selected from a variety of sources. Our object has not been to tell a glowing story, but simply to give facts in an interesting manner; to furnish residents with such a description of Oakland and surroundings as they can conscientiously send to friends; to put something in the hands of tourists, and especially to afford reliable and satisfactory information to those who are longing to make a home where they can find health and comfort amid sunshine, fruit, and flowers. The lithograph illustrations are all made from nature, not from photographs. The views cover a great variety of subjects and are of all grades and qualities of workmanship, and all were executed by the publisher at his lithographing establishment in Oakland. The views represent different kinds of artistic work: soft, fine lithograph, crayon etchings, zincographs, wood-cuts, photo-engraving, heliotype, and other processes.

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California State University, Northridge

9781467129954

$24.99

California State University, Northridge began like many other institutions in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley, with trees cleared and foundations poured at sites that were once orange, lemon, or avocado groves. While it passed its first years as the San Fernando Valley campus of Los Angeles State College, it became San Fernando Valley State College (SFVSC) before the 1958 fall term. As the campus and student body rapidly grew, SFVSC saw waves of political activism promoting equal opportunities in higher education, protesting racism and discrimination, and denouncing war. Negotiations between student groups, campus administration, and the Faculty Senate ultimately led to the establishment of some of the nation's earliest programs in ethnic and area studies. In 1972, the campus became California State University, Northridge (CSUN). Today, over 2,000 faculty members serve 40,000 students pursuing bachelor's degrees in 69 disciplines, master's degrees in 58 fields, doctorates in two fields, and 14 teaching credential programs.

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Point Lobos

9780738529288

$24.99

For more than a century the incomparable beauty of Point Lobos has drawn admirers from around the world. The jagged rock outcroppings, driftwood-strewn beaches, and silhouetted cypress trees, twisted grotesquely by the wind, were favorite subjects for photographers Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. Point Lobos is also a favorite playground for seals, sea lions, and otters, and migrating grey whales pass just offshore. Barking sea lions reminded 18th-century Spanish explorers of sea wolves, in their tongue, lobos marinos, and so they named it Point of the Sea Wolves. Now a California State Reserve, Point Lobos draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.

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Mexican American Boxing in Los Angeles

9781467130899

$24.99

Welcome to the colorful, flamboyant, and wonderful world of Mexican American boxing in Los Angeles. From the minute they stepped into the ring, Mexican American fighters have electrified fans with their explosiveness and courage. These historical images bring to life a sociological culture consisting of knockouts, the Main Street Gym, the Olympic Auditorium, neighborhood rivalries, Mexican idols, posters, and promoters. Like a winding thread, the Golden Boy Art Aragon bobs and weaves throughout the book. From Mexican Joe Rivers to Oscar De La Hoya, the true stories of their sensational ring wars are told while keeping alive the spirit and legacy of Mexican American boxing from the greater Los Angeles area.

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Turlock

9780738520926

$24.99

Turlock, like many communities across America, can trace its early development to one individual. John William Mitchell, wheat producer and entrepreneur, brought the Southern Pacific Railroad and a depot to what would become Turlock. This transportation link was the catalyst that brought business proprietors and settlers to the area and changed the 1850s settlement into an organized town. At the turn of the 20th century, the Turlock Irrigation district, the first California district under the Wright Act of 1887, brought water to the valley. A dam and system of canals provided the needed resources for crop diversification and the development of agricultural industry that changed the small town into a culturally rich, successful city. This volume focuses on the evolution of Turlock from the 1850s to 1950s.

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Hawaiians in Los Angeles

9780738593203

$24.99

Los Angeles is recognized as one of the most culturally diverse cities in the United States. Due to opportunities in the entertainment and aerospace industries, as well as easy access to the city's busy ports, Los Angeles remains an attractive destination for people from around the world. Since the 1960s, Native Hawaiian families have taken part in this migration to Los Angeles, bringing their unique culture as well as heartbreaking stories of loss of their ancestral homeland. Approximately 8,500 Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders currently live within the city of Los Angeles and continue to retain a great pride for their ancestors and the contributions that have made them who they are today.

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Los Angeles County Lifeguards

9780738529899

$24.99

Thousands of men, women, and children owe their lives to the Los Angeles County Lifeguards. Made famous by the television show Baywatch, these lifeguards patrol 72 miles of coastline extending from Zuma Beach to the Los Angeles
Harbor. Working on some of the world's most scenic and active beaches, Los Angeles County lifeguards protect the safety and lives of more than 50 million visitors each year. For nearly a century they have braved hazardous weather and surf conditions to rescue drowning swimmers, sinking vessels, and downed aircraft in the ocean. As the Lifeguard Operations Unit of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, they make more than 10,000 ocean rescues a year.

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Lodi

9780738569246

$24.99

Originally founded as the town of Mokelumne in 1869, Lodi formed when a group of settlers persuaded the Central Pacific Railroad to build a route from Sacramento to Stockton through their land. Mokelumne changed its name to Lodi in 1874 and incorporated as a city in 1906. Described early on as the queen city of the San Joaquin Valley, the Lodi area quickly boomed into an agricultural powerhouse, its fertile soil producing wheat, watermelons, orchards, and wine grapes. Laura DeForce Gordon, the second female lawyer in California, called Lodi home, as did winemaking pioneer Robert Mondavi. Lodi is also the birthplace of A&W Root Beer, first sold by Roy Allen at his drugstore on Pine Street. Today Lodi boasts over 75,000 acres of vineyards and 60 wineries, producing over 40 percent of California's zinfandel grapes and making this town the zinfandel capital of the world.

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The Dams of Western San Diego County

9781467127219

$24.99

The unreliability of the San Diego River compelled the Franciscan fathers to construct the area's first dam in 1813 to conserve drinking and irrigation water for the Mission San Diego de Alcalá. This water-driven circumstance continued and expanded in the ensuing American era. Lacking a reliable water source at the turn of the 20th century, San Diego County was destined to experience modest growth. The region's semiarid conditions, cyclical droughts, and existing river systems determined that the only effective way to maintain a ready water supply was to conserve runoff and river floodwaters behind dam-created reservoirs. Between 1888 and 1934, private and municipal interests constructed a series of massive structures that made San Diego County the dam-building center of the world. The county featured some of America's first multiple arch dams and earliest hydraulic fill dams. Into the mid-1940s, dammed reservoirs remained the principle water source for county consumers and made the municipal expansion of the city of San Diego possible.

