The "Mother Road" hauled it all, traversing the American West from Chicago to Santa Monica Beach, the last 350 miles through Southern California. For settlers, Depression-era "Okies" and "Arkies," and post-World War II families bound for suburbia, Route 66 was a migration funnel for generations. Wending through the mountains and badlands of San Bernardino County into Los Angeles County, Route 66 became a state of mind and a catchphrase for travelers everywhere, especially after singer Bobby Troupe popularized the hit song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" and actors Martin Milner and George Maharis hit the road with the ragtop down and the shades on in the namesake television series that seemed to go anywhere every week. The shield of the Route 66 sign has become iconography for the growth of Southern California's economy, population, popularity, and folklore.
California Dreamin' Along Route 66
9781467103169
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The California Dream made Route 66 the most famous road in the world. Flappers dreamed of stardom under the bright lights of Hollywood. A wave of families fleeing the Dust Bowl transformed the state during the Great Depression. During World War II, another wave followed Route 66 seeking opportunity in the massive wartime industrial plants. Thousands of soldiers trained in the Mojave Desert and then returned amid the postwar prosperity to blossoming housing developments that replaced the vast orange groves. While Nat King Cole sang "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66," the newly prosperous middle class hit the road headed for the dream land constructed by Walt Disney. Inspired by the Beat poets, the hippies, and the adventures of Buz and Tod on the CBS television show Route 66, a new generation took to the open road. Those who savor the journey as much as the destination still seek it out on Route 66 today.
Butterfield's Byway
9781626194878
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John Butterfield's mail service connected the East and West Coasts in one of the great entrepreneurial and pioneering stories of the American West. Until 1858, California's gold fields were reached only by horseback, wagon or ship around Cape Horn. Congress decided a 2,800-mile, twenty-five-day stagecoach line would roll from St. Louis to San Francisco. Former Utica, New York mayor Butterfield hired one thousand men and bought 1,200 horses, 600 mules and 250 wagons. Surveying the wilderness, he built roads and two hundred way stations, graded river fords and dug one hundred wells. Join author Melody Groves on a cross-country trip from Missouri to California, and all points in between, as she recounts the Butterfield Stage Line's amazing odyssey.
Nevada Test Site
9781467117449
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Since Pres. Harry Truman established the Nevada Test Site (NTS) in December 1950, it has played a vital role in the security of the United States. For four decades, the test site's primary purpose was developmental testing of nuclear explosives. Atmospheric tests conducted over Yucca Flat and Frenchman Flat between 1951 and 1962 involved thousands of Army troops and Marines simulating nuclear battlefield conditions. Civil defense planners studied blast and radiation effects and evaluated bomb shelter designs. Testing moved underground in 1963 to eliminate radioactive fallout. Other projects at the NTS included nuclear rocket engine development for space travel, training for NASA's Apollo astronauts, excavation experiments, radioactive waste storage studies, and aircraft testing. Since the last underground nuclear test in 1992, this geographically diverse testing and training complex north of Las Vegas--known since 2010 as the Nevada National Security Site--has been used to support nuclear stockpile stewardship and as a unique outdoor laboratory for government and industry research and development efforts.
Going-to-the-Sun Road
9780738596983
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The Going-to-the-Sun Road is rightfully recognized as one of the most spectacular alpine highways in the world and certainly among those in the United States. The landscape is one of peerless beauty, but the road itself is an engineering masterpiece. In 1910, Glacier National Park was created in that million-acre swath of mountains, lakes, and glaciers that the great naturalist George Bird Grinnell called "the Crown of the Continent." Soon, plans were being made for a road that would take visitors into the heart of this amazing place. The result was the Going-to-the-Sun Road, which has been the centerpiece of the visitor experience in Glacier since it was formally dedicated in 1933.
Point Cabrillo Light Station
9780738559506
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Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, on the rugged coast of Mendocino County in Northern California, was first lit as an aid to navigation on June 10, 1909. The light station continues to serve mariners and is regarded as one of the crown jewels of lighthouses on the West Coast. In July 1850, just north of the future site of the lighthouse, the clipper brig Frolic wrecked in its journey from China to Gold Rush-era San Francisco. European settlers in search of salvage from the cargo found instead Mendocino's vast strands of virgin redwood timber stretching inland from the coast. Getting this valuable lumber to market in the mid-19th century required ships, and ships needed lighthouses to guide them. In 1909, the light known today as Point Cabrillo was built on a windswept promontory two miles north of the village of Mendocino.
