Holiday Gifting

San Francisco is one of the most recognized and beloved cities in the United States, brilliantly illustrated through a visual history of 493 designated local, state, and national landmarks.

San Francisco's attributes speak to us through stunning topography, the arts, and a unique array of architectural styles. The city inherited the imprint left by the Spanish with Mission Dolores, by the Gold Rush with Jackson Square, and by 20th-century entrepreneurs with the Bank of Italy. The period from the 1920s to 1950s brought a growing cosmopolitan metropolis with such landmarks as the Mark Hopkins Hotel and the Golden Gate Bridge. Residents and visitors want to know why there is a monument in the neighborhood park and why the delightful Victorians next door have a historic plaque by their front steps. Each landmark embodies the characteristics of the surrounding community and the history of the City by the Bay. Enjoy the rich history of San Francisco’s landmarks in this collection of 15 historic black-and-white postcards.

The Greenhaven/Pocket area was a rural farming community for 110 years before suburban development, with the most significant group of people contributing to the area's history and identity being Portuguese immigrants from the Azores Islands of Faial, Pico, Sao Jorge, and Terceira. They began arriving a few years after the Gold Rush and by 1880, almost half of the Portuguese population in Sacramento County was within these townships that encompassed and surrounded the Riverside/Pocket area. Pictured here is the evolution of this thriving community, from the earliest founding families and their sprawling ranches, to the Japanese settlement of World War I, and finally to the innovative Greenhaven 70 plan development in the 1960s that laid the foundation for today's community.

The historic images in Candlewood Lake illustrate the history of the lake basin from its beginnings to the present day.

At the turn of the century, the Rocky River valley was a quiet, productive farming community nestled in the foothills of Connecticut's Berkshire Mountains. On July 15, 1926, the Connecticut Light and Power Company's board of directors approved a plan to create a lake for the purpose of producing electric power, a decision that changed the face of the valley forever. Plans moved quickly, and the company bought the valley land and built several dams to contain the water. On February 25, 1928, the fill-up began, and in a mere seven months, Candlewood Lake was born. Enjoy the rich history of Candlewood Lake in this collection of 15 historic black-and-white postcards.

Detroit's Historic Water Works Park takes the reader on a nostalgic trip back to when it was possible to see beyond the horizon from the top of the tallest freestanding structure in the Americas. At one time, Water Works Park's colorful, stunningly beautiful, and varied floral displays were reason enough for thousands of people to travel hundreds of miles or more to Detroit. In addition to its primary function as a source of high-quality drinking water for Detroit and neighboring communities since 1879, Water Works Park was a popular place of rest, reflection, and recreation. At one time, its popularity among Detroiters and visitors to the city was exceeded only by Belle Isle, the city's big island playground in the Detroit River.

Bend, astride the Deschutes River at the eastern foot of the Cascade Range, got its name from a place on the river that runs through it.

Pioneer travelers called the place Farewell Bend because it was where they had their last view of the double bend in the river that afforded a good place to camp and to ford the waterway, otherwise flowing through deep canyons. When the U.S. Post Office Department approved a name for a post office established there in 1886, it settled on a shorter version-Bend-because there already was a Farewell Bend on the Snake River in eastern Oregon. Arrival of a railroad in 1911 connected Bend with a market for Central Oregon's vast timber resources. Large sawmills began operations in 1916 and Bend grew tenfold in 10 years. And it kept on growing into a favored place to live. By its centennial in 2005, some 75,000 people called Bend home. Enjoy the rich history of Bend in this collection of 15 historic black-and-white postcards.

The name Beartooth suggests strength, rawness, and force. Indeed, the Beartooth Mountains are a power and are unsurpassed in splendor and beauty.

The voluminous masses are said to compromise one of the largest contiguous areas in North America. Early natives came in search of game in both the high country and rich valleys, especially the Crows, who used the area frequently. Later, miners appeared in search of precious metals and developed gold, chrome, and platinum mines. Geographers came and scaled mountain peaks, defining, naming, and mapping. Cattle and sheepmen were also lured to the lush mountain pastures. Eventually, trails became roads, and the Beartooth Plateau was easily accessible upon the completion of the Beartooth Highway. With the creation of the US Forest Service, forestlands were surveyed and protected by wilderness status. Soon, dudes were upon the landscape, and an industry was created amongst the peaks and prairies of the Beartooths. Enjoy the natural beauty and rich history of the Beartooth Mountains in 15 historic black-and-white postcards.