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South Lake Tahoe

9780738580180

$24.99

Known for its stunning surroundings, South Lake Tahoe has changed dramatically since its industrial-logging beginnings to today's tourist destination and mountain setting of natural splendor.

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San Ramon Chronicles

9781467118439

$21.99

Though a relatively young city, San Ramon has history stretching back to California's founding. Ohlone Indians first inhabited the area before rancheros grazed the land more than a century ago. Drawn by the Gold Rush, pioneers and prospectors settled the place promoters labeled a Garden of Eden. Diversified farming of the valley, full of orchards and plentiful fields, sustained the rural population. Sitting in the shadow of historic Mount Diablo, San Ramon is a growing city recognized for its extraordinary parks, schools and active citizenry. Local author Beverly Lane brings to life San Ramon's vibrant past.

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Nicasio

9780738558028

$24.99

Situated in the geographic center of Marin County, Nicasio was home to the Coast Miwok village of Echatamal and likely named for a Tamal Indian and alcalde, Guequistabal, who was baptized as Nicasio at Mission Dolores in 1802. As European settlers arrived, many established themselves as dairy ranchers and timbermen. Soon a town square began to take shape, complete with a merchandise store, a butcher shop, two saloons, a racetrack, a livery stable, a Catholic church, and a luxurious three-story hotel. These pioneers aspired to make Nicasio the county seat, a bid that was ultimately lost by a single vote in 1863. The land reserved for civic buildings was repurposed as a baseball diamond, which at one time hosted semipro games and continues to serve local little leaguers. The Rancho Nicasio now stands in place of the hotel, yet the town otherwise appears untarnished by time. Not surprisingly, a number of residents have roots tracing back to Nicasio's founders, with newcomers drawn to its pastoral charm and a lifestyle in deep contrast to that of nearby San Francisco.

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Between the Bylines

9781626190047

$24.99

Doug Krikorian beat deadlines and made headlines for more than four decades as the Los Angeles region's most compelling sportswriter. His brash and combative style featured in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, then in the Long Beach Press-Telegram and on radio with partner Joe McDonnell, profiled a wide range of athletes. Krikorian's penetrating coverage shaped fans' perceptions of Wilt Chamberlain, Tommy Lasorda, Muhammad Ali, Georgia Frontiere and many others. But his hard edge was softened through his marriage to a British physical therapist named Gillian, whose heroic battle with an incurable disease also broke his spirit. He picked up the pieces to do what he's always done best--tell the story. Now he recounts that harrowing love story--and more--from a life spent in sportswriting.

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Oakland Fire Department

9780738529684

$24.99

For over 150 years, brave firefighters have battled to preserve the lives and property of the citizens of Oakland. Beginning in 1853, volunteer engine and hook and ladder companies organized and the Oakland Fire Department formed in 1869. Until 1922, teams of magnificent horses pulled steamers belching black smoke and embers, with firemen holding on for dear life. These gallant fire horses were as much firefighters as the rugged men of Oakland who extinguished blazes with leather hoses and brass nozzles. After waging an internal battle of racial integration—a 35-year struggle that began in
1920—the Oakland Fire Department became one of the first in the nation to hire women firefighters beginning in 1980.

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Powerhouses of the Sierra Nevada

9780738547572

$24.99

The historic powerhouses of the Sierras have been powering much of California's growth for the past hundred years or so. Located in canyons where water can be dropped thousands of feet from ridges above, they were California's first source of electrical power. The oldest powerhouses were built by survivors of the original gold rush, who turned metalworking and pipe-fitting skills to the task of generating electricity. The resulting machines were curious amalgamations of steam valves, riveted pipes, waterwheels, and rudimentary electrical devices imported from the East Coast. These views show how miners chipped out a small ledge on a granite cliff hundreds of feet below Spaulding Lake dam to create an anchor point for a powerhouse that seems embedded in the rock itself. They also celebrate the genius of mining-camp tinkerer Lester Pelton, who, in 1880, invented a more efficient waterwheel capable of spinning a generator shaft at high speed. His invention bore his name, and the basic design is used to this day throughout the world.

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Mount Lowe

9780738581231

$24.99

Tucked away in Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains, the Mount Lowe Railway was an internationally renowned tourist destination, serving nearly four million passengers between 1893 and 1936. Few riders of "The Railway to the Clouds" are around to relate their experiences now, but postcards and photographs remarkably reflect the history of this amazing attraction. Virtually nothing of the once-famous landmark remains on the mountain today, except a few timeworn foundations and part of the original right-of-way, which has become a hiking trail into the Angeles National Forest.

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St. George Reef Lighthouse

9781467133173

$24.99

Situated at the end of a reef six miles offshore of Crescent City, California, stands St. George Reef Lighthouse. Constructed after the wreck of the coastal steamer Brother Jonathan in 1865, the beacon warned mariners of the dreaded Dragon Rocks of St. George Reef for nearly a century. This book chronicles the loss of the Jonathan, decades of efforts to make the light a reality, the 10-year construction period, manning of the station by keepers of the US Lighthouse Service and Coast Guard, and the struggles and accomplishments of dedicated volunteers to restore what many lighthouse historians refer to as America's greatest lighthouse.