California's Highway 99
9781467132138
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The portion of California's Highway 99 between Modesto and Bakersfield presents a fascinating and nostalgic environment. The highway has a unique charm and character that are significant to California natives, visitors, and those who have moved to the California Central Valley over the past century. This roadway has never been upscale or presumptuous but is truly egalitarian. This book is a pictorial and textual history of the highway itself, the cities and towns along the highway, and other locations in Northern California that evoke the same nostalgic feelings. Presented here are images taken in the region before Highway 99 was officially established. It includes images that were captured over the past century of Giant Orange juice stands, vintage signs, historical buildings, and other attractions that are part of the heritage. The author's hope is to entertain, provoke thought, and provide glimpses into obscure slivers of history.
Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego
9780738588780
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Located northwest of downtown San Diego, the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) is rich in the history and traditions of the US Marine Corps. The base was born in part of the perseverance of Col. Joseph H. Pendleton and the efforts of Congressman William Kettner. MCRD San Diego was commissioned in 1921 and officially designated as the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in 1948. It is the oldest operational Marine Corps base on the West Coast and graduates over 20,000 new Marines every year. MCRD San Diego is one of only two Marine Corps recruit-training bases in the United States and is responsible for the basic training of all male recruits west of the Mississippi River. Every Marine begins his career by participating in a 13-week training period that isolates him from the civilian world. Basic training at MCRD San Diego emphasizes physical fitness and adaption to the Marine Corps lifestyle.
Camp Roberts
9780738530550
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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.
Fort Bragg
9781467130851
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In 1857, Fort Bragg was an Army post on the Mendocino Indian Reservation. Coastal California north of San Francisco had been home to the Pomo and Yuki people for thousands of years. In the early 1800s, that area was visited by Russian, English, and French fur trappers. In 1850, an opium trader carrying goods from the Orient to gold-rush San Francisco shipwrecked near Fort Bragg. Would-be salvagers discovered giant redwood trees, and lumber mills soon sprang up at the mouth of every stream. "Dog-hole schooners" transported lumber, passengers, and supplies, and the world-wide Dollar Shipping Lines started here. Former reservation lands were acquired by lumber interests, and the city of Fort Bragg sprang up around them, all while photographers, artists, and writers documented the "far West." Today, the former California Western logging railroad transports tourists through the redwood forests. Hollywood movies continue to be set in the New England-style towns along the rocky Mendocino Coast, and Paul Bunyan Days celebrates old-time logging skills. The area's colorful past permeates and enriches local culture.
California State Fair
9780738580890
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Starting in San Francisco in 1854, the California State Fair and Exposition began as a vehicle to showcase, encourage, and expand California's agricultural industry. It quickly became an attraction for thousands of residents, both local and from across the state. By 1884, it occupied the largest exhibit hall in the United States. Within 100 years, it became the largest fair in the country by adding horse racing, elaborate exhibits from every county in the state and from around the world, thrill rides, top-flight entertainment, and, of course, the best food. The original goal of the fair was met some 50 years ago, as California remains the nation's top producer of agricultural products.
Travis Air Force Base
9780738529417
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Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base, later to become Travis, was born on the windswept plains of Solano County. To meet the urgent need for an air gateway to the Pacific, the base soon had two runways on a 945-acre site between the twin farming communities. The gusty winds challenged the gutsy young pilots who trained here, many of whom saw the Golden Gate--their last view of the mainland--as they flew out to do battle. Expanding through the next two decades until it encompassed over 6,000 acres, Travis is now the largest base under the U.S. Air Force Mobility Command.
Fort Ord
9780738528694
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From its establishment during World War I to its closure at the end of the Cold War, the Army installation best known as Fort Ord made a significant contribution to our national defense. Founded as a training area for Presidio of Monterey troops in 1917, Fort Ord covered more than 28,000 acres near the city of Monterey in its heyday. The local topography made it ideal as an infantry training center, and this was its primary mission throughout much of the 20th century. Most recently, Fort Ord was home to the 7th Infantry Division (Light), which was inactivated in 1993. In September 1994, Fort Ord closed its gates and became a part of military history.
Rim of the World Drive
9780738547701
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On July 18, 1915, the Rim of the World Drive was dedicated as politicians, businessmen, and local luminaries looked on. What followed is the incredible story of how a road changed the lives of San Bernardino Mountain visitors and residents alike. In a single generation, 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. By the 1930s, a realigned high-gear route led up the hill from San Bernardino to Crestline, then along the crest to Lake Arrowhead, Running Springs, and Big Bear, and finally down the hill to Redlands. This fascinating evolution of Southern California's landmark Rim of the World Drive--from Native American trail to state highway--is showcased here in a meticulously researched presentation of rare photographs, many never before published.
