Regular price
$21.99
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Orange, California, a city that started small, but grew big on the promise, sweat and toil of agriculture. Born from the breakup of the old Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, its early days were filled with horse races, gambling, and fiestas. Citrus was the backbone of the economy for more than half a century, though post-war development eventually replaced the orange groves. Historian, and Orange native, Phil Brigandi traces the roots of the city back to its small town origins: the steam whistle of the Peanut Roaster, the citrus packers tissue-wrapping oranges for transport, Miss Orange leading the May Festival parade, and the students of Orange Union High painting the O and celebrating Dutch-Irish Days. In doing so, he captures what makes Orange distinct.
Angels Camp and Copperopolis
9780738559810
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$24.99
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The Angels Camp and Copperopolis regions offer a fascinating chapter in the history of the Mother Lode. Calaveras County's southwest corner has many tales to tell, including one of the earliest settlements of the Native American in California; two of the most famous names in Americana, Mark Twain and Black Bart; and two major events in national history, the Gold Rush and the Civil War. An important Gold Rush town, Angels Camp gained even greater fame through Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," which inspired the world-famous Jumping Frog Jubilee. At the same time, Copperopolis became a critical supplier of copper to the Union during the Civil War. Legendary outlaw Black Bart made his first and his last stagecoach holdup here. Ferries and railways served the region that also included the settlements of Hodson, Milton, Felix, Carson Hill, Dogtown, and Lost City.
Sunol
9780738555546
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$24.99
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In 1839, Antonio Sunol acquired this beautiful valley, originally inhabited by Ohlone Indians, to raise his cattle. Thirty years passed, and the First Transcontinental Railroad was poised to make history, completing the last segment of rail from Sacramento to Oakland. The final link was laid—straight through the middle of Sunol—and a small village was suddenly transformed. The valley prospered with new wealth; hotels and railroad depots were built along with hay warehouses, a grocery and a mercantile, a blacksmith shop, post office, five schools, and a church. San Francisco families built summer homes in the new resort destination. The Spring Valley Water Company purchased property in the valley, where some of their largest water mains to San Francisco would flow, and even commissioned famed architect Willis Polk to design his Italian-style masterpiece, The Water Temple. Early prosperity eventually gave way to the grim realities of the Depression and the war years, however, and families began occupying the summer cabins lining Kilkare Road year-round. But as the town's permanent population grew, a new and unique community emerged.
Wells Fargo
9780738531434
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$24.99
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Those striking images of stagecoaches traversing rugged mountain terrain are no mere marketing gimmick, but part and parcel of Wells Fargo's storied past. When Henry Wells and William Fargo founded the company in 1852, the gold rush had already brought thousands of people to California and uncovered the largest amount of wealth then known to the world. Wells Fargo served a unique role as a banking, express or transporting, and mail-delivery agency. In 1857, the company helped establish the Overland Mail Company; in 1861, it operated the Pony Express; and in 1866, it put together a 3,000-mile network of stagecoaches running between California and Nebraska. Three decades later, Wells Fargo covered the nation over a web of iron rails. Miners and merchants, ranchers and farmers alike depended on Wells Fargo. The company always used the fastest means possible for its deliveries and fund transfers, whether by riverboat, ocean steamer, pony express, stagecoach, railroad, or the fastest method of all, the telegraph.
The Stagecoach in Northern California
9781626192546
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$23.99
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New England stagemen followed thousands of bedazzled gold rushers out west in 1849, carving out the first public overland transportation routes in California. Daring drivers like Hank Monk navigated treacherous terrain, while entrepreneurs such as James Birch, Jared Crandall and Louis McLane founded stagecoach companies traveling from Stockton to the Oregon border and over the formidable Sierra Nevada. Stagecoaches hauling gold from isolated mines to big-city safes were easy targets for highwaymen like Black Bart. Road accidents could end in disaster--coaches even tumbled down mountainsides. Journey back with author Cheryl Anne Stapp to an era before the railroad and automobile arrived and discover the wild history of stagecoach travel in California.
Westminster
9781467109680
Regular price
$23.99
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Westminster Colony was founded in 1870 by Presbyterian minister Rev. Lemuel P. Webber. The colony, based on Protestant Christian tenets and temperance, was one of the earliest settlements in what would later become Orange County, California. It developed into an important agricultural area until farmlands gave way to suburban tract homes during the county’s population boom of the late 1950s and 1960s. In 1947, it became the background for the important Mendez v. Westminster case, which helped pave the way for the national dismantling of segregation in schools. A little more than a century after the first settlers arrived in Westminster, Little Saigon became the heart of Orange County’s Vietnamese immigrant community. This latest group of settlers continues to make notable and unique contributions to this historic city.
Tales of the Russian River
9781609496265
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$21.99
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The Russian River has drawn tourists to its colossal redwoods, picturesque seashore and idyllic resorts for more than a century. This collection of John C. Schubert's Stumptown Stories columns relates the history of this California river valley through in-depth research and firsthand stories. Ride the first train to chug across the Hacienda Bridge and wave farewell to the town's last train in 1935. Swing around in the many dance halls to the big bands of the 1930s, '40s and '50s. Let the entertaining stories behind once stately, now hidden, landmarks carry you into Stumptown's past. Reconnect over coffee at Pat's Cafe and discover the rich history that formed the Russian River's communities.
Skiing at Lake Tahoe
9780738589060
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$24.99
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Organized ski racing in America started near Lake Tahoe in the 1860s when gold miners rode 15-foot boards that reached speeds near 100 miles per hour. By 1895, residents of Truckee had started the nation's first winter carnival west of the Rocky Mountains and soon built the largest ski jump in California. Today's Lake Tahoe, with significant annual snowfall, has become home to the largest concentration of ski resorts on the continent. Places like Mount Rose, Squaw Valley (home of the 1960 Winter Olympics), Sugar Bowl, Heavenly Valley, Homewood, Sierra-at-Tahoe, Alpine Meadows, Kirkwood, Diamond Peak, Donner Ski Ranch, Granlibakken, and Northstar-at-Tahoe have seen skiing styles, sports, and fashions churn through the decades, while now gone resorts, such as Edelweiss and White Hills Ski Resort, echo the memories of yesterday's skiers through the pines.
Redondo Beach Pier
9780738575025
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$24.99
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Piers have always drawn people to the mysterious wonder of the ocean. The ability to seemingly walk on water with the construction of a pier has created for humans a sense of temporary mastery of the majestic and merciless sea. The Southern California shoreline has always attracted tourists from near and far to experience the natural beauty of the coastline. Capitalizing on the natural and man-made appeal of the ocean and the pleasure pier, Henry Huntington created in Redondo Beach a fantasyland of wonder and excitement for beachgoers in the early 20th century. As one of the major rivals to the pleasure piers of Santa Monica, Ocean Park, and Venice to the north, the Endless Pier and later the adjacent Monstad Pier in Redondo Beach drew in thousands of tourists a day. Pleasure-seekers can still fish, enjoy dinner and music, shop, or simply take a nighttime stroll over the water on today's Municipal Pier--remnants from the heyday of Redondo Beach's pleasure pier of the early 20th century.
Lifeguards of San Diego County
9780738555867
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$24.99
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Lifeguards of San Diego County traces the origins of the nine professional lifeguard agencies that serve the public swimming, diving, and boating along the shorelines of San Diego County. Sporadic lifeguard service existed as early as 1906, but on a single day in 1918, thirteen people drowned at Ocean Beach. The drownings focused community and government attention on the need for consistent lifeguard services along San Diego County's beaches. Today there are more than 600 lifeguards from city and state agencies that serve San Diegans throughout the county. Here for the first time, the origins, experiences, and stories of these dedicated and most often heroic people are woven together into one volume.
California's Haunted Central Coast
9781467140935
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$21.99
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Eerie haunts and stories of apparitions stretch along the California coast from Monterey Bay to the Channel Islands. James Dean's presence lingers at the site of his deadly car crash on Highway 46, and a ghost-in-residence presides over the Robert Louis Stevenson house in Monterey. Learn of the ghoulish murders of the Reed family at the San Miguel Mission, the mysterious spirits that haunt the Hearst Castle and the twisted tales of strange occurrences in what was once the Camarillo State Hospital. Join author Evie Ybarra as she explores the unexplained along this infamous coast.
Sonoma Valley
9780738529431
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$24.99
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California's Wine Country, its rolling hills studded with ancient oaks and laced with vines. Tourists flock to the charming, historic towns in the Valley of the Moon, from Kenwood in the north to Schellville in the south. The town of Sonoma may be the birthplace of the State of California. Its central plaza, designed as a parade ground by Mexican general Mariano Vallejo and still ringed by mid-19th century buildings, was the site of the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt. Since 1823, when Mission San Francisco Solano, the last link in the long chain of California missions, was established here, to the famous present-day wineries, restaurants, and shops, Sonoma Valley has been treasured by residents and visitors alike.