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Lancaster

9780738529813

$24.99

Like many other towns in inland California, Lancaster was literally created by the railroad, where no settlement existed before the coming of the steel tracks. When the Southern Pacific Railroad passed through the western Mojave Desert, the site of Lancaster was established—first only as a siding in the summer of 1876. The actual town was born when Moses Langley Wicks, a prominent real estate developer in southern California, purchased 60 sections of land from Southern Pacific and had the town surveyed and recorded on February 16, 1884. Officially incorporated in 1977, the city is located in Antelope Valley, approximately 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

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Windsor

9780738529028

$24.99

Legend states that the town of Windsor in Sonoma County was named for its similarity to the beautiful parklands surrounding England's Windsor Castle. Once open grasslands covered with majestic oaks, this breathtaking pastoral landscape bordering the Russian River captivated settlers, who came to start businesses or grow grain, grapes, hops, and prunes on the rich river bottomland. For decades Windsor kept the quiet rhythm of a small, independent farm community, hardly broken by the addition of an army air base and a camp for German POWs during World War II.

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African Americans of Monterey County

9781467132602

$24.99

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.

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The Thacher School

9781467130691

$24.99

Sherman Day Thacher, a Yale-trained lawyer, moved west in 1887, intending to join his brother as an orange rancher in California's Ojai Valley. However, after accepting a request from a Yale colleague to tutor his nephew, Thacher's focus changed from cultivating oranges to cultivating young minds. His small educational enterprise eventually became The Thacher School. Combining unmatched academics with a unique horse and camping program, Thacher has prepared more than 5,000 young men and women to become contributing members of society at the local, state, and national levels since its founding in 1889. With an educational philosophy based around Sherman Thacher's precepts of honor, fairness, kindness, and truth, The Thacher School continues to be recognized as one of the premier secondary schools in the country.

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Indian Valley

9780738558363

$24.99

It is estimated that Indian Valley in Plumas County was inhabited by the Maidu people for 10,000 years. It was then and is still a beautiful valley, surrounded by lush forests and flowing rivers. Pioneer Peter Lassen was the first white man to see its beauty. The Gold Rush caused the first population boom, and towns sprang up around the valley. Huge copper finds, in later years, increased the valley's population once again and brought in the railroad. After the mining started to fade there were many farmers, ranchers, and loggers working to replace the jobs lost from the mines closing. Today Indian Valley is home to several picturesque towns such as Taylorsville, Greenville, and Crescent Mills.

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Crestline

9780738530833

$24.99

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.

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Falk

9781467129756

$24.99

Between the years 1884 and 1937, the company mill and lumber town of Falk thrived in what is now the Headwaters Forest Reserve. In the late 1800s, Noah Falk and two other stakeholders became partners in the Elk River Mill and Lumber Company. During this transitional time in logging history, Falk was able to capitalize on the relatively inexpensive price of land, cheap labor, and inexpensive logging technologies, such as the band saw and the Dolbeer steam donkey. Isolated from Eureka and within the backdrop of the industrial revolution, many changes and spikes in local and immigrant populations created an intricate company town of 400 people. Between the 1940s and 1970s, Falk became a ghost town until the vacant buildings eventually became part of the soil that now supports the Headwaters Forest Reserve, managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

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Riverside in Vintage Postcards

9780738529783

$24.99

Riverside has been a vital center of agriculture and government throughout the growth of Southern California. Postcards sent from this city to those far away usually depict it as a resort, situated on the western edge of the Colorado Desert, where the historic Mission Inn has been a vacation destination for generations. Illustrating many facets of this world-renowned, garden-like gathering spot, these attractive images also showcase Riverside's Main Street, public buildings, parks, broad avenues, the sharply rising Mt. Rubidoux on the edge of town, and the influence of the citrus industry.

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Old Torrance Olmsted District

9780738530659

$24.99

The City of Torrance anchors Los Angeles County's South Bay area and is known widely as a headquarters city for corporate giants Exxon Mobil, Nissan, Honda, and others. Yet the city's unique history often gets glossed over. Downtown Torrance, also known as Old Torrance and the Olmsted Districts, was laid out in 1912 by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., the influential urban-designer son of the Father of Landscape Architecture, F. L. Olmsted Sr. The town founder and patriarch, Jared Sidney Torrance, gave Olmsted Jr. the imperative to create a unique industrial city. The results are in the streets, buildings, and parks between Western Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard, north of today's Plaza Del Amo and south of Dominguez Way. Some structures in this district were designed by renowned architect Irving Gill, including the Southern Pacific Railroad Bridge and the Pacific Electric Railway depot.

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San Francisco's Market Street Railway

9780738529677

$24.99

The Market Street Railway Company thrived in an age when rails ruled San Francisco. Spanning the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and the boom times of World War II, it had a long and legendary lifetime that is deeply ingrained in the city's early identity. Gradually, however, it became challenged by the emergence of the automobile, cheaper motor coaches, and nickel jitneys—competing cars on the same routes. The MSRy painted the fronts of its cars white to show up well in San Francisco's misty weather, and for many years people called them the White Front cars. Franchise competition and city regulations undid MSRy, and its assets were absorbed into MUNI in 1944. However, the name lives on as the nonprofit Market Street Railway organization, dedicated to preserving the history of this company and also to retrofitting early streetcars from across the globe, putting them back in service on Market Street.

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Apple Valley

9781467106825

$23.99

Like the endless layers of desert sand, Apple Valley visionaries invented and reinvented their desert canvas for more than 100 years. The history-making milestones of Apple Valley's pioneers are kept alive through the efforts of loyal and dedicated descendant families' memories and photographs, along with the constant help of local history aficionados. Contributions from our desert's memory-keepers mark the cornerstones of Apple Valley history and the genius minds of its creators.

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Hermosa Beach

9780738547091

$24.99

Unlike most Los Angeles County beach communities, the City of Hermosa Beach owns its own beach. But perhaps more than most coastal Southern California destination cities, Hermosa Beach represents shared experience, detailed on thousands of postcards over the decades. This greater square mile of sand, surf, and sun has conjured cherished memories for fishermen, surfers, and volleyball players as well as jazz fans, diners and tavern celebrants, and simply lovers of the beach who found lifelong or short-term happiness in Hermosa. These postcards recall many bygone landmarks and changing lifestyles and celebrate the Hermosa Beach century (1907–2007).

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Cloverdale

9780738559148

$24.99

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.