Fort Yellowstone
9780738593142
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On August 17, 1886, Capt. Moses Harris and the troops of Company M rode into Yellowstone to take over guardianship of America's first national park. Receiving orders thereupon that the company was staying indefinitely, Captain Harris ordered the construction of Camp Sheridan. Seeing no end in sight for this "temporary" duty, the US War Department established Fort Yellowstone in 1891. For 32 years, ceremonial splendor of the US Army filled this era of Yellowstone with booming cannons at sunrise and sunset, crackling rifle-range practices, flashing saber drills, exacting military maneuvers, and dashing dress parades led by the regimental band. With the creation of the National Park Service in 1916, the Army began a two-year administrative transition and formally abandoned Fort Yellowstone in October 1918.
California Lighthouse Life in the 1920s and 1930s
9780738508832
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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.
The Marines at Twentynine Palms
9780738547725
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The largest Marine Corps base in history, the Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Center at Twentynine Palms is located on 930 square miles of harsh terrain, nearly the size of Rhode Island, in southern San Bernardino County. An army base for training glider pilots at the outset of World War II, the former navy facility was taken over by the corps in 1952 during the Korean War and the advent of the cold war. The base provided adequate space and ranges to test new artillery and missile technology and was ideal for the largescale training of ground forces. In the 21st century, every U.S. Marine does a stint at Twentynine Palms because the climate, terrain, and remote location simulate many international hot spots of world strife. The marines have continually upgraded and expanded the Twentynine Palms facilities as daily maneuvers involve transports, tanks, artillery, and aircraft, particularly at the Expeditionary Air Field.
Lighthouses of San Diego
9780738558417
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As his ship rounded the high point off Point Loma, San Diego, in 1859, Richard Henry Dana wrote, "We were greeted by the cheering presence of a light-house." In reality, beams from San Diego's first lighthouse were repeatedly lost in cloud and fog, and all too soon came agitation for a more effective light at a lower elevation. By 1891, two new lighthouses were constructed to achieve what one could not--a major light on the low tip of Point Loma and a secondary light at Ballast Point. Although abandonment of the first lighthouse structure was nearly catastrophic, it still survives today to charm millions of visitors. Now, and long overdue, are new glimpses of the famous and lesser-known lighthouses of San Diego thanks to the memories and photographs belonging to families of the men who kept the lights burning.
San Juan Skyway
9780738580289
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The "scenic route" in southwestern Colorado means the San Juan Skyway, a 236-mile loop created by U.S. Routes 550 and 160 and State Routes 62 and 145. The Skyway wends through glacial valleys and over high passes between some of the most breathtaking, ice-sculpted peaks in the Rocky Mountains. Native Americans, pioneering mountain men, miners, and railroaders inhabited these slopes. Although the Skyway towns of Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Ridgway, Telluride, Rico, Dolores, and Cortez were first connected by wilderness trails and railways, the loop's final modern section of highway between Coal Bank and Molas Passes was completed in the 1940s. The rugged San Juan Mountains were the backdrop for exploits by Butch Cassidy and Wyatt Earp, but, as author Frederic B. Wildfang notes, the scenery is also "a syllabus for a course in geology."
San Diego's Naval Training Center
9780738559582
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San Diego's Naval Training Center (NTC) was commissioned on June 1, 1923, and for 70 years served as a young recruit's introduction to a naval career, beginning with nine weeks of basic orientation and organization training (BOOT) camp. Originally consisting of 135 acres adjacent to San Diego Bay, NTC eventually expanded to almost 550 acres with 300 buildings, landscaped promenades, parade grounds, and a concrete training "non-ship," the USS Recruit (a.k.a. USS Neversail), where recruits learned their first duties of seamanship. Advanced training schools were later added for military personnel learning specialized duties. After training hundreds of thousands of recruits, NTC was officially closed on April 30, 1997, and has since been transformed into San Diego's new and vibrant cultural center, Liberty Station.
Historic Hotels of Los Angeles and Hollywood
9780738559063
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This volume presents a pictorial history of Los Angeles hotels downtown, in Hollywood, and along the Wilshire Boulevard corridor from the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries. By the early 1900s, many hotels, including luxury ones, had been established in downtown Los Angeles to cater to business travelers and tourists. In the late 19th century, after the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad, hotels were built to encourage tourism and sell real estate in the agricultural Hollywood area. And with the growth of the motion picture studios in the early decades of the 20th century, grander hotels were erected to accommodate the new industry. As the city expanded westward, luxury and residential hotels were also placed in the Westlake District and along the fashionable Wilshire Boulevard corridor connecting to Beverly Hills.