Emeryville
9780738530062
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$24.99
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Emeryville, one tough square mile wedged between Oakland and Berkeley with its back to the bay, has a gritty, colorful history and a bright future. Before the Gold Rush, its creek-fed grasslands served as a huge slaughtering ground for the Peralta family's hide and tallow operations. Later, railroad tracks crisscrossed a community formed on the fringe of Oakland to catch its cultural and industrial refuse. The stench from stockyards and slaughterhouses, the happy roar of a crowd at the Oakland Oaks Ball Park, acidic plumes from steel and petroleum manufacture, pomaded swells rubbing elbows with rowdies at the racetrack, and smoky gambling dens were all part of old Emeryville. Recently, an innovative, business-friendly city government brought about a striking economic transformation, making once-blighted Emeryville—now home to corporate giants like Pixar Animation Studios and IKEA—the envy of its neighbors.
Gold Country's Last Chinatown
9781467143233
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$23.99
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Marysville's Chinatown is the last remaining of thirty such communities built in California's Gold Country during the gold rush. Home to one of the oldest operating Taoist temples in California, this region's rich history includes a visit from Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the first president of the Republic of China. For more than 150 years, the Chinese in Marysville have celebrated the Bok Kai Festival, and it's now the only place in America where people can experience the firing of the bombs and the mad dash to catch one of the good luck rings. Join authors Lawrence Tom and Brian Tom as they share the stories of the resolute Marysville Chinese and their pioneer forebears.
Growing Up in San Francisco's Western Neighborhoods
9781626193840
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$21.99
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From football games at Kezar Stadium to a perfectly broiled Zim burger, San Franciscans have fond memories of the decades after World War II. Dressing up for a movie at the Fox Theatre on Market Street, catching the train at the old S.P. Station on Third and Townsend, taking the streetcar downtown to see magnificent displays in the Emporium's windows or spending a day at Golden Gate Park, the outside lands of San Francisco were teeming with youngsters and the young-at-heart alike. Western Neighborhoods Project columnist and San Francisco native Frank Dunnigan offers a charming collection of nostalgic vignettes about the thriving Western communities of unforgettable people and places that defined generations.
Hidden History of Transportation in Los Angeles
9781626196711
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$23.99
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Los Angeles transportation's epic scale--its iconic freeways, Union Station, Los Angeles International Airport and the giant ports of its shores--has obscured many offbeat transit stories of moxie and eccentricity. Triumphs such as the Vincent Thomas Bridge and Mac Barnes's Ground Link buspool have existed alongside such flops as the Santa Monica Freeway Diamond Lane and the Oxnard-Los Angeles Caltrain commuter rail. The City of Angels lacks a propeller-driven monorail and a freeway in the paved bed of the Los Angeles River, but not for a lack of public promoters. Horace Dobbins built the elevated California Cycleway in Pasadena, and Mike Kadletz deployed the Pink Buses for Orange County kids hitchhiking to the beach. Join Charles P. Hobbs as he recalls these and other lost episodes of LA-area transportation lore.
Locke and the Sacramento Delta Chinatowns
9780738596709
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$24.99
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Chinese pioneers in the Sacramento River Delta were the vital factor in reclaiming land and made significant contributions to California's agricultural industry from farming to canning. Since the 1860s, Chinese were already settled in the delta and created Chinatowns in and between the two towns of Freeport in the north and Rio Vista in the south. One of the towns, Locke, was unique in that it was built by the Chinese and was inhabited almost exclusively by the Chinese during the first half of the 1900s. The town of Locke represents the last remaining legacy of the Chinese pioneers who settled in the delta.
Lost Restaurants of Napa Valley and Their Recipes
9781467144612
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$21.99
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Alongside its vineyards, the Napa Valley boasts restaurants celebrated for their pioneering spirit. Stroll through the memories of this region’s mouthwatering eateries with tales of the enterprising women and risk takers who helped make Napa a foodie haven. The Empire Saloon made history by being the first business to serve food in the fledgling city of Napa, and a little over a century later, the Magnolia Hotel set the standard for fine dining in Yountville. The A-1 Café made Chinese cuisine a local favorite, and Jonesy’s set the aviation community aflutter with its tasty special potatoes. Join author Alexandria Brown as she delves into the history of Napa County’s gone-but-not-forgotten restaurants and their classic dishes.
Quotable San Francisco
9781467147200
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$24.99
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“San Francisco is forty-nine square miles surrounded by reality.” -Paul Kantner, founder of San Francisco rock band Jefferson Airplane.
Surging from hamlet to boomtown overnight, San Francisco is the most meteoric “instant city” in history. Over the decades, residents have offered unique perspectives through journals, letters, and newspapers, their words bringing another time to life. Discover San Francisco through the eyes of miners and “ladies of the night.” Relive the experiences of robber barons and beatniks who flourished in this tiny corner of the world with fewer than one million souls. From the Gold Rush to the Tech Rush, the city by the bay been the site of daring innovations, counterculture upheavals, and social rebellions that shaped generations.
With commentary, background and extraordinary images, historians Terry Hamburg and Richard Hansen guide you through these colorful quotes, showing San Francisco as it once was, and what it aspired to be.
San Francisco's Ocean Beach
9780738528571
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$24.99
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Where the waves of the Pacific Ocean wash up against the quiet neighborhoods of San Francisco, Ocean Beach has endured as a popular destination for tourists and San Francisco residents alike. At water's edge is the Cliff House restaurant where visitors can look down upon the remains of the Sutro Baths, a 19th-century indoor pool complex. Just south is the famous Golden Gate Park with its two stately windmills, followed by the well-loved San Francisco Zoo. But a century of change has altered the landscape and the attractions of Ocean Beach, making way for new developments and reflecting the evolution of the city of San Francisco itself.
Hello, San Diego!
9781938700460
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$9.95
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Welcome to San Diego! Parent and child Pandas tour America's Finest City in best-selling author-illustrator Martha Day Zschock's Hello! board book series for children. In Hello, San Diego! join the pair as they visit the beach, spend the day at Balboa Park, tour the Bay on a boat, and discover tide pool creatures at Cabrillo National Monument. Along the way they stop for tacos in Old Town, ride a roller coaster, wave to sea lions, watch hang gliders, and end their day roasting marsh-mallows on Coronado Island! For ages 0-3. Made in the USA.
Portuguese Community of San Diego
9780738570341
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$24.99
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In a century's time, Portuguese explorers had discovered two-thirds of the world. In 1542, Joao Rodrigues Cabrilho uncovered the west coast of America when he sailed into a large bay sheltered by a beautiful peninsula that would someday be known as Point Loma. By the 20th century, a small group of Portuguese immigrants had settled in the La Playa area in pursuit of a life on the sea. They brought their unique traditions and folklore customs, built churches and halls, and celebrated with Holy Spirit Festas in the streets of their new homeland. Today 19,717 make up San Diego's Portuguese community, where many of them still live in Point Loma.
Oxnard
9780738529301
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$24.99
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Stretching out along the beautiful Pacific shoreline, Oxnard is the largest city in Ventura County. The flat plain area lay fallow for nearly a century after the original population, the Chumash Indians, concentrated around the mission of San Buenaventura. The first crops were planted by German and Irish immigrants in 1867, and by 1898, Henry T. Oxnard and his investors saw the potential to build the largest sugar factory in the world. These days, the annual strawberry festival attracts thousands of visitors who come to celebrate the city's deep agricultural roots.
Silverado Canyon
9780738559629
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$24.99
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Hidden in the Santa Ana Mountains below Santiago Peak is a canyon called Silverado. The Spaniards called it Canon de la Madera because of the abundance of timber. The first non-native homesteaders arrived in 1876 to tend bees and grow fruit trees. With the discovery in 1877 of quartz deposits embedded with silver, the canyon became a hotbed of activity, with possibilities of newfound fortune for the hundreds of men who arrived there. Renamed Silverado City, the heart of the canyon turned into a bustling mining town. After the silver bust, peace and quiet returned and Silverado was promoted as a health resort, a place to "take the waters" that flowed from the natural sulfur springs. Attracted by the beauty of the canyon, city dwellers began visiting. Abandoned cabins were turned into small bungalows and used as vacation homes and eventually year-round residences. Through boom and bust, fire and flood, the canyon remains a unique and enchanting part of Orange County.
Super Cities! San Francisco
9781467198523
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$14.99
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Sometimes the coolest places are right outside your front door. Learning about San Francisco’s interesting and unique culture has never been so super fun!
Did you know that San Francisco was one of the most popular places to secure a fortune during the Gold Rush? Or that you can still visit Alcatraz, the country’s most secure Federal prison, to this day? From the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, to the Mexican-American War, Super Cities!: San Francisco covers it all, and is sure to engage any reader with fun facts about the history, culture, and people who make this city great. Stroll along Pier 39, explore Chinatown, and try delicious chocolate at Ghirardelli Square, all right here. Take a peek inside to learn more about the impressive, unusual, super history of San Francisco!
Napa
9780738529516
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$24.99
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The name Napa may come from Napato, a clan of the Wintun Indians who once lived along a river that flows into San Francisco Bay. In the 1850s, miners sought refuge in the young city that grew up by the Napa River, living in tents along its main street. Later they and other newcomers found work at businesses and nearby ranches while Napa City flourished as goods and produce from all over the valley were loaded onto steamers bound for San Francisco. Shortening its name in 1900, Napa continued to provide housing and shops, utilities and transportation for a growing agricultural center, and it shared the valley's economic hard times through Prohibition and the Great Depression.
