More commonly known as Pacific Coast Highway, State Route 1 ribbons along or near the Pacific Ocean from Northern California at Leggett in Mendocino down to Southern California at San Juan Capistrano in Orange County. Its construction began in 1913 and was done incrementally, largely because of funding issues, shortage of labor, legal challenges, deep canyons, steep mountains, solid rock, and unstable earth. A true modern marvel, its unique and extraordinary construction allows easy access to some of the country's most famous and historical places and picturesque sights. Thousands of pounds of dynamite were used to blast through granite, marble, and sandstone to build a highway following near or along the coastline. Among the 33 bridges along the route is the remarkable Bixby (Rainbow) Bridge at Big Sur. The highway wends its way through some of the most magnificent and scenic landscapes and historical places found between Ventura and Humboldt Counties, making it more than just a road. It is a destination.
1906 San Francisco Earthquake
9780738596587
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The Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906 is an unparalleled disaster in the history of San Francisco. More than 4.5 square miles of San Francisco burned and crumbled into a windswept desert of desolation. We will see this scene from behind the camera, covering before the earthquake through the fire and into the rebuilding of the city. The waterfront in the east to Golden Gate Park in the west and the marina in the north to Mission District in the south will be viewed. City hall and along Market Street through the center of the city will be covered. Stories from survivors and new information, like doctored photographs, will be included. Thirty years of research will be merged to give you an accurate account.
San Francisco's Panama-Pacific International Exposition
9780738530093
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The 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibition celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, the rebirth of San Francisco after the disastrous 1906 earthquake, and the world community in general. It was a festive time and one that transformed the swampy San Francisco waterfront into elaborate grounds for sculptures, playgrounds, fountains, and national pavilions. Some say it was the most successful world's fair ever held, bringing together disparate cultures as no other event before or since. Lasting 10 months and covering 635 acres over what is now the city's Marina District, the fair remains in evidence today at the famed Palace of Fine Arts, the only extant structure and a popular and much-photographed local landmark.
Death Valley Gold Rush
9781467108485
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From the mid-19th century to the 1930s, no place in America was more feared or mysterious than the stretch of desert on the California-Nevada border known as Death Valley. While today Death Valley National Park is seen as a place of natural beauty and scenic wonders, there were once rumors of vaporous gases so toxic that birds flying overhead would drop dead instantly. One of the first Americans to encounter this dreaded land was William Lewis Manly, who left his Wisconsin home for California's 1849 Gold Rush and who heroically saved those lost pioneers who would give Death Valley its name. Other pioneers in the early 20th century were Frank "Shorty'? Harris, who made Death Valley's biggest gold strike; the Hoyt brothers, who, in 1908, struck it rich in a place called Skidoo; and in the 1920s, a con man named C.C. Julian, who used the valley's reputation to scam naive investors. There was a time when the entire country seemed to be consumed with news and tales of the Death Valley Gold Rush.
Marine Corps Air Station El Toro
9780738501864
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In 1943, the finishing touches on El Toro's construction turned a bean field into one of the country's finest military air stations. Located in a quiet valley at the base of the Saddleback Mountains and only a few miles from the Pacific Ocean, Marine Corps Air Station El Toro stood proud and tall on behalf of the U.S. military for 57 years and four wars. In this publication dedicated to the history of the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro, with a sub-section covering MCAS Tustin, Thomas O'Hara presents a detailed account of the installation's achievements and activities during the entire period of its service to the U.S. military. Over 200 images--from photos of the first Woman Reserve Officers in 1943 to documentation of the annual airshow--illustrate the base's history from its role in World War II through Desert Storm.
The Navy in San Diego
9780738555508
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San Diego has never been afraid to call itself a Navy Town, and the positive and inspiring link between the navy and the city knows no equal across the country. For over 150 years, beginning with the U.S. Navy's capture of the city for the United States in the opening days of the Mexican War, the navy has been an indelible part of San Diego's lifestyle, culture, and vitality. Not only has the navy formed the bedrock of the region's economy, but it has helped shape the population while endowing the city with a sense of international and cosmopolitan awareness that separates San Diego from many other cities of its size. San Diego and its navy enjoy a special relationship, one deeply rooted in historic perspective that renews itself with each passing year.
Orinda
9781467108652
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In 1835, cousins Joaquin Moraga and Juan Bernal were granted 13,326 acres in present-day Lamorinda, California, in grateful thanks to their ancestor, Lt. José Joaquin Moraga, second in command during Mexico’s 1776 Anza Expedition. By 1850, California had become America’s 31st state, and squatters were overrunning the property. Within 34 years of receiving its land grant, the family had lost everything. But the house that Moraga built still remains—the oldest surviving adobe in the county. Over the years, land was bought and sold, fortunes made and lost, and a railroad, intended to go all the way from Emeryville to Utah, ran out of steam when it reached Orinda. Families, long gone now, gave their names to familiar landmarks, but it was not until the 1920s, when E.I. de Laveaga laid down the blueprint for this jewel in the East Bay’s crown, that Orinda truly began to take shape. One hundred years later, Orinda, home to over 20,000 people within 13 square miles, has become the 299th largest city in California.