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Curiosities of the California Desert

9781467118378

$23.99

One might not expect to find much in the middle of California's hot, dry deserts. But to the curious explorer, they're scattered with strange and extraordinary sights. On old Route 66, the desert traveler can find quirky roadside art and mementos left by motorists. In the El Paso Mountains of the Mojave, the daring adventurer can crawl through a tunnel that was hand dug by an old prospector named Burro Schmidt. In Landers, the weary wanderer can enjoy a rejuvenating sound bath in an acoustically perfect dome supposedly designed by aliens. From astounding natural wonders to remnants of ancient civilizations and the Wild West, discover treasures of history, puzzling mystery and uncommon eccentricity alongside seasoned road trippers Alan and Claudia Heller.

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Menifee Valley

9780738531397

$24.99

Menifee Valley lies 80 miles east of Los Angeles in Riverside County, halfway between the cities of Perris and Temecula. Settlers originally ventured into this isolated wilderness of sagebrush and live oaks to stake out mining claims, dig for gold, and plant wheat. Others came for the healthy climate. Homes were built miles apart, and newly constructed schools became community focal points and information centers. Menifee Wilson, a native of Tennessee, staked several claims across this serene valley, and his name just never went away. Settlers bred horses, planted orchards, drilled wells, and served as trustees on school boards. Hunting rabbits, quail, and doves were popular, and picnics and fishing in ponds and seasonal streams became family affairs. In 1950, perhaps 100 families lived in the 50 square miles of Menifee Valley. Today this panorama of pastoral landscapes is home to 65,000 people.

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Basketball in Long Beach

9781609499754

$21.99

Long Beach has produced some of California's best teams and players, from the NCAA success of Long Beach State to the CIF dominance of Long Beach Poly. Starting with the early hoop dreams of the 1900s, lace up your kicks, step in the gym and prepare for an unforgettable lesson in California basketball history. Explore the city's most celebrated athletes and teams, including local pioneers of women's basketball, who found an early home on the city's hardcourts. Complete with exclusive photos and interviews, authors Mike Guardabascio and Chris Trevino give a play-by-play of the sport's illustrious past in the city of Long Beach.

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San Diego Baseball Fantography

9781467131698

$24.99

No sport provides a better opportunity to document the fan experience than baseball. Fantography: San Diego Baseball features amateur photographs taken by real fans—ballpark memories that often reach beyond the game-winning hit or strikeout pitch. Within these pages is an assortment of images that peers into the Padres' Pacific Coast League days, the early years of struggling in the National League, the 1984 World Series season, and its recent years. Featured are household names like Tony Gwynn, Jerry Coleman, and Trevor Hoffman, as well as more forgotten players, managers, broadcasters, and ballparks. These are your snapshots, and they are from your personal albums. These images are accompanied by many Padres stories—your stories—that have never before seen print.

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Scotia and Rio Dell

9781467133166

$24.99

On the banks of the Eel River, amongst Northern California's towering redwood forests, lie the towns of Scotia and Rio Dell. Their histories inseparably intertwined, these two towns formed a larger community supporting the needs of local settlers and industry. Scotia, constructed by the Pacific Lumber Company in the 1880s, stands as a pristine example of the once-prevalent company town in America. The small farming community of Rio Dell flourished along with its sister city and grew to accommodate the needs of an expanding workforce in Humboldt's redwood lumber industry. Where Scotia was orderly and tightly controlled by Pacific Lumber Co. management, Rio Dell developed a reputation for its remote setting, rowdy lumbermen, and bootlegged whiskey.

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Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railway

9780738559421

$24.99

A hundred years ago, high on the summit of Mount Tamalpais, stood a grand lodge with a breathtaking view. For 33 years, elegantly dressed men and women came to visit on the gritty steam trains of a famous twisting railroad known affectionately as the Crookedest Railroad in the World. They could dine, dance, and spend the night, and in the morning coast down the mountain in a gravity car. The Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railway had 281 curves in 8 1/5 miles. It had a branch into Muir Woods. It was built by business-minded conservationists in seven months in 1896 and climbed from a depot on the dirt streets of Mill Valley through a redwood forest and on to the rocky summit one-half mile above San Francisco Bay.

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Mexican Americans in Redlands

9780738595221

$24.99

Redlands has long been home to a large Mexican native and immigrant population that was central to both its booming citrus industry and community life. Images of America: Mexican Americans in Redlands is a journey through this vital, vibrant, and often overlooked culture. Follow longtime residents as they tell their personal stories, share rarely seen photographs, and recall life in the self-proclaimed City of Millionaires. Experience early Redlands through the eyes of Epimenio Guzman, a blacksmith and musician who came from Los Angeles in 1885 to pursue his trade. Imagine arriving in 1913 when a group of 12 families from Northern Mexico chose Redlands to build the first Spanish-language church in the region. Join young Mexican men and women from Redlands who, through times of war and peace, sacrificed deeply, even giving their lives at times, for the right to be both Mexican and American. These and other stories within are based on the Redlands Oral History Project, a collection of conversations with and images of Mexican Americans throughout the East San Bernardino Valley.

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Japanese American Baseball in California

9781626195820

$24.99

Four generations of Japanese Americans broke down racial and cultural barriers in California by playing baseball. Behind the barbed wire of concentration camps during World War II, baseball became a tonic of spiritual renewal for disenfranchised Japanese Americans who played America's pastime while illegally imprisoned. Later, it helped heal resettlement wounds in Los Angeles, San Francisco, the Central Valley and elsewhere. Today, the names of Japanese American ballplayers still resonate as their legacy continues. Mike Lum was the first Japanese American player in the Major Leagues in 1967, Lenn Sakata the first in the World Series in 1983 and Don Wakamatsu the first manager in 2008. Join Kerry Yo Nakagawa in this update of his 2001 classic as he chronicles sporting achievements that doubled as cultural benchmarks.

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San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly in Vintage Postcards

9780738508115

$24.99

Along the California coastline lies the community of San Luis Obispo; a town just as rich in history as it is in beauty. Situated almost directly between Los Angeles and San Francisco, San Luis Obispo was first inhabited by the Chumash and Salinan Indians in 1400 B.C. It took almost 3,000 years before its majestic landscape was encountered by
European explorers.