San Francisco's Richmond District
9780738530536
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$24.99
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San Francisco is a patchwork of unique neighborhoods, and one of the most distinctive is the Richmond District. Stretching from the city's dense urban core outward to the rocky, rugged cliffs of Land's End, the Richmond contains schools, shops, churches, hospitals, and citizens from many different backgrounds and countries. San Francisco historian and tour guide Lorri Ungaretti, author of San Francisco's Sunset District, showcases here a stirring collection of vintage Richmond images, detailing this district's journey from windswept sand dunes to the modern and livable place we know today. Among the Richmond's long-gone sights are cemeteries, farms, racetracks, and improvised cottages built in the wake of the 1906 earthquake. The area remained mostly rural through the 1880s, when mining entrepreneur Adolph Sutro (who also developed Sutro Heights and Sutro Baths) put in a commuter rail line to connect San Francisco's central district with his entertainment destinations in the Outside Lands near Ocean Beach. The Richmond District's history includes large cemetery plots that are now covered with homes. In addition, the various roadhouses, racetracks, and amusement parks in the area made it what Ungaretti calls the city's playground. They're gone now, but remain important parts of the Richmond's fascinating history.
Historic Marysville City Cemetery
9781467162241
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$24.99
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The Historic Marysville City Cemetery contains the ghosts of the city founders, politicians, Western heroes and bandits, and murder victims and murderers. Among the 10,000 individuals buried in this cemetery is a survivor of the ill-fated Donner Party; the brother of the founder of Macy’s department store; the minister to Japan, appointed by Pres. Ulysses S. Grant; and the founders and co-owners of one of the oldest continuously operated businesses in California, the Union Lumber Company, established in 1852. This cemetery is one of the oldest city-owned cemeteries in the area, with burials dating from 1850. The cemetery became inactive in 1939, allowing burials only in existing family plots and later only ashes. The most recent interment was in 2016.
Phyllis E. Smith and Victoria M. Tudor are board members of the Friends for the Preservation of Yuba County History (FPYCH). The group’s monthly newsletter, the Yuba Legacy, is written by Tudor and edited by Smith. They both help plan the organization’s fundraising activities, providing tours of the cemetery. Tudor spends considerable time working in the cemetery and coordinates headstone repairs with a local monument company. Smith digitized the handwritten book of burials, from 1870 to 1930, a four-year effort.
Amador County
9780738547015
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$24.99
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Located in the heart of California's gold country, rural Amador County has retained much of its gold rush?era atmosphere, even as modern times have influenced the populace and the landscape. In the early days, life was quite rugged here, and lumberjacks, hard-rock miners, and railroad men were a common sight. Today much of the community's stunning natural setting remains nearly as sylvan and pristine as it was when the county was incorporated in 1854. Proud of an extensive and colorful history that includes mining, lumber, mountaineering, Native Americans, wine making, agriculture, and railroads, Amador County residents truly enjoy this slowly evolving place they call home.
West Sacramento
9780738529455
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$24.99
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West Sacramento, in Yolo County, is just across the river from the state capital that shares part of its name. But it has a very distinct history. First called Washington, the area became an agricultural and industrial center that attracted Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Russian immigrants and helped to feed and supply the growing metropolis of Sacramento and surrounding counties. In 1911, the ambitious West Sacramento Land Company laid down electric rail links to downtown Sacramento and cleared the land for what they hoped would be large-scale developments and population growth. Eventually West Sacramento did grow, and in 1987 the communities of West Sacramento, Broderick, Bryte, and Southport joined together to become one of the newest incorporated cities in the state.
LGBTQ+ Long Beach
9781467161343
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$24.99
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Long Beach, California, founded in the 1880s by conservative, pro-temperance settlers, has been known as “American Colony,” “Queen of the Beaches,” “Iowa-By-The Sea,” “Home of the Pike,” and “Paradise for Pansies.” This book gives a glimpse of how Long Beach went from making national headlines in 1914 for entrapping 31 gay men as “social vagrants” to receiving a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s “Municipal Equality Index” for issues that contribute to a positive climate for LGBTQA+ people. Over time, Long Beach changed, becoming one of the most diverse cities in California. Voters elected a lesbian to city council in 2006 and a gay mayor in 2014 who they sent to Congress in 2022. Its new main library is named in honor of its hometown lesbian heroine, Billie Jean King. Today, Long Beach has the third largest “Pride Parade and Festival” in California.
San Gorgonio Pass
9780738530970
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$24.99
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Locals know it simply as the pass—big enough to include several cities and towns, state parks and Indian reservations, the Colorado Desert and the travels of every golfer, movie star, tycoon, president, camper, trucker, sun-worshiper, and everyday Joe who ever buzzed to and from Palm Springs and Los Angeles. In Riverside County between Old Grayback, also known as Mount San Gorgonio, rising to 11,804 feet on the north in the San Bernardino Range, and Mount San Jacinto topping out at 10,804 feet to the south, the people down inside the San Gorgonio Pass have seen them all come and go, from the days of the dust-caked overland stages to the chariots on today's Interstate 10. But the past came to pass in the pass too, and the images showcased here provide windows on the making of San Timoteo Canyon, Calimesa, Beaumont, Cherry Valley and Oak Glen, Banning, Cabazon, and Whitewater into the thriving communities they are today.
Catalina Island
9780738569994
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$7.99
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Catalina Island boasts a rich history. These images illustrate the people, the events, and the everyday scenes that make up Catalina Island's story.
Rim of the World Drive
9780738525167
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$7.99
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On July 18, 1915, the Rim of the World Drive was dedicated, changing the lives of San Bernardino Mountain visitors and residents. The slow 19th-century lifestyle that moved at the pace of horses was transformed into the streamlined and fast-paced 20th-century age of the automobile.
Vacaville
9780738528847
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$24.99
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Vacaville, named for its founder, Juan Manual Vaca, grew up next to what has become a major highway to Sacramento and points north. It became famous for its Nut Tree Restaurant, which for decades offered travelers the produce of this fertile fruit-growing region. Now the modern highway bypasses Vacaville's historic downtown, leaving it to be enjoyed by the growing population of greater Vaca Valley. Even though the modern city has grown out to engulf that new highway and an ever more diversified economy continues to thrive, old Vacaville still feels and looks like a small town of another era. Unscathed by earthquake since 1892, enlightened city officials have not only preserved much of the original downtown but have added a Creekwalk that gives an air of quiet greenery.
Ventura County Lima Beans
9781467157049
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$24.99
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The One Time Lima Bean Capitol of the World.
For over a century, Ventura County was famous for growing lima beans. The conditions were perfect: foggy coast, rich soil, and low overhead. As the seeds improved and farming technology advanced, many profited from the crop. The beans kept pace with other produce for decades before falling to the high producing cash crops like lemons, strawberries and the inevitable urban sprawl. While no longer a top crop in the county, California is the number one producer of dry lima beans in the nation and the Oxnard Plain still grows the best tasting beans.
Join author and historian Jeffrey Wayne Maulhardt as he unearths the homegrown history of Ventura County’s celebrated lima beans.
Wildomar
9780738570822
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$24.99
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Wildomar is a semirural community located in an inland valley of Riverside County, about 60 miles northwest of San Diego. In 1886, the three founders of the town site cleverly coined its unique name from a combination of their own first names--WILliam Collier, DOnald Graham, and MARgaret Collier Graham. The community began to grow when settlers traveled by road and railroad into the area to farm the land and raise their families. Today Wildomar is a community of nearly 28,000 people. An independence movement ultimately led to an application for cityhood, and on July 1, 2008, amidst fireworks and music, the city of Wildomar was officially born.
Presidio of Monterey
9780738528700
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$24.99
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The Presidio of Monterey is best known as the home of the post-World War II Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, the Department of Defense's acknowledged leader in foreign language training. It has, however, a much longer and rich history. After the United States seized Monterey in 1846, the U.S. Army began constructing Fort Mervine, which served a number of purposes until it was abandoned in 1866. In 1902-1903, a modern cantonment was built in the area. In 1904, the new post was officially renamed the Presidio of Monterey after a nearby Spanish fort established in 1770 that had fallen into disuse. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the post was home to infantry and cavalry regiments, as well as an inductee reception center. The Military Intelligence Service Language School was moved to the Presidio of Monterey in 1946 and renamed the Army Language School in 1947; this evolved into the present-day Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center.
Saratoga
9780738569635
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$24.99
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One of California's earliest communities, Saratoga was settled before the Gold Rush. Water from the hillsides provided power for a mill, and Saratoga became a center for lumbering, for milling, and for paper manufacturing. By the Civil War, the community was known as a resort for summer homes of wealthy San Franciscans. Blessed with a wonderful climate, scenic terrain, and abundant natural springs, newcomers discovered it was possible to grow a wide variety of fruits, and hundreds of orchards appeared almost overnight. By 1900, Saratoga had the largest prune and apricot orchards known in America, and was home to Sunsweet. The flowering fruit trees inspired an annual Blossom Festival that brought thousands of visitors to the Saratoga area. An outstanding school system, wonderful climate, and a strong sense of community make Saratoga one of the most wonderful places to live in California.