Missions of Central California
9780738596808
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After the discovery of Alta California, the Spanish Crown charged the first Franciscan friars to enter into the New World through Lower Baja, with a succession of conquistadors, explorers, and soldiers, on a trail called El Camino Real or "The Royal Road." The settlement began in 1769 at Mission San Diego de Alcalá, a new port and military presidio with buildings of mud, brushwood, and tule grass. Fr. Junípero Serra, the legendary mission presidente and founding father of nine missions, traveled along a worn path lined today by symbolic bell markers leading to many remarkable, modern cities. After 1772, settlements were spread to California's central coast region, filling with native neophytes who became the residents and builders of all mission settlements. The Spanish missions had brought dramatic changes to California's landscape and forged the underpinnings of its earliest history, founded serendipitously with the American Revolution and birth of the United States.
St. George Reef Lighthouse
9781467133173
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Situated at the end of a reef six miles offshore of Crescent City, California, stands St. George Reef Lighthouse. Constructed after the wreck of the coastal steamer Brother Jonathan in 1865, the beacon warned mariners of the dreaded "Dragon Rocks" of St. George Reef for nearly a century. This book chronicles the loss of the Jonathan, decades of efforts to make the light a reality, the 10-year construction period, manning of the station by keepers of the US Lighthouse Service and Coast Guard, and the struggles and accomplishments of dedicated volunteers to restore what many lighthouse historians refer to as "America's greatest lighthouse."
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
9780738530581
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The U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Miramar is an essential component of America's homeland security, as aircraft from this base patrols the country's border with Mexico as well as the international waters of the open Pacific. The Marines operated part of the base during World War II, when their island-hopping campaign was crucial to Allied victory in the Far East. The Navy took over operations on the base after the war and until 1997, when the Marines regained control and established both jet and helicopter squadrons there--the aviation combat units of the 3rd Marine Air Wing and the reserves of the 4th Marine Air Wing. During the Navy years, the popular 1986 Tom Cruise movie Top Gun was filmed on the base, which is the largest singular piece of dedicated land on the City of San Diego map.
McClellan Air Force Base
9780738547626
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McClellan Air Force Base has been a part of California's military and aviation history since the mid-1930s. Originally named Pacific Air Depot in 1935, the base's name was changed to the Sacramento Air Depot in 1938, and it became a repair facility for such fighter planes as the P-38 and P-39. During World War II, the base saw significant use in outfitting and supplying munitions for various fighters, including the B-17. Many armed-services personnel departed from McClellan for the Pacific theater, including in part Jimmy Doolittle's famed detail of B-25s, which attacked Tokyo in 1942. After the war, the base stored many types of aircraft, including the B-29 bomber series, and in 1948, changed its name to McClellan Air Force Base, continuing its mission of overhauling and retrofitting planes throughout the cold war.
A History Lover's Guide to Cheyenne
9781467149525
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Celebrating at their encampment near Crow Creek on July 4, 1867, railroad surveyors named the settlement after the local Cheyenne tribe. By the time the Union Pacific Railroad arrived in November, the town had grown from a tent city to a "Hell on Wheels" town of ten thousand souls. Cattle barons brought herds to graze the open range, while they reposed in mansions on Millionaires Row. By 1890, the gleaming dome of the new capitol building was visible all the way down Capitol Avenue to the majestic Union Pacific Railroad Depot. Authors Starley Talbott and Michael Kassel explore a rich past, including the origins of the F.E. Warren Air Force Base, the foundation of the world's largest outdoor rodeo and the unheralded history of early aviation that eclipsed Denver.
Fort Logan
9780738575827
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For most Colorado citizens, Fort Logan usually brings to mind the large national cemetery of the same name. Often unrealized is that nearby, there are fine, substantial brick buildings that mark the remains of a once-bustling military post. Fort Logan began in 1887 and became a part of the US Army's new network of urban-type forts with strategic rail links. Located in the beginning about eight miles southwest of Denver, it variously housed important infantry, cavalry, and engineer units and later served as a key recruit and discharge center. It also once attracted Denverites to elaborate parade ceremonies, stirring band concerts, and competitive athletic events. After World War II, it became property of the State of Colorado and today is the site of the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Fort Logan.
Hamilton Field
9780738559087
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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.