The cocktail fluctuated in popularity following Prohibition but had firmly taken root in the culinary landscape by the 1990s— the Bay Area played a significant role in reviving it.

An American invention, the cocktail has gone on to be enjoyed by people all over the world, but few places make a drink quite like the Bay Area. From the distillers who pioneered craft spirits and Alice Waters' revolutionary take on simple, fresh food at Chez Panisse to the bartenders who cared enough to grow a dedicated cocktail community, this is the story of how the Bay Area shaped the art of elevated drinking in America. Through oral history interviews and recipes, author Shanna Farrell chronicles the narrative history of the modern cocktail renaissance. Enjoy this collection of classic Bay Area cocktails recipe cards including Mai Tai Floats, Pisco Sours, Classic and Nero Manhattans, Gin Martinis, and more.

The beacon of the historic Cape St. George Lighthouse still guides mariners into Apalachicola Bay more than 150 years after it was built.

Founded in 1831, the town of Apalachicola took its name from Creek Indians, to whom it signified a land of friendly people. Sheltered from the Gulf of Mexico by a string of barrier islands, the port flourished as the only site in Florida on a river that is navigable for over 300 miles to the fall line at Columbus, Georgia, Apalachicola's sister city. Generations of lighthouse keepers were bound to St. George Island and its great bay by an intense sense of duty to sustain seagoing commerce and a love for a place where they could raise their families in freedom. When the foundation washed away in 2005 after a very active hurricane season and a final surge from Hurricane Wilma, residents took action to salvage and rebuild the historic lighthouse. Visitors may still climb the lighthouse tower, surrounded by bricks that were first laid in 1852. Enjoy the rich history of the Cape St. George Lighthouse in this collection of 15 historic black-and-white postcards.

Since 1708, the hamlet of Bay Shore has developed a rich heritage through embracing the tapestry of multiculturalism and utilizing its natural resources to build a vibrant, enduring community.

Known as Penataquit among the Secatogue Indians, Bay Shore residents have borne witness to the American Revolution, the rise and fall of the fishing industry, the boom and bust of the Gilded Age, the impact of deinstitutionalization, and community revitalization. From Bay Shore's beginning, the community has birthed artists, activists, athletes, industrialists, laborers, and politicians. The heirs of this 26,000-person hamlet's heritage continue to build and define the place as a viable community in the 21st century. Enjoy the rich history of Bay Shore in this collection of 15 historic black-and-white postcards.

Beech Mountain was once a rugged wilderness known only to the Cherokee Indians. Eventually hunters, loggers, moonshiners, and settlers made their marks upon the mountain.

In the 1960s, Tom Brigham, a Birmingham dentist, envisioned a ski resort in the South and chose Beech Mountain as the perfect site. Grover Robbins, a timber man and developer from Blowing Rock, turned Brigham's vision into the Carolina Caribbean Corporation, which developed a four-season resort with the Land of Oz at the top. Initially lots sold faster than roads could be built to reach them, and the overextended company went bankrupt. Property owners rallied to preserve what had been created, and in 1981, the mountain reinvented itself as a charming town and popular resort destination. In addition to a core of permanent residents, it draws thousands of visitors annually for skiing, hiking, spectacular scenery, cool summers, and excellent golf, tennis, and other recreational facilities--and for the special feeling that is Beech Mountain. Enjoy the rich history of Beech Mountain in this collection of 15 historic black-and-white postcards.

Once a small coastal community known for avocados and flower fields, Carlsbad has grown into a sprawling suburban city.

The discovery of its mineral wells in 1885, and the subsequent naming of the city after the famed European spa in Karlsbad, Bohemia, put Carlsbad on the map as a world-class resort destination. Miles of beautiful beaches, and three lagoons located within its boundaries, have shaped Carlsbad into a recreational destination as well. The Flower Fields, with vibrant rows of colorful ranunculus, now serves as a reminder of the past and a link to the future, as shopping and businesses have grown up around them, helping Carlsbad evolve into the diverse, progressive city it is today while still maintaining a small beach-town feel that ties the city to its roots. Enjoy the rich history of Carlsbad in this collection of 15 historic black-and-white postcards.