Growing Up in Burbank
9781625859860
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$21.99
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Life in Burbank during the '60s and '70s was an unparalleled experience. From biking Lucky Busters trail to enjoying movies at the Cornell Theater and shopping at The Akron, Burbankers' choices of entertainment seemed endless. Relive fond memories of dining out at Genio's, the Dip or Santoro's. Recall visits to the Golden Mall before heading home to watch Dark Shadows on television. While some of the local icons may have changed, the spirit has remained the same—and it's waiting to be rediscovered. Authors Wes Clark and Mike McDaniel guide you through their hometown and remember the fads, the hijinks and the places that made Burbank the place it is today.
Catalina by Sea:
9780738531168
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$24.99
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A fancy flight of lyrics specifies that Santa Catalina Island is "26 miles across the sea." But mapmakers put the distance at 19.7 miles from the closest island point, Doctor's Cove (near Arrow Point), to the closest mainland locale, Point Fermin at San Pedro. Today boats and helicopters operating out of the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Newport Beach, and Dana Point transport musing songwriters and everyone else to Catalina for the song's much-promised "romance, romance, romance, romance," as well as fishing, sightseeing, and gainful employment. But the history of getting to and from the island's ports of Avalon and Two Harbors has been an epic across centuries of business and pleasure, involving a collective flotilla of side-wheelers, yachts, lumber schooners, steamships, water taxis, converted military vessels, crew boats, and today's fast and convenient jet boats.
Early Salinas
9780738529936
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$24.99
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The city of Salinas is named for the broad saltwater slough that once seeped in from Monterey Bay, saturating this plain between the Santa Lucia and Gavilian Mountains. Originally used as range land for cattle, a town developed from a stage stop after the Gold Rush, and the drained land produced grain and other crops. After World War I, immensely profitable large-scale lettuce, broccoli, and artichoke production, known as green gold, made Salinas one of the wealthiest cities in the United States. Isolated from its neighbors by mountains on both sides, early Salinas seemed a world unto itself, and its residents, both humble and wealthy, and the seemingly infinite green rows that surrounded it, provided similarly endless inspiration to novelist John Steinbeck, who recorded life here in the first half of the 20th century and imbued it with meaning.
Jewish San Francisco
9780738546834
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$24.99
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In San Francisco, the instant city of the gold rush days, Jews were pioneers among pioneers. Some came as immigrants directly from Europe, others as resettled adventurers from the East Coast, and still others as scions of southern Sephardic families. Out of this mixed multitude emerged a community with synagogues and institutions to care for the needy and the sick, along with a dignified social fabric. New immigrants following the Russian pogroms of 1883 were absorbed, and the ashen ruins from the 1906 earthquake were rebuilt. The city's cultural treasures and social needs were enriched, and the city's Jews were nurtured by civic commitments. Today's 70,000 San Francisco Jews, standing upon the shoulders of pioneering giants, continue to build and rebuild.
Early Burbank
9781467131384
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$24.99
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Burbank is an innovator, a world traveler—a city with artistic flair and creativity. From the entertainment industry taking up residence in the early 20th century to the Lockheed Aircraft Company opening shop in 1928, Burbank's masterpieces have transcended the coasts. Films shot on Burbank back lots and streets have entertained audiences worldwide. Lockheed planes built on Burbank soil flew across the world with the likes of Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh. Once a robust farming community, Burbank, founded on May 1, 1887, and later incorporated as a city on July 8, 1911, dons its name from Dr. David Burbank, a New Hampshire–born dentist who, in 1867, bought over 9,000 acres of land amid the sun-kissed foothills of the Verdugo Mountains—land that was awaiting creative cultivation.
Yucaipa
9780738547336
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$24.99
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For thousands of years, the people of Southern California have enjoyed the best things life has to offer, and that is especially true for the city of Yucaipa, located along traditional trade trails in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains between the valley of San Bernardino, the mountains, and the desert. It was not only a historic gathering place, but also a home to the predecessors who lived in the village of Yu'kai'pat. This sun-kissed land is rich in natural resources, with plenty of water and vegetation that provides for people and wild animals alike. The bounty of the land provided the nickname Breadbasket of Southern California in the 1800s and the Egg Basket during the 20th century. The people of Yucaipa take pride in living in a real hometown with good schools, a college, and sports programs. Residents also see to the protection of their wildlife neighbors with a state park, a county regional park, 11 city parks, and a trails system for everyone to enjoy the great outdoors.
Delano Area
9780738502472
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$24.99
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Delano's roots began when the first white man came into contact with the Yokuts of the San Joaquin Valley. Further development came as the Southern Pacific Railroad attempted to connect San Francisco with Bakersfield and the rails east. At the end of the track, Delano became a boom town overnight, a shipping center for sheep, cattle, and gold. This collection illustrates the Delano area's history from 1776 to 1930, touching on an 1891 train robbery by the famous outlaws, the Dalton brothers, introducing the reader to the Jack Rabbit King of Kern County, and exploring the kindling pioneer spirit of men and women struggling against the elements to build a life out of the wilderness surrounding Delano. Small neighboring settlements that were influential in Delano's growth and development are also featured here, including Famosa, McFarland, Pond, Alpaugh, Pixley, Terra Bella, Columbine, Richgrove, Ducor, Earlimart, Jasmine, Allensworth, Rag Gulch, California Hot Springs, and Woody.
Camp Roberts
9780738530550
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$24.99
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Camp Roberts, in the Salinas Valley, is one of California's largest military training camps. Named for a heroic World War I tank driver, it took the threat of global war in 1940 to kick-start its construction. Soon Camp Roberts had a capacity to house and train 23,000 men. During the war, almost half a million men trained here. Row upon row of wooden buildings, replete with churches, stores, a hospital, and an amphitheater where A-list stars performed, made it a mobilized city of 45,000 at its peak. In 1946, it became a ghost town overnight. Revived during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, it passed into National Guard control in 1971. However, all branches of the military continue to train here, and the camp has renewed relevance for troops bound for the Middle East.
Alameda
9780738530390
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$24.99
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Alameda was once a peninsula of grassy fields and sandy beaches, separated from Oakland by a snaking estuary. A tidal canal made Alameda an island in 1902 and its waterfront became a major shipping port. Park Street's bay-windowed commercial buildings looked out on a prosperous city of streetcars and comfortable homes. Between the two world wars, Alameda's Neptune Beach resort and amusement park became the Coney Island of the West, eventually boasting a Moorish entrance tower on Webster Street, a stadium, two swimming pools, a high dive, and a roller coaster called the Whoopie. Alameda's strategic location made its airdrome the busiest in the world in the 1930s and eventually attracted a U.S. Coast Guard base, known as Government Island, and the Alameda Naval Air Station.
California's Great America
9781467131902
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$24.99
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In May 1972, actor Fess Parker of Davy Crockett fame announced plans for a huge theme park complex in Santa Clara, California. Eventually, the Marriott Corporation joined the effort. Parker later departed, while Marriott continued with what was the corporation's largest project to date. Marriott's Great America opened its gates on March 20, 1976. It featured a variety of family and thrill rides on a grand scale plus live entertainment, including multiple stage shows and even a full circus. From Marriott to the park's current owner, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Great America has entertained and continues to entertain millions of guests in what is now the heart of Silicon Valley.
El Cerrito
9780738530284
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$24.99
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El Cerrito, Spanish for Little Hill, is a bustling and modern community today, sandwiched between Albany and Richmond along busy San Pablo Avenue. Quaint houses in the hills look down upon an active commercial strip with two BART stations and over the bayfront, where warehouses and processing plants in neighboring Richmond hum night and day. But as modern it is, El Cerrito has roots that run deep. In the early 1900s, only about 1,500 people lived in these hills, then a scruffy cattle-grazing enclave known as Rust. Founder William Rust had a blacksmith shop at the site of the present-day Pastime Hardware. Soon the name was changed to El Cerrito. A tax was levied on the 20- odd saloons scattered through town so that streets could be paved and a modern city administration could be set up. The town grew steadily, especially in the postwar boom years, and today houses roughly 23,000 people in a pleasant and sylvan bayside environment.
Motorcycling in Santa Barbara County
9781467117234
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$24.99
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Starting in the early 1900s, Santa Barbara County became home to over a dozen motorcycle racecourses. Not one of those battlegrounds survives today. Pershing Park once had a stadium, Elings Park on Las Positas Road was Veronica Springs Hill Climb Course, and before that, La Conchita was home to hill climbing and TT events. Motorcycling in Santa Barbara County will take the readers back in time to the glory days of two wheels on city streets and engage them in competition at its racetracks. Preserved in these pages are the firsthand stories of the men that competed on these courses as far back as 1924.