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Ukiah

9780738570402

$24.99

Nestled in the Yokayo Valley, surrounded by coastal ranges, Ukiah officially became a town in 1859 when it broke away from being governed by Sonoma County. Spanish settlers put down roots through land grants and brought their rich culture to the area. Pomo Indians who lived in Ukiah wove baskets, which are collectors' items today throughout the world. Vichy Springs Resort, built in the mid-1800s on the outskirts of Ukiah, had many notable visitors, including Presidents Grant and Harrison, Mark Twain, Robert Lewis Stevenson, and Jack London. Today Ukiah is a city where people still ride their bicycles, and the high school has a homecoming parade before the big game. Farmers, ranchers, and vineyard owners work side by side. Summer months bring the annual Sunday in the Park free concerts, and the area is home to an active performing-arts community as well as several art galleries.

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Barstow

9781467134095

$24.99

This book tells the story of Barstow, a town born along the enigmatic Mojave River in the middle of the formidable Mojave Desert, nurtured by countless (and mostly nameless) fortune seekers and adventurers and settled by plain folks looking for something they could not quite name. Their footprints became the foundation for a trail, a road, a railroad, and, over time, part of the most legendary highway in the country: Route 66. The early arrival of an important centralized railyard, two major military installations, and spectacular silver and borax mining projects led the population to grow and thrive. Through this collection of photographs, Barstow's fascinating history is brought to life.

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Perris Valley

9781467116879

$24.99

The brave pioneers who arrived throughout the late 1800s in covered wagons or on trains to the desolate San Jacinto Plains, as it was called at that time, saw beauty in the picturesque mountain ranges and blue skies and were beholden to their new home in what was to become the Perris Valley. Ready to start their new lives, many came for the health benefits provided by the dry climate. The Perris Valley has come a long way from its rural farming roots. It is now highly diversified and urbanized. Several exciting venues are part of Perris Valley today, including the Orange Empire Railway Museum, which is the largest rail museum in the western United States, and the internationally renowned Skydive Perris.

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Historic Tales of Alamo, California

9781467148108

$21.99

One of the oldest communities in the East Bay

Alamo is brimming with tales of hope, loss and triumph. Discover the story of the Romero brothers, who lost their rancho to a shrewd and litigious attorney, and the early pioneers who banded together to buy it back at an extraordinary sum. Learn about the deep agricultural roots put down by newcomers drawn to the temperate climate and beautiful valley. Revisit this rural community’s transformation from grazing land for Mission San Jose to a beloved home for generations of ranchers, writers, and activists.

Join historian Beverly Lane and researcher Sharon Burke as they share fascinating tales of Alamo’s past.

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Santa Ana in Vintage Postcards

9780738507910

$24.99

Santa Ana began as the dream of early pioneers in the 1800s when the dry, desolate area was little more than windswept fields of wild mustard grass. Santa Ana celebrates this area's pioneer heritage and the people who created it, and chronicles the development of this city with fascinating vintage postcards. Santa Ana was one of the earliest incorporated cities, and became the county seat in 1889. Wealthy businessmen, successful political leaders, and even an occasional maharajah chose Santa Ana as their home. Today, Orange County is one of the most dynamic counties in California.

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University of San Francisco

9781467133074

$24.99

The University of San Francisco began in 1855 as a one-room schoolhouse named St. Ignatius Academy. Its founding is interwoven with the establishment of the Jesuit Order in California, European immigration to the western United States, and the population growth of California and San Francisco as a result of the California Gold Rush. For 159 years, the University of San Francisco has enriched the lives of thousands of people. The institution has graduated students who went on to become leaders in government, education, business, journalism, sports, the sciences, and the legal and medical professions. Among its alumni, the university counts three San Francisco mayors, a US senator, four California Supreme Court justices, a California lieutenant governor, two Pulitzer Prize winners, three Olympic medalists, several professional athletes, and the former president of Peru.

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Baldwin Park

9780738574844

$24.99

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.

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West Adams

9780738559209

$24.99

By the turn of the 20th century, West Adams had become one of the first bedroom communities in fast-growing Los Angeles. Mansions and bungalows housed bankers and merchants who commuted to their businesses downtown, as well as moviemakers, debutantes, the social elite, and one or two scoundrels. Anchored by Adams Boulevard, this area just west of downtown has been through many changes. Today the neighborhood is one of the most racially and architecturally diverse in the country and contains the highest concentration of historic cultural monuments in Los Angeles. Residents and local archives, including the University of Southern California and the Automobile Club of Southern California, have contributed images to this volume illustrating life and architecture from Victorian times onward.

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San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department

9780738575452

$24.99

Since 1850, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department has proudly served the community as the chief law enforcement agency. The office of sheriff was originally created by the California Constitution to meet the public safety needs of each county. From horseback to gigabit, the sheriff and his deputies have responded to the needs of the citizens by providing the highest quality of protection. While the manner in which service is delivered has changed significantly since 1850, the quality of protection has remained high throughout history and is chronicled in this unique portrayal.

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Vanishing Orange County

9780738559742

$24.99

Orange County formally separated from Los Angeles County in 1889, and there's been no looking back. Wilderness gave way to rich farmlands, where oranges, lemons, avocados, and walnuts made agriculture the new county's most important industry; the region was actually named for the prevalence of its citrus groves. The 20th century brought with it plenty of entrepreneurs, including Walter Knott and later Walt Disney, along with the aerospace industry, oil drilling, beach culture, and more. But the more popular "the O.C." became, the more the past began to be lost to development and sprawl. This evocative compendium of photographs revisits many of the places locals held near and dear, including the Golden Bear nightclub, Japanese Village Deer Park, Lion Country Safari, plus popular stores, restaurants, and, of course, the ever-shrinking farmlands. Many of these images are courtesy of the Orange County Archives, and others came from the author's private collection.

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Pacifica

9780738580425

$24.99

Pacifica and its coast, once envisioned as a string of resorts, casinos, and vacation cottages in place of artichoke fields, was overlooked after the failure of the Ocean Shore Railroad in 1920. Demand for reasonably priced housing revived the boom, and Pacifica was incorporated in 1957.