The Beartooth Highway: A History of America’s Most Beautiful Drive
9781467135795
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Traversing the spectacular Beartooth Highway in Montana and Wyoming is an unforgettable experience. The unspoiled mountain scenery along the highway inspired famed news correspondent Charles Kuralt to label it "America's most beautiful drive," yet the story behind this engineering marvel is largely unknown. It is an epic account of man versus nature to construct a road through unforgiving wilderness. Built during the height of the Great Depression and rising 10,947 feet above sea level, the Beartooth Highway sparked an economic boom in Red Lodge, Cooke City and Yellowstone National Park. Understandably, it continues to leave a profound impression on people privileged to drive it. Historian Jon Axline tells the exciting and colorful narrative behind the origins and construction of the Beartooth Highway.
Riverside's Camp Anza and Arlanza
9780738559186
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The Arlanza District of Riverside can trace its origins to Camp Anza, a World War II U.S. Army staging area, which was part of the Los Angeles Port of Embarkation from 1942 to 1946. Here troops spent their last 10 days on U.S. soil before boarding a troop transport ship for the Pacific theater. While in camp, soldiers made final equipment checks and preparations for the possibility of not returning home. To boost morale, Hollywood stars of the day, including Bob Hope and Shirley Temple, performed for the men and women headed into the conflict. At war's end, Camp Anza was a major welcome home point for nearly half a million victorious soldiers returning from the Pacific. Today the neighborhood of Arlanza occupies the site of this once-bustling camp, where remnants of the past still exist and where components for the 21st-century aerospace industry are manufactured.
Camp Pendleton
9780738529820
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Camp Pendleton was established in 1942 by the Navy Department as the West Coast training facility for the United States Marine Corps. Located in rugged northwest San Diego County, Camp Pendleton quickly became one of the largest training centers for infantry, aviation, and amphibious units and has long been the threshold for Marines embarking to participate in armed conflicts in the Far East and around the globe. From World War II to Operation Iraqi Freedom, Camp Pendleton has served as the backdrop and staging ground for troops, artillery, tanks, and infantry. Named for Maj. Gen. Joseph H. Pendleton, who pioneered Marine activity in San Diego, Camp Pendleton is situated on approximately 250,000 acres on the California coast and its access to land, sea, and air has been instrumental in cross-training Marines. Thousands of Marines have called "CamPen" home since its inception, including the oldest and most decorated Marine unit, the 1st Marine Division.
Denver's Sixteenth Street
9780738581026
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The beloved thoroughfare at the heart of Denver, Sixteenth Street has always been the Mile-High City's "Main Street." Sixteenth Street got its jump start in 1879 when Leadville's Silver King and Colorado's richest man, Horace Austin Warner Tabor, came to town and built the city's first five-story skyscraper at the corner of Sixteenth and Larimer Streets. In coming years, Sixteenth Street became Denver's main retail center as shopkeepers and department store owners constructed ever-more impressive palaces, culminating in the Daniels and Fisher Tower--the city's tallest building for five decades and the symbol of the city. In the second half of the 20th century, Sixteenth Street saw major changes, including the creation of one of the most successful pedestrian malls in the country, an archetype of the power of great urban places and an inspiration to other cities, large and small.
Lighthouses of the Bay Area
9780738559438
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The 1848 discovery of gold in the hills of California brought prospectors and adventurers west; many came across the country on the treacherous western trails, while others came by sea. The rugged coast of California and the dangers of the San Francisco Bay waters claimed many ships and their passengers. The loss of these ships and the ever-increasing number of vessels converging in the San Francisco Bay made it evident that navigational aids were desperately needed. To enhance maritime safety in the region, the San Francisco Bay's first light, located on Alcatraz Island, began construction in 1852. Light stations soon followed at Fort Point, Point Bonita, and the Farallon Islands. An additional 15 lights later served the bay, and two lightships were stationed outside the Golden Gate.
Missions of San Diego
9780738596839
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California's first settlement began on a trail called El Camino Real, or "The Royal Road," that was traveled by missionary pathfinders, soldiers, and conquistadors on a dramatic journey into a mysterious land. Monterey was discovered in 1603, leading to the quest. Explorers Don Gaspar de Portolá and Juan Bautista de Anza, along with ambitious Franciscan missionaries, founded 21 monumental Spanish missions and several asistencias and chapels for native neophytes, travelers, and visitors to Alta California. Following the initial landing in 1769 at San Diego's seaport, Fr. Junípero Serra founded Mission San Diego de Alcalá, California's first landmark, at the original presidio site. The mission stands today exactly where it was moved, rebuilt, and completed in 1813. The native populations of California witnessed years of change from a sleepy province to the status of US statehood. The Spanish missions forged the powerful underpinnings of the Golden State's earliest settlements 80 years prior to the world's largest migration to California, the 1849 Gold Rush.