Alpine County
9780738530468
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$24.99
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Alpine County is named for its massive peaks, thrust up from molten earth and scoured by glaciers, reminding European settlers of their own Alps. The Washoe Indians enjoyed this precipitous Eden with over 60 alpine lakes long before famous trailblazer Jedediah Smith, his pack animals dying, made it through these mountains. At first, few settlers ventured here, but a silver strike led hopeful residents to carve out a county, making Silver Mountain, then a town of 3,500, their seat of government. But the silver boom ended, and in 1875 Markleeville took the reins, as Silver Mountain was by then a ghost town. Although Alpine is now the least populated county in California, thousands come each year to hike, camp, or—following the tradition of famous Snowshoe Thompson—ski at popular Bear Valley and Kirkwood, or visit the delightful village of Markleeville, Grover Hot Springs, and other enchanting lake resorts.
Alhambra
9780738576077
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$24.99
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Known as the Gateway to the San Gabriel Valley, the land that would eventually become Alhambra was bought by pioneer Benjamin D. Wilson after he decided to abandon a trip to China in 1841. In 1873, the Southern Pacific Railroad built a line directly through the area and brought with it many settlers, ushering in the Boom of the 1880s. The community struggled through the 1890s as the boom went bust, but the residents looked ahead to the 20th century with great optimism. Their enthusiasm paid off on July 11, 1903, when Alhambra was incorporated as a city. In 1915, the city became one of the first chartered cities in Southern California. Throughout the 20th century, the city of Alhambra grew by leaps and bounds, and such expansion continues to this day.
Santa Clarita Valley
9780738569383
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$24.99
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A trade crossroads dating back to Native American times, Santa Clarita may be relatively new in the story of Los Angeles County's suburban sprawl, but old-timers also recall it as the Navel of the Universe. A Chinese general once declared the Santa Clarita Valley one of the top 10 military targets on Earth. Located east of the Ventura County line where the valley creates a break in the Angeles National Forest, Santa Clarita has been home to cowboys, movie stars, farmers, and pistol fighters. With a diverse population of 250,000 today, the Santa Clarita Valley still boasts an eclectic heritage. The West's first major oil refinery is located here. The ground was bloodied by at least 21 deaths in one of America's last and greatest range wars. And local lore has maintained that the world's largest grizzly bear, weighing more than a ton, was shot here.
Mount Tamalpais and the Marin Municipal Water District
9780738593173
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$24.99
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Mount Tamalpais rose from the land that has become Marin County. As the crown jewel of the Marin Municipal Water District, the mountain and adjoining watersheds total 22,000 acres. These properties sit adjacent to county open space as well as holdings of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Mount Tamalpais State Park. Together, the land provides an unparalleled world-class recreation and wilderness area only 30 minutes from the city of San Francisco. Amidst the upheaval of the Progressive Era, the Water District was chartered in 1912 by citizens of Marin County to create a public water system and to fulfill the promise of a park. Rich with possibility, the land had remained surprisingly undeveloped throughout the 19th century. Surviving the Gold Rush, a notorious period of wanton greed for natural resources, the mountain needed protection. Armed with the power of eminent domain, the Water District started the conversion of the vast watershed areas from private to community ownership, a process that ultimately saved the mountain and left in its formidable shadow the beloved and beautifully preserved natural land of the Mount Tamalpais Watershed.
Railroads and Depots of Orange County
9780738580111
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$24.99
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Railroads have been a part of Orange County for over 130 years. The great names of American railroading--Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe; Southern Pacific; and Union Pacific--were firmly planted here by the early 1920s and linked with the largest interurban rail system in the United States, the famed Pacific Electric Railway. Thousands of people passed through Orange County's depots during the 1940s as they came to serve at the many military bases located here during World War II. The names have since changed, and yet the county's rail scene remains as dynamic as ever, with Amtrak, Metrolink, and amusement park railroads joining the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific. Railroad depots, new and old, are located across Orange County and continue on both as vital parts of history and the future of transportation for America's fifth most populated county.
Lynwood
9780738588896
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$24.99
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Charles H. Sessions was an early-20th-century landowning businessman who named his dairy creamery after his wife, Lynne Wood. Her name would also grace the remarkable city that he pioneered, Lynwood. Early settlers, visionary residents, and city officials through the years have all helped Lynwood develop into a two-time All-America City Award winner. Lynwood's exciting history stretches from its earliest colonization by Don Antonio Maria Lugo through its establishment in 1921 and to the present. Today, Lynwood has moved forward as a visionary city filled with strong, hardworking residents who continue to build paths of opportunity for future generations.
Catalina by Air
9780738559360
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$24.99
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For years, reaching the paradise destination of Santa Catalina Island, located miles out in the Pacific Ocean, was possible primarily by steamship. But as early as 1912, the first amphibious airplane landed in Avalon Bay, and the first air-passenger service was introduced in 1919. Seaplane service thrived on Catalina, and aircraft engine roars became a distinctive memory for many residents, along with the thrill of crossing the channel by plane and landing on the water. The "Airport in the Sky" opened in 1946, with United Airlines operating DC-3s, followed by other airlines operating land-based planes. Today helicopters carry passengers across the San Pedro Channel in less than 15 minutes. This unique photographic history covers public air transportation to and from Southern California's iconic island, featuring memories and stories from residents, visitors, and airline employees.
Pittsburg
9780738529042
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$24.99
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Situated at the far reaches of the Bay Area, Pittsburg has long been perceived as a commuter town, an out-of-the-way bedroom community. Yet this city has a rich and varied history stretching back to the early days of statehood and has played an important role in commerce, both to the state and to the Bay Area. Before long the burgeoning city had a fishing industry rivaling that of San Francisco's famed Fisherman's Wharf and a largely Italian fishing community. By the 1900s, a surprising number of industries set up factories along the waterfront property of Pittsburg. In 1942, the beginning of World War II brought the building of Camp Stoneman, an important departure point for many servicemen. Later, the city became known as a residential destination. Readers of this book will surely see Pittsburg in a new light as they enjoy the surprising and varied tales of the city's previous generations.
Paso Robles
9780738547213
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$24.99
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Halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the historic town of Paso Robles became known for its abundance of hot mineral springs that brought relief from pain—first for the Salinan Indians, then for the Franciscan friars. As word of the springs' healing powers spread, hotels and bathhouses were built to accommodate the tourists who came seeking cures. The little community developed steadily after 1886, when the railroad arrived and town lots were auctioned. Area homesteaders raised cattle, grew grain, and planted fruit, walnut, and almond orchards—all without irrigation. Once known as the almond capital of the world, Paso Robles' agriculture has gradually changed from dry-land farms to irrigated vineyards. Tourists are attracted to Paso Robles for its mild climate, beautiful scenery, and mineral baths, which are being revived. The area's rich heritage is portrayed through more than 200 images from public and private historical collections.
Los Angeles's Olvera Street
9780738531052
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$24.99
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Olvera Street Mexican marketplace and its plaza form the home of Latino culture in the Los Angeles region. Still standing in this downtown location of many fiestas, including Cinco de Mayo, are the Avila Adobe, plaza church— La Iglesia de Nuestra Se±ora La Reina de Los Angeles, Pico House, Sepulveda House, and L.A. Firehouse No. 1. El Pueblo de La Reina de Los Angeles was founded in 1781. The 1820s built plaza was ruled for decades by the magnanimous Judge Agustn Olvera. Wine Street was renamed in his honor after his 1876 death and took on a back-alley toughness depicted in early Hollywood films. In the 1920s, Christine Sterling campaigned to save the Avila Adobe from demolition and transform Olvera Street into an internationally recognized tourist destination, which opened in 1930. Today the old plaza and Olvera Street shops, restaurants, museums, and vendors draw 1 million people annually under the auspices of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument.
Ferries of San Francisco Bay
9780738547312
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$24.99
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Decades before San Francisco Bay was crisscrossed by bridges, an extensive network of ferries plied these green waters, moving passengers, vehicles, and freight between San Francisco, Alameda, Marin, Solano, Sonoma, and Contra Costa Counties. Very few of the ferries survive today, but at one time, elegant and sturdy vessels like the Santa Clara, Sacramento, Encinal, Eureka, Oakland, and Tamalpais ruled the waves and supported the critical commerce of this region. From the early days of single-enders, double-enders, stern-wheelers, and side-wheelers burning coal and crude oil, to more modern designs of diesel-powered craft, these vessels have long been an important link in Bay Area transport, along with their railway connections. Equipped with up to four decks, the ferries' cargoes included commuters, livestock, automobiles, mail, convicts, express packages, and even entire railroad trains.
Santa Ana 1940-2007
9780738558349
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$24.99
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Before World War II, agriculture was still a mainstay in Orange County and Santa Ana was a small community of only 32,000 residents. The war brought military personnel to the area, and many of them chose to stay or return after the war. By 1960, the county seat had 100,000 residents, and the rapid growth continued throughout the next several decades. By the 21st century, more than 350,000 residents called Santa Ana home. With the increased growth in population came more houses, more government and retail centers, expanded and reconstructed streets, and the development of a significant industry base, as well as a shift in culture and lifestyle. Today Santa Ana continues to be both a government and cultural center in Orange County, as well as home to many landmarks and events that have shaped Orange County history.