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Sports of Santa Cruz County

9781467130073

$24.99

Its inviting climate, enticing rugged mountains, and welcoming beaches have always made Santa Cruz County a haven for athletic activities. A wide variety of sporting endeavors, some beyond the norm, have called Santa Cruz home over the decades. In the 19th century, Santa Cruz served as a springboard for modern surfing. It was an early bastion for organized baseball, too, beginning in the 1860s, and it was home to a series of professional teams as early as the 1870s. Other colorful athletic activities took place here (including fire hose teams, long-distance walking, and bicycling), along with more traditional American sports like basketball, football, boxing, and tennis. The region boasts of a strong tradition of women athletes as well, in particular Marion Hollins, perhaps the greatest all-around woman athlete of the early 20th century.

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The 1960 Winter Olympics

9781467130141

$24.99

The 1960 Olympic Winter Games were a long-shot effort that succeeded beyond the wildest expectations. Working in a sparsely populated valley in the Sierra Nevada with only rudimentary facilities, organizers created a world-class Olympic site in four short years. For the only time in Olympic history, the venues and athlete residence halls were located in a compact, intimate setting that encouraged sportsmanship and interaction between athletes. There was elaborate pageantry in the ceremonies and decorations. The underdog American ice hockey team won the first-ever USA gold medal in that sport. American figure skaters swept gold in the individual events. Well-trained Soviet and Scandinavian athletes dominated the speed skating and cross-country skiing events. American women proved their mettle in the Alpine skiing events. German skiers made surprise upsets in the Nordic combined and ski jumping contests. And CBS-TV was there to capture the most exciting moments and make groundbreaking live broadcasts to American audiences.

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Manteca

9781467104180

$24.99

In the heart of California’s Central Valley, immigrants arrived in earnest on the heels of the Gold Rush, ranching and farming the land, including the “Father of Manteca,” Joshua Cowell, who traversed the Sierras on foot in 1863. Although the town was originally known as Cowell Station, the name Monteca (adapted from the Spanish word for butter) was proposed to distinguish the railroad stop and celebrate the dairy industry. The first tickets printed by the railroad labeled the town as “Manteca”—the Spanish word for lard. Manteca is known for one of the oldest landmarks in the county, East Union Cemetery (established in 1872); the family-owned and -operated Delicato Winery (established in 1924); and notable figures such as baseball great Milo Candini and Rep. John J. McFall. Today, Manteca boasts a population of 80,000; growth has been stimulated over the last 40 years by commuters who work in the Bay Area or Sacramento in exchange for life in a smaller community. This “Family City” is home to Big League Dreams, Bass Pro Shop, and the future Great Wolf Lodge, which will bring back waterslides to Manteca!

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Mountain View

9780738595764

$23.99

Known today as a leading center of technological innovation, Mountain View's modern Silicon Valley landscape hides a rich history stretching back to the 1850s.

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Fortuna and the Eel River Valley

9780738575223

$24.99

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.

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Fort MacArthur

9780738530857

$24.99

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.

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Lost Restaurants of Santa Cruz County

9781467143851

$21.99

Millions of people come to Santa Cruz every year to enjoy the beach and eat at one of the many popular restaurants. Favorite places have come and gone, but they haven't been forgotten. From the treasured Miramar Fish Grotto, in business for more than seventy years, to Nature's Harvest, local, seasonal food has always been a staple of this little slice of paradise. Food trends were embodied in places like the Wild Thyme Café and the Sāba Club alongside longtime fixtures such as the Tea Cup and Adolph's Italian Family Restaurant, catering to locals and tourists alike. Author Liz Pollock combines wonderful stories and classic cocktail recipes from bygone eras in this trip down memory lane.

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City of Industry

9781467107785

$23.99

Incorporated on June 18, 1957, the City of Industry is located 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. The city’s founding was based on providing a dedicated area for industrial employment in between two major railroad lines. Starting with about 50 businesses, this young municipality grew rapidly and had a national reputation for attracting large manufacturers like Mattel, Inc., Schwinn Bicycle Company, and Libbey, Inc., within its boundaries. The city is known as the “Economic Engine” of the San Gabriel Valley, and currently, it provides 68,000 jobs for the valley’s population of 1.7 million people. In the 1970s, the city developed the internationally renowned Industry Hills Resort and Conference Center and the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum. As the last portions of Industry’s 12 square miles are being developed, this dynamic economic base is continuing its dedication to businesses and to its neighboring residents by way of charitable giving, public/private partnerships, and innovative community programs.

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Rio Vista

9780738530703

$24.99

Picturesque Rio Vista was first named Los Brazos del Rio (The Arms of the River) for its proximity to the confluence of the Sacramento River, Steamboat Slough, and Cache Slough. The river was once its reason for being, and the town's huge wharf welcomed steamers like the New World and Eclipse that moved mail, freight, and passengers between Sacramento and San Francisco. The same river
rose up to destroy the town after a massive flood in 1862. Although many decamped, a few determined survivors stayed on after the disaster and managed to secure a safer site for New Rio Vista, reborn as a thriving agricultural community. In the same spirit, Rio Vista incorporated as a city in December 1893, just 17 months after a fire burned most of its downtown. Now this growing city, close to luxury
residential developments, sits atop the largest dry gas reserve in California.

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Tuolumne City

9780738589183

$24.99

Tuolumne City traces its history back to the historic Gold Rush of the mid-19th century. Founded in 1854, the town—first named Summersville, then changed to Carters in the 1880s before finally becoming Tuolumne in 1906—played host to one of the most prominent gold- and quartz-mining outposts in the region. When many of the more profitable camps along Turnback Creek and Tuolumne River began to wane, the industry of choice for Tuolumne shifted to timber, which would drive the town and shape its character for the greater part of the 20th century. The West Side Lumber Company harvested huge, lucrative stands of virgin pine, fir, and cedar, reaching deep into the forest alongside treacherous 40-degree to 60-degree curves and along a unique narrow gauge track. Tuolumne's lumber-rich past is celebrated to this day with the annual Lumber Jubilee.