The Tiburon Peninsula
9780738546513
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$24.99
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The Tiburon Peninsula was once a part of the vast El Rancho Corte Madera Del Presidio, owned by generations of the pioneering Reed family, whose dairies colonized the rolling grasslands and willow groves of Tiburon, Belvedere, and Strawberry. Nearby Angel Island was militarized during the Civil War, later supporting an immigration station, and finally, a state historic park. Tiburon became the steaming, smoking terminus of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, with ferries and trains dominating its industry for over 80 years until the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge signaled the end of the rail era. Slowly regaining its original serenity, the peninsula attracted urban refugees seeking a quiet haven by the bay, and new upscale residential neighborhoods and tourist magnets gradually filled in the gentle landscape.
Loomis
9780738570198
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$24.99
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A small town set along Interstate 80 in the Sierra Nevada foothills, Loomis anchors what was once an internationally known agricultural area, a distinction it gained after early settlers came for gold mining along the rivers. The Central Pacific Railroad soon laid tracks here, providing a means for transporting fruit crops to market. Established first as Pine Grove in the 1850s, the town later became Placer, then Smithville, and later Pino. This led to confusion with Reno, so in 1890 it officially became Loomis, in honor of postmaster and saloon keeper James Oscar Loomis. Agriculture is mostly gone now, but many downtown businesses retain their original architecture, and the restored railroad depot helps keep Loomis's heritage alive.
Early Amusement Parks of Orange County
9780738559476
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$24.99
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The Orange County coast had its Joy Zone and its Fun Zone in the early decades of the 20th century. Knott's Berry Farm sprouted from a simple berry stand in Buena Park. The spot that would become Walt Disney's theme-park empire began as a citrus grove in Anaheim. Before long, Orange County was recognized as the nurturing ground for the growing amusement park industry. This book concerns the early history of such parks in the county east and south of Los Angeles, before high-tech digitization, when custom cars, enormous alligators, stunt planes, dolphin leaps, and movie stars' wax likenesses thrilled patrons. Some amusement parks have come and gone over a century of development, and some are still here, changing with the times to create new adventure and excitement for park goers.
Mining Camps of Placer County
9780738529509
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$24.99
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Everything in Placer County history leads to gold, from its name—the Spanish term for gold-bearing gravel—to the mining camps that sprouted overnight in its rugged river canyons. Ecstatic cries of Gold on the American River! in 1848 launched the largest voluntary migration in the history of the world. As claims panned out, thousands of miners swarmed like locusts between the rough-and-tumble mining camps, from the crest of the Sierra Nevada to the Sacramento Valley. Some camps disappeared along with the easy placer gold; others found new methods to extract gold deposited deep in quartz veins or underground and developed into stable towns that still stand. Sometimes washing whole hillsides into rivers, hydraulic mining was outlawed in the 1880s, but the colorful characters and tall tales of the Gold Rush live on.
Southern California's World War II Aircraft
9781467124461
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$34.99
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The cities of Los Angeles and San Diego were boomtowns during World War II. California aviation companies designed many of the greatest combat aircraft of the era, and bustling armies of women and men helped quickly churn them out by the thousands. An astounding 41 percent of all US warplanes came from California drawing boards during the war. These planes saw combat service everywhere—from the deserts of North Africa to the frozen tundra of Alaska. Southern California planes were the first to bomb Japan. They turned the tide at the Battle of Midway and dropped paratroopers behind enemy lines on D-Day. They flew tons of fuel, ammunition, and supplies over the treacherous Himalayan Mountains, relentlessly hounded enemy submarines and ships, and helped smash Nazi Germany's war-making industry with thousand plane raids.
Lafayette
9780738547558
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$24.99
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Today's Lafayette is a modern East Bay suburb with a long and intriguing history of people, agriculture, and commerce. The story began in the summer of 1846, when Elam Brown and 13 families left St. Joseph, Missouri, in wagon trains and embarked on a sixmonth journey west to establish new homes and lives. By February 1848, Brown and his family had purchased the Rancho Acalanes in Contra Costa County from a San Francisco financier and had established the settlement that would later became Lafayette. Gradually Brown sold his land to other settlers, and the community began to grow. Eventually homes, stores, roads, schools, and churches were built. In these pages, the genesis of Lafayette, along with the story of its creators and early residents, is revealed in stirring early imagery.
Red Bluff
9780738531489
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$24.99
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The riverfront town of Red Bluff, now a magnet for most of the population of Tehama County, was once the lonely campsite of rancher Peter Lassen, who ventured here from his Mexican land grant while chasing horse thieves in 1843. A few years later, masses of humanity and tons of material floated past those red banks that rise high above the Sacramento River, the state's earliest highway, supplying the Sierra gold fields. Red Bluff, first known as Duncan Heights, had a busy port and nearby logging operations generating enough wealth to fund rows of substantial brick, two-story commercial buildings and neighborhoods of ornate Italianate and Queen Anne homes, many of which still stand.
The Port of Long Beach
9780738569857
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$24.99
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Rising from a tidal mudflat at the mouth of the Los Angeles River, the Port of Long Beach has grown through the 20th century into the one of the busiest deepwater ports. The ultramodern Port of Long Beach, the second-largest active harbor in the United States in the first decade of the 21st century, progressed steadily through a difficult adolescence fueled by the ambitions of a visionary few local community leaders who overcame political opposition to create a port separate and distinct from its neighboring Port of Los Angeles. Fueled by oil, Southern California's unprecedented post-World War II growth, and the container revolution, the Port of Long Beach surmounted numerous natural and man-made hurdles to position itself, in its own right, as a critical link in the nation's global supply chain.
Onizuka Air Force Base
9781467104067
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$23.99
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For nearly five decades, some of the United States military’s most secretive operations were conducted out of a collection of nondescript buildings at the intersection of State Route 237 and Mathilda Avenue in Sunnyvale, California. The installation was known by a variety of names in its early years: Satellite Test Center, Air Force Satellite Control Facility, the “Blue Cube,” and Sunnyvale Air Force Station. In July 1986, the facility was renamed Onizuka Air Force Base after Col. Ellison S. Onizuka, the first Asian American astronaut, who was killed during the space shuttle Challenger accident. The location was selected due to its proximity to Lockheed Missiles and Space Company’s Sunnyvale facilities and supported early satellite reconnaissance programs such as Corona, Gambit, and Hexagon. As the nation’s nucleus for satellite command and control, workers at Onizuka Air Force Base directed efforts for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), US military, and NASA’s space shuttle program until the closure of the base in 2010.
Santa Susana
9780738570495
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$24.99
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Santa Susana is one of three rural towns in Simi Valley that began at the turn of the 20th century. The town derives its name from the surrounding mountains, Sierra de Santa Susanna, and grew up alongside the railroad depot built by the Southern Pacific Company in 1903. The history of Santa Susana can be traced back to the Chumash Indian village of Ta'apu and a Spanish land grant, El Rancho Simi. The area was first surveyed by the Simi Valley Land and Water Company in 1887 for the sale of ranches. By the mid-1950s, Santa Susana had become a recognized agricultural center, noted for citrus and walnut production. Corriganville and Bottle Village are unique tourist destinations that originated near the Santa Susana Airport. In the surrounding mountains, quirky religious groups established communes away from the public with strange names and stories: Pisgah Grande, The Great Eleven Club, and WKFL Fountain of the World.
Early Los Altos and Los Altos Hills
9780738580104
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$24.99
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Los Altos would never have existed if not for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Since the 1850s, Los Altos, Spanish for heights or foothills, was the name generally applied to the two ranchos (San Antonio and La Purisima Concepcion) between Palo Alto and Mountain View southwest of El Camino Real. In 1906, visionaries Paul Shoup, who worked for the railroad, and Walter Clark, a Mountain View real estate developer, saw the potential to turn Sarah Winchester's ranch near Stanford University into an ideal San Francisco suburb. They would capitalize on new commuters—those who wanted to live in comfort in the country but work in the city. Slowly, a new town grew in influence well beyond its original Altos Land Company plat, realizing tremendous post–World War II expansion. Now two communities solidly embedded in Silicon Valley, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills share a school system, downtown shopping, libraries, and water system, as well as a history of interesting people.
Bullock's Department Store
9781467132961
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$24.99
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From the store's beginnings in March 1907 until its closing on June 25, 1983, Bullock's was Los Angeles's store of choice. Throughout its 76 years of operation, Bullock's flagship department store became an icon, a commercial beacon in the vast city. The name Bullock's has engendered many memories in many people. For those loyal patrons who grew up, lived in, or visited the City of Angels, Bullock's was—and still is—a part of their lives. Bullock's was a rite of passage. From baby clothing to back-to-school gear, prom dresses to bridal gowns, Bullock's offered quality merchandise and exemplary customer service. The store's professional sales staff solidified its place in retail history. The staff knew you by name, and Bullock's was more than just a shopping destination. It was part of the community; it was your family and was always there for you.
Shaver, Huntington, and Hume Lakes
9781467131438
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$24.99
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The Sierra Nevada of Fresno County is rich in natural resources. Logging operations of the 19th century built dams and millponds, such as Hume Lake, sawmills, railroads, and two of the longest flumes in the world. In the 20th century, the Southern California Edison Company began the massive Big Creek Hydroelectric Project. It resulted in the creation of several lakes, including Shaver and Huntington, and a series of powerhouses for hydroelectric power. These lakes provided new venues for fishing and boating. Included here are epic stories told with historical postcards of logging, electricity, and leisure in the Central Sierra Nevada within Fresno County.
Hamilton Field
9780738559087
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$24.99
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In response to the growing need for military air defense in the 1920s, a parcel of Novato farmland on the San Pablo Bay was chosen as the future site for Hamilton Field. Constructed in the early 1930s and dedicated in 1935, Hamilton was originally established as a bombardment base of the 1st Wing of the air force. The base played a pivotal role during World War II as a flight-training facility and was an official point of departure for bombardment groups heading to the Pacific. Renamed the Hamilton Air Force Base in 1947, the base is also known for its well-planned community layout and landscaping, as well as its architecturally cohesive design in the Spanish Eclectic style. Decommissioned and vacated by 1975, the former base now serves as a planned housing, business, and civic park. Hamilton remains an important historical and community asset of Novato and Marin County.
Lost Burbank
9781467119771
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$24.99
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Slowly fading with the city's ever-changing landscape, the places and people of Burbank's past tell a vibrant story. Before the arrival of Warner Bros. and Walt Disney, First National Pictures built its original studio lot on Olive Avenue in 1926. For over sixty years, Lockheed Aircraft Company produced some of the nation's best airplanes where the massive Empire Shopping Center now stands. Heavyweight champion James Jeffries turned his Burbank ranch home and barn into a beloved landmark and boxing venue. And inventor Joseph Wesley Fawkes's scheme to build a monorail to Los Angeles became a local laughingstock. Die-hard Burbankers Wes Clark and Michael McDaniel collect these and many more forgotten local stories where they can finally be found.
Downey
9780738571645
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$24.99
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Pioneers traveling in the former Shoshonean lands that became the city of Downey in eastern Los Angeles County were drawn to the water sources of the San Gabriel River and Rio Hondo. In 1837, historian Hugo Reid described a village called Carpenters Farm along the banks of the Rio Hondo. Don Carpenter's Rancho Santa Gertrudes occupied a portion of the original 300,000-acre Nieto land grant of prime ranch and farmlands, a fertile "garden spot." In 1859, a year before becoming California's youngest governor at age 32, John Gately Downey and druggist James McFarland effectively closed the era of missions and ranchos by buying 17,600 acres of Rancho Santa Gertrudes at a sheriff's auction for $60,000. Downey offered land at $10 an acre with a low interest rate, claiming it "the best land for homesteads and vineyards in this section of the state." The community of Downey began shaping up in 1873 as the Southern Pacific Railroad connected the early settlements of Gallatin and College.
San Francisco's Mission District
9780738546575
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$24.99
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On June 29, 1776, Fr. Francisco Palou dedicated the first site of Mission San Francisco de Asis on the shores of Dolores Lagoon. At the time, it was a just a patch in the village of Chutchuii, the home of the Ohlone people, and Palou could never have foreseen the vibrant city that would eventually spring up around the humble settlement. The final mission building, popularly known as Mission Dolores and San Francisco's oldest complete structure, was dedicated on August 2, 1791, at what became Sixteenth and Dolores Streets. After the gold rush, the district around the mission began its dramatic evolution to the diverse area we know today, a bustling mix of immigrants from other states, Europe, and South and Central America.
Point Loma
9781467117357
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$24.99
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From the arrival of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542 to the current world-class yachtsmen and women, San Diego's beautiful natural harbor hugs the peninsula of Point Loma and boasts a significant past. The strategic location of Point Loma has been home to both military defense and business genius. The fishing fleets of the Chinese and Portuguese communities earned the Roseville area of Point Loma the nickname Tunaville. Today, Point Loma is one of San Diego's most historic neighborhoods; a destination for culture, fine dining, and sportfishing; and host to important military bases. Visitors from around the world enjoy spectacular vistas and waterfront views of the Pacific Ocean, harbor, city, and islands and mountains of Mexico from atop the peninsula at Cabrillo National Monument and Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.
Warner Hot Springs
9781467116763
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$24.99
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Also known as Kupa, Jojopin, and Aqua Caliente, Warner Hot Springs has been a little piece of heaven no matter what it has been called. Located in northeast San Diego County in the historic 47,000-acre Valle de San Jose, Warner Hot Springs is surrounded by the vast lands of the Cleveland National Forest, Los Coyotes Indian Reservation, Palomar Mountain, Bureau of Land Management, and Vista Irrigation Water District. Blessed with a four-season climate at an elevation of about 3,200 feet, it sits at the base of 6,500-foot Hot Springs Mountain, the tallest in San Diego County. Home of Native Americans, Spaniards, and white settlers, cowboys, and ranchers, Warner Hot Springs has played host to passing immigrants, Butterfield Stage passengers, vacationers, and movie stars. The world-famous hot springs have drawn people since the beginning of time. An early brochure states, It's where you will have some of the best days of your life, and many would agree.
Iconic San Francisco Dishes, Drinks & Desserts
9781625859587
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$23.99
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The roots of San Francisco's celebrated food and drink culture are as diverse as the city itself. A bountiful ocean, rich soil and ingenious residents combined to create unforgettable and enduring gastronomic legacies. Discover the disputed origins of local specialties like the Chicken Tetrazzini, chop suey and the classic martini, along with the legend behind the creation of Green Goddess Dressing. Learn how the abundance of the bay contributed to classics like the Hangtown Fry and Cioppino. Marvel at the introduction of America's first fortune cookie by Benkyodo Candy Factory and how a lack of refrigeration spawned the iconic Anchor Steam Beer. Pile the guacamole on a Mission Burrito and grab an Its-It for dessert. With classic and modern recipes from beloved establishments, author Laura Smith Borrman brings these and other culinary stories to life.
Campbell
9780738529172
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$24.99
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The charming city of Campbell sits amid bustling urban neighbors in California's Silicon Valley. For many years known as the Orchard City, Campbell is still very much a small town clinging fiercely to its identity. Benjamin Campbell founded a hay and grain farm on what is now downtown Campbell in 1851. Shrewdly selling off one of his acres for $5 for a railroad depot, Campbell soon subdivided his farm. The resulting town evolved into a rail center for shipping fruit across the continent and around the globe. Campbell Fruit Growers' Union, a large co-operative, sent apricots and prunes to dry yards that were at one time the largest in the world, and canneries like the J.C. Ainsley Packing Company and Geo. E. Hyde & Company became local giants.
San Francisco's Nob Hill
9780738581286
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$24.99
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More than a neighborhood, San Francisco's Nob Hill encapsulates some of the major elements of the city's history. Early European settlers' cattle grazed on the windy hill, and with the Gold Rush of 1849, it became a lookout point as ships arrived daily, bringing thousands to San Francisco. Within the next 40 years, the moguls of the Central Pacific Railroad, along with other magnates, built spectacular residences atop Nob Hill, which became a focal point of San Francisco. Today Nob Hill is home to elegant hotels, a cathedral, and a variety of residents. It remains a center of activity in a legendary city.
Palm Springs Golf
9781626199637
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$21.99
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Against a dramatic background of desert mountains, the sparkling green fairways of the Coachella Valley have attracted world-class golf tournaments, athletes and dignitaries for decades. In the 1920s, enterprising oil tycoon Tom O'Donnell built one of the first nine-hole courses in Palm Springs, and the area was a hangout for Hollywood's elite by the 1940s and '50s. Bob Hope's namesake PGA Tour event became a mainstay, while Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore, the Marx Brothers, Marilyn Monroe and more frequented over the years. Today, the valley is a renowned perennial golf destination boasting over 120 courses and exceptional resorts. Follow award-winning local golf columnist Larry Bohannan as he recounts the storied history of the game under the desert palms.
Soquel
9780738570815
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$24.99
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Soquel is a scenic town known for its antique shops, restaurants, and wineries. Winding through it is Soquel Creek, a once-powerful stream that defines the nature of the landscape and its history. The name Soquel is linked to Suquer, a leader of the native people living along the stream when nearby Mission Santa Cruz was founded in 1791. Later, during the Californio era, cattle grazed on the Soquel and Soquel Augmentation Ranchos. Fortune seekers, arriving after 1848, quickly discovered red gold—redwood forests, which they cut to build the pioneer settlements of California. Founded in 1852, the town expanded in the 1860s, as the sounds of logging rang in the mountains and goods were shipped from the wharf at Soquel Landing. By 1874, a railroad was charted along the coast and a resort called Camp Capitola was established at the beach. Gradually, as the mills grew quiet, Soquel shifted toward agriculture.