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San Francisco Relocated

9781467133715

$24.99

San Francisco's colorful history has been explored so extensively that it is surprising to note that its moved buildings remain one of the city's best-kept secrets. Reports are widely scattered in newspapers and architectural references; yet, despite the fact that the city's relocations are second only to Chicago's, there are no books in print concerning this curious history—until now. And it is a long, lively tale indeed. Beginning in 1850 and continuing today, it involves hundreds of moved structures, from houses and apartment buildings to churches and schools. Buildings were relocated for many reasons, from street modifications in the early 1900s to the advent of freeways and Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in the 1950s and 1960s. Buildings were cut in half and moved in pieces, disassembled and moved brick by brick, or (more commonly) moved intact—some as heavy as 9,000 tons or as long as 110 feet. Buildings moved to San Francisco via ship around Cape Horn, traveled across town using horses and wagons or (later) trucks, and were barged over the Bay.

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Santa Rosa, California in Vintage Postcards

9780738502335

$24.99

From the first Rose Carnival in 1864, to the Great Earthquake in 1906, and the building of Highway 101, this book documents the history of Santa Rosa, illuminated in over 200 vintage postcards. Included are postcards of Luther Burbank, horticulturalist and local hero, as well as many views of Fourth Street as it changed and grew with the town.

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San Anselmo

9780738596891

$24.99

San Anselmo has been a crossroads if not a center of activity from the days when the Coast Miwok inhabited the valley and fished the fresh waters of the creek. Red Hill, a town landmark, was the meeting point of three 1840s Mexican land grants. The rancho days had come to an end by 1875, when the North Pacific Coast Railroad completed its line, with its tracks branching east and west at San Anselmo. Railroad officials encouraged real estate activity, but it was not until the San Francisco Theological Seminary was completed in 1892 that the town began to grow. Incorporation followed in 1907, after refugees from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire built permanent homes. The population grew in the years following World War II, but San Anselmo has remained a small, family town.

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Redwood Valley

9781467134507

$24.99

Redwood Valley was named after the majestic redwood groves between Road M and Calpella. Prior to 1857, the Pomo Indians occupied the valley along with grizzly bears, mountain lions, and eagles. The valley became a melting pot of nationalities, with people coming into it from Italy, Germany, Scotland, and Finland. They plowed the land, herded their flocks, harvested their crops, and established unique industries. The early pioneers set the tone for the valley community with their ambitions and hard-work ethic. Together, they paid for and supported schools, churches, an improvement club, the grange, fire and water districts, post offices, agricultural improvements, and stores. The infamous People's Temple was located here. Redwood Valley's 150-plus years of recorded history is rich in what it takes to make a valley into a community.

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Legendary Locals of Los Gatos

9781467101356

$24.99

In 1878, Charles Erskine Scott Wood, builder of the Cats Estate, wrote Good citizens are the riches of a city. From its beginning, Los Gatos has suffered no shortage of hardworking, inventive, entrepreneurial, and gifted people. Early orchardists found the land unbelievably productive, but their crops were threatened with disease and pesky infestations of gophers. John Bean and Zephyr Macabee provided solutions. Louise Van Meter was an unconventional teacher who championed the new concept of kindergarten. Neta Snook Southern defied traditional female roles to become a pilot. She taught Amelia Earhart to fly before retiring to Los Gatos, where she raised prunes, apricots, and miniature horses. John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath during one long, hot summer in town. Steve Wozniak settled in Los Gatos and donated computers to schools. The lives presented here have contributed to the sparkling legacy of the Gem City of the Foothills.

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Mount Lowe Railway

9780738588797

$24.99

Since Mount Lowe Railway's abandonment in 1936, millions of hikers, mountain bikers, and railfans have followed the long-deserted rail beds to glimpse the scenic grandeur of what was once the Earth's Grandest Mountain Ride. Now, readers can enjoy local history and fabulous vistas without the effort of a day's hike. Authors Michael A. Patris and Steve Crise serve on the board of the Mount Lowe Preservation Society, which provided most of the images in this book from its archives.

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Spreckels

9780738546841

$24.99

The community of Spreckels in the Salinas Valley was the manifestation of the dreams of immigrant Claus Spreckels, later known as the Sugar King. Architect W. H. Weeks designed Spreckels Sugar Company's town near its massive sugar beet factory, the largest in the world. Neat rows of single-story homes sprang up on the valley floor, opening to workers in 1899. Spreckels also built a narrow-gauge railroad to cart his cargo to the docks at Moss Landing. Sugar beet production changed the focus of valley agriculture from dry to irrigated crops, resulting in the vast modern agricultural-industrial economy in today's Salad Bowl of the World. Although Spreckels died in 1908, his company continued to own and operate the factory and much of the town until 1982, and almost 500 residents still call it home.

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Dinuba

9781467134262

$24.99

On May 11, 1880, tensions between central California settlers and the Southern Pacific Railroad culminated in a violent shoot-out that left seven people dead. This event, known as the Mussel Slough Tragedy, was a result of the attempted evictions of settlers from land they had already purchased and the high land prices imposed by the expanding railroad. Founded in 1890 by James Patterson and James Sibley, Dinuba was an effort for Mussel Slough farmers to peacefully resettle in the San Joaquin Valley and pursue their agricultural interests. The region's fertile soils and warm climate made the land ideal for farming and economic growth. With the development of a reliable water source and the importation of Thompson's Seedless grapes, raisins quickly became the cash crop, and Dinuba, nicknamed The Raisin City, entered the 20th century as an established and rapidly growing community. Today, the city's unique history is preserved through the Depot Museum, maintained and operated by the Alta District Historical Society.