Temecula Wine Country
9780738570143
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$21.99
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Vineyards flourish in Temecula because of the ideal climate. The name Temecula is taken from Luiseno words that mean "where the sun and earth were created." At an altitude of 1,500 feet, the filtered sunlight and an ocean breeze that drifts through a gap in the mountains coax the decomposed granite soil of Temecula Valley to produce high-quality grapes for premium wines today just as they did over a century ago. From the time the Spanish padres entered the valley and made sacramental wines and French and Italian immigrants brought vines from the Old World, its grape harvests were unknown to the rest of the world. In 1967, Vincenzo and Audrey Cilurzo came from Hollywood to plant the first commercial vineyard, followed by Ely Callaway, who built the first commercial winery in 1974, and soon the Temecula Wine Country was home to 14 wineries. The annual Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival, started in 1983, draws as many as 50,000 attendees.
Hoover Tower at Stanford University
9781467129206
Regular price
$23.99
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A Stanford University landmark since 1941, the 285-foot-tall, Art Deco–style Hoover Tower provides a contrasting focal point for the horizontal lines of the Quad's sandstone arcades. The Quad, begun in 1887 and designed in Richardsonian Romanesque style, was only partially completed for the first class of students in 1891. One of those students was 17-year-old Herbert Hoover (1874–1964). Hoover graduated in 1895 and began his career in mining. During World War I, he shifted his energies to providing food relief in war-torn Europe. Prior to becoming US president (1929–1933), Hoover had started collecting vast documentation on international relations, global economics, war, revolution, and peace. After the presidency, he built Hoover Tower on his beloved campus to house this growing library collection. Arthur Brown Jr. (1874–1957) designed the library building, which was dedicated to promote peace in the world. Both Alexander Kerensky and later Alexander Solzhenitsyn had offices in Hoover Tower. With its growing collection of research materials, the tower is the architectural focus of a vibrant public policy center that attracts scholars and distinguished public servants such as US secretaries of state George P. Shultz and Condoleezza Rice and has hosted visiting foreign leaders such as Margaret Thatcher and Hu Jintao.
Redondo Beach
9780738530772
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$24.99
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Redondo Beach in the 1910s and 1920s was one of the best-attended weekend getaway spots in America. The beaches, pier, and downtown were jammed with vacationers and the Hollywood crowd. Water sports mavens drawn to the area included the great surfing pioneer George Freeth, who became a local icon. At one time, Redondo Beach boasted the world's largest indoor plunge along with visionary tycoon Henry Huntington's enormous Hotel Redondo overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The town grew as an import-export point for the City of Los Angeles until political powers decided to put its main port in nearby San Pedro. Since World War II, Redondo Beach has evinced a quaint charm as the jewel city of Santa Monica Bay's southerly shores.
Irvine
9780738575759
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$24.99
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The story of Irvine goes back more than 200 years, to a time when it was a vast, sprawling ranch extending from the brush-covered foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains to the dramatic bluffs of the Pacific coast. Since that time, the Irvine Ranch has experienced a revolutionary change from pastoral wide-open spaces to one of the most successful planned communities in the nation. All along the way, there were people whose vision shaped the transformation of Irvine. Among them were the members of the Irvine family, who for nearly a century were stewards of a ranch that amounted to more than one-fifth of modern-day Orange County. The Irvine of today owes its success to the ideals from its past: the determination to develop the immense potential of the land while still preserving its natural beauty.
San Jose
9780738580838
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$24.99
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Founded by the Spanish in 1777 to provide food for the military settlements in Monterey and San Francisco, San Jose is the oldest civilian settlement in California. After independence from Mexico, San Jose became the county seat of Santa Clara County and the first state capital. For many years, San Jose was the center of a rich farming community whose vistas of blooming orchards prompted the nickname "Valley of Heart's Delight." Following World War II, a massive transformation took place in the landscape and culture of San Jose and the surrounding area. Fields and orchards gave way to subdivisions, malls, freeways, and office buildings. The population grew from less than 100,000 to over a million as agriculture was supplanted by semiconductors and software development.
Santa Maria Valley
9780738588803
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$24.99
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Located in the heart of California's central coast, the Santa Maria Valley covers an area of mountains and hills that reaches the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara County. The valley's early history dates back to the Portola Expedition, which passed through Santa Maria on the California Mission Trail—called El Camino Real—and ended near Monterey Bay. When early settlers arrived, the valley was dry and desolate. Nearby water sources, however, helped transform the land into one of the most fertile and beautiful valleys in California. The valley became a leader in innovative agriculture transport, a depot on the busiest short-line railroad system in the country, and a training ground for many World War II pilots at its renowned aeronautic college. Today, its landscape of richly colored agricultural fields is framed by rolling hills and scenic miles of grapevines that produce some of the world's most coveted wines. The valley is also famous for its Santa Maria–style barbecue.
Encinitas
9780738546650
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$24.99
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Through four generations, back to 1906 when German patriarch Albert Ecke originally settled in California, the Ecke Ranch name has been synonymous with the crimson poinsettia. With the transplanting of the Ecke business into the heart of the sleepy township of Encinitas in 1923, the area became known as the Flower Capital of the World. Now a diverse 20-year-old city embracing five distinct communities, the split personality of the area reveals itself as an eclectic mix of suburban and rural, historic and contemporary, laid-back and energetic. Nestled between the Batiquitos Lagoon to the north and the San Elijo Lagoon to the south, Encinitas dominates six miles of spectacular San Diego County coastline. From the pioneer Hammond family to famed skateboarder Tony Hawk, Encinitas is a notable city with memorable citizens.
Yucaipa
9780738570808
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$24.99
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When the soldiers returned after the end of World War II, the community of Yucaipa celebrated the victory and settled into a new era that would someday become known as the good old days. Located in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains at the edge of the desert, the area and the climate was perfect for not only maintaining the agriculture-based economy, but establishing more businesses, churches, schools, and whole new neighborhoods. The first tracts of homes were followed with mobile home parks for new retirees looking for a real hometown, which they found in Yucaipa. People raised their children in a village-style environment, and the whole family could enjoy life with enthusiasm. There was plenty to do, and traditions that are continuing today were established in the form of parades, fairs, sports programs, and the enrichment opportunities of good schools, a college, and the community's love of its land and each other.
Santa Ana Mountains History, Habitat and Hikes
9781609496173
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$21.99
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The majestic Santa Ana Mountains cover one thousand square miles and much of the Cleveland National Forest in Orange, Riverside and San Diego Counties. Unlike other designated wild lands close to huge population centers, the rugged Santa Anas remain largely primordial. Dominated by Old Saddleback and its twin peaks of Modjeska and Santiago, this beautiful range, visible from much of the Los Angeles Basin, remains the last intact coastal ecosystem in Southern California. Home to Native Americans, Spanish missionaries, vaqueros, sheep barons, bandits and suburban developers, the Santa Anas were traversed by mountain man Jedediah Smith, explorer John C. Fremont, lawman Wyatt Earp and other historic figures. Join author Patrick Mitchell for this first comprehensive volume on the natural and cultural histories of the great Santa Anas.
San Diego's Little Italy
9780738547800
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$24.99
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Italian immigrants settled along San Diego's waterfront in the early 1900s and formed the Italian Colony, a tightly knit community that provided refuge, shared culture, and heritage. Extended families, new businesses, and church traditions formed the foundation for a lasting social code. It was no coincidence that the area would become known as Little Italy—it was exactly that for its inhabitants—a home away from their native land. But by the mid-1960s, changes brought by war and urban modernization began to unravel the community. Take a compelling journey through this unique immigrant enclave. Vivid images and descriptive captions highlight essential elements of this community, such as labor and longing, fishing and family, ritual and revitalization. Through photographs contributed by local community members, this volume traces the evolution of a humble fishing village into the chic urban neighborhood that is Little Italy today.
Oceano
9780738580876
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$24.99
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Oceano is a California beach town between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Originally part of the Rancho El Pismo Mexican land grant of 1840, Oceano first appeared as a place name on a map in 1893 and was promoted as a beach resort soon after the Southern Pacific Railroad arrived in 1895. While most of these promotions failed during the Great Depression, the railroad depot continued as a shipping point for the area's agriculture. During this time, Oceano became a point of entry for the Dunites, a group of artists, writers, and poets who once lived in the sand dunes south of town. Today Oceano is still the primary access and gateway to its state park beach and large sand dune complex. Many people come to enjoy the experience of driving on the beach, camping there, and venturing into the dunes on foot or by vehicle.
California Lighthouse Life in the 1920s and 1930s
9780738508832
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$24.99
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Like giant sentinels standing guard, California's lighthouses keep silent vigils over the turbulent waters of the Pacific. In 1850, Congress appropriated funds to build eight lighthouses on the West Coast, and three years later, construction began on the project. The first lighthouse to become operational on the West Coast was that on Alcatraz Island on June 1, 1854. While the other seven were being completed, Congress authorized funds to construct a second set of eight lighthouses, and by 1930, California boasted 40 light stations. This new photographic history contains over 200 rare and beautiful images featuring lighthouses of the South Coast, San Francisco Bay, and the North Coast, as well as lightships and support facilities.