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The Napa River

9780738595047

$24.99

During the mid-1800s, the Napa River brought people to Napa City from around the world, attracted by the beauty and bounty of the valley. Riverboat captains played a major role in creating the material wealth of the city as their vessels plied the waters of San Francisco Bay carrying freight and passengers. As the powerhouse of industry, the river attracted several tanneries that needed water to make the now famous Nappa leather. Napa became a leather colony with the growth of shoe, glove, and glue factories. The river became a key transportation artery, and its channel became the focus of greater dredging to allow larger ships to anchor downtown. No longer a natural river able to meander, it frequently overran its banks, flooding towns. Industry, agricultural runoff, and population growth caused the Napa River to become polluted and neglected into the 20th century. Today, the Napa River is the centerpiece of downtown renewal. A Living River strategy is bringing back its vitality along with fish and wildlife populations, helping the river to regain its importance.

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Japanese Americans of the South Bay

9780738559612

$24.99

Early-20th-century settlers in Los Angeles County's South Bay region found fallow rancho land worthy of cultivation, as well as roads and railways to move produce to markets. First-generation Japanese Issei immigrants became pioneering strawberry, vegetable, and flower growers and cannery fishermen. Their fields blanketed the landscape between oil derricks and along sloughs and the dry-farmed coastline. Families pooled resources and built Japanese language schools for their Americanborn Nisei children that doubled as meeting halls. Small mom-and-pop businesses and services sprang up in Gardena and elsewhere, catering to Japanese neighborhoods. The evacuation, detention, and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II devastated their sense of belonging and livelihoods that had taken 40 years to establish. Today South Bay is home to multigenerational Japanese and Asian Americans who continue that legacy of industry, beautification, and diversity.

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Santa Margarita

9781467133746

$24.99

Santa Margarita de Cortona was founded in 1775 as part of the original Spanish mission system. Its asistencia, in fact, has been considered a lost mission. Santa Margarita Ranch was later founded from a Mexican land grant. In 1889, the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad, with its terminus in Santa Margarita, created a boomtown with dance halls, blacksmiths, hotels, pool halls, saloons, and a jail. And with the popularity of auto travel half a century later, Santa Margarita was once again revitalized with garages, gas stations, motor inns, restaurants, and bars. It fell into a deep sleep, however, as Highway 101 bypassed the town in the mid-1950s. Landlocked by the 17,000-plus-acre Santa Margarita Ranch, the town has remained frozen in time until recently.

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Palomar Mountain

9780738570013

$24.99

Rising 6,140 feet into the sky, Palomar Mountain is one of the highest peaks in San Diego County. It is best known as the location for the iconic Palomar Observatory and its giant 200-inch Hale telescope. But since the mid-1800s, this mile-high forested oasis in the Southern California desert has also been a haven to rustlers, ranchers, and recluses, as well as practitioners of high science and promoters of extraterrestrials. Early Luiseño Indians were the mountain's first inhabitants, and ever since then, it has been a special place with a magical attraction to many looking for inspiration and solitude. Today Palomar Mountain is home to a small, thriving community with an eclectic mix of about 300 citizens, some of whom are descendants from the original 19th-century pioneer families.

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The Humboldt Wagon Road

9780738576435

$24.99

This book offers readers an opportunity to ride the historic Humboldt Wagon Road from Chico to Susanville through images that have been collected since the 1860s. Many never-before-published photographs and oral histories tell a story of people who established what has been called this small corner of the West. In the 1850s, John Bidwell, a California pioneer, agriculturist, businessman, and politician, envisioned a freight and passenger route that would connect San Francisco, the Sacramento River, and his newly established community of Chico. He wanted it to cross the mountains to the gold and silver mines in Idaho and Nevada. Bidwell financed, constructed, and opened the road for horses, wagons, stagecoaches, and eventually trucks and automobiles. From the Civil War era until the present, the road has carried everything from lumber to tourists.

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Chinatown and China City in Los Angeles

9780738581651

$24.99

By 1900, the Chinese population of Los Angeles City and County had grown to over 3,000 residents who were primarily situated around an enclave called Old Chinatown. When Old Chinatown was razed to build Union Station, Chinese business owners led by Peter SooHoo Sr. purchased land a few blocks north of downtown to build New Chinatown. Both New Chinatown and another enclave called China City opened in 1938, but China City ultimately closed down after a series of fires.

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Apple Valley

9780738547497

$24.99

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.

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San Pedro

9780738547077

$24.99

Arcadia Publishing's second collection of postcard images concerning the Los Angeles Harbor community of San Pedro follows the 2005 Postcard History Series volume San Pedro Bay. Where that work concentrated on the harbor and water aspects of the colloquially known Peedro, this new volume looks at the town and its development, buildings, businesses, streetscapes, and residences. The port village and town that grew from it has a rich and varied past with vital influence on the histories of the city of Los Angeles and California, and others no less epic than the sagas of the U.S. military, American labor unions, and world cargo shipping.

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Blythe and the Palo Verde Valley

9780738530727

$24.99

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.

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World War II Sacramento

9781467138086

$21.99

Spurred into action by the attack on Pearl Harbor, Sacramento dragged itself out of the morass of the Great Depression and joined the war effort. Local citizens trained for Japanese attacks through Civilian Defense, cultivated thousands of acres of victory gardens and harnessed the agricultural riches of the region. Tens of thousands engaged in war work at local bases like the new McClellan Field, while Sacramento's diverse servicemen distinguished themselves in combat overseas. They would later return and transform the city into the modern Sacramento of today. Exclusive images and stories from the Special Collections of the Sacramento Public Library bring this story to life.

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San Diego Police

9780738595481

$24.99

A Pacific Coast metropolis famous for beautiful beaches and perfect weather and an American municipality since 1850, San Diego is America's eighth-largest city. Known as America's Finest City, it contains a wealth of history—evolutionary as well as revolutionary—in its crime files. Among those are the founder of the California wine industry, Judge Roy Bean, a black officer before the Emancipation Proclamation, a 19th-century Native American police chief, and women who had the power to arrest before they had the right to vote. Major incidents include massive floods, civil unrest, wildfires, and some of the largest police gun battles in history. San Diego also witnessed mass murder, America's first major school shooting, the worst aviation disaster in American history, and the deadliest streets, per capita, to police. How the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) handled it all became textbook for many other police agencies.