Marinship
9781467129770
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Marinship was a World War II shipyard built by the W.A. Bechtel Company to fulfill an urgent need for cargo ships to support soldiers all over the world. Sausalito was selected as the site for its unused railroad capacity and access to a deepwater channel and the Golden Gate Bridge. In March 1942, the shipyard was built on the site of the railroad maintenance yard and adjacent vacant mudflats, with the first ship being launched in September. At the time of its peak operation, there were as many as 20,000 workers. Workers were recruited from local resources at first but eventually a more widespread recruitment brought people from the Midwest and the South. These new workers, including minorities and women, enabled Marinship to become a leader in the integrated workforce phenomenon. As the war in Europe was won, fewer ships were needed. The Marinship labor force was reduced by about half until the victory in Japan, when ships were no longer needed. Marinship was soon taken over by the US Army Corps of Engineers, which disposed of what it did not need for its operations and currently maintains several buildings to facilitate its regional operations.
Oxnard
9781467107266
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As early as 1910, Oxnard was known as the "Biggest Little City on the Coast," when the population was a mere 2,200. A hundred years later, the population topped 200,000, and Oxnard became the most populous city in Ventura County. Built around the largest sugar processing plant in the world in 1898, the city now hosts an 800,000-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center on the land that once grew sugar beets.
CAL FIRE
9781467116527
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Since the establishment of the California State Board of Forestry in 1885, the mission of the California Division of Forestry has been to protect and preserve natural resources via a focus on resource management and protection of valuable watersheds. From the beginning, pioneers within the communities of San Bernardino County were actively involved in protecting their homes from the ravages of wildfire. In August 1930, San Bernardino County entered into a contract with the state to provide fire suppression and prevention on nonfederal lands within the county. The cooperative services agreement evolved to provide municipal fire protection services from both paid and volunteer staff. In addition to responsibilities within San Bernardino County, in the late 1980s the State Responsibility Area land within Inyo and Mono forestry units were consolidated under the San Bernardino, California Department of Forestry, Ranger Unit.
The Bay Bridge
9780738529707
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The Bay Bridge combines suspension, cantilever, tunnel, and truss constructions in an astonishing 8.4-mile-long structure. Envisioned first in 1872 by the legendary Emperor Norton, the project finally coalesced in the 1920s, although initial studies concluded that the bridge could not be built due to the bay's deep muddy waters and the area's strong earthquakes. President Herbert Hoover, who was also an engineer, took up the cause, and the $80.8-million project began in 1933. It would replace an extensive set of ferries and forever alter the landscape and commerce of the Bay Area. Over the next three years and four months, the underwater and above-water construction continued day and night, with 152,000 tons of steel, a million cubic yards of concrete, more than 70,000 miles of cable strands, and 200,000 gallons of paint. Roughly 6,500 workers built this amazing bridge, and 12 lost their lives in the process.
King City
9781467108041
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The town of King City came into existence in 1886, when the railroad arrived north of San Lorenzo Creek in the Salinas Valley of Central California. Named after Charles H. King, owner of this portion of the San Lorenzo Land Grant, King City has grown into a hub for the magnificent agricultural fields that surround it and support its economy. US Highway 101 and the Salinas River are unique features of the town, and Mesa Del Rey Airport was instrumental in the training of pilots during World War II. Author John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden is set near King City.
Los Angeles Television
9781467132701
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Los Angeles television history began in the small room of an auto dealership in 1931. Since then, much of the nation's television history has been made here: the first television helicopter, the first big story that television broke before newspapers, the first live coverage of an atomic bomb, and the careers of numerous icons like Betty White, Steve Allen, Liberace, Lawrence Welk, and Tennessee Ernie Ford. Many Los Angeles television personalities went on to network fame, including Tom Snyder, Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumbel, Connie Chung, Maury Povich, Bob Barker, Bill Leyden, Ann Curry, Pat Sajak, and Regis Philbin. Readers will discover, in many untold stories, the origins of that curious building on top the Hollywood sign, Albert Einstein's must-see local program, Marilyn Monroe's video debut, a popular television star's last tragic performance, and the actual identities of legends Korla Pandit and Iron Eyes Cody. Also in these pages is the reveal of the Mystery Tower Sitter, the all-night amateur show, the big Las Vegas premiere telecast that was blown off the air, and the treasured performer who worked at one station for 65 years.
The Seabees at Port Hueneme
9780738531205
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In 1942, the navy sought a location for an advance base on the West Coast to ship construction materiel, equipment, and men into World War II's Pacific theater. Port Hueneme's deepwater harbor, rail system, and rural setting made it the ideal site from which to send 20 million measurement tons of war materiel and a quarter of a million men onto island specks that later became headlines: Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the Philippines. Seabees later deployed from Port Hueneme to serve in the Korean, Vietnam, Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and Iraqi conflicts, as well as in peacetime, for more than 60 years. Charged with building air bases, ports, combat camps, hospitals, and other support facilities as part of military and humanitarian efforts around the world, the Seabees remain at home in Port Hueneme.
Sebastopol's Gravenstein Apple Industry
9780738581736
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The Gravenstein apple has been etched into the identity of Sebastopol, California, which is one of the few places on earth to have extensively grown this elusive apple. The Gravenstein is an early apple whose only failing is perishability, but it is celebrated for its superior flavor. Yet Luther Burbank attempted to improve on the Gravenstein, producing the Winterstein and the Bonita for home gardeners. During the last 127 years, the Gravenstein has added millions of dollars to the local economy. It has provided a reason for celebrations, from the 1910 Apple Show to today's Apple Blossom Festival and Gravenstein Apple Fair. This is the Gravenstein's story, from its European roots to small-town homage, and the part this special apple has played in one community--and the reason the current decline in apple acreage is mourned.
The Navy at Point Mugu
9780738575322
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Point Mugu has played a major part in naval history since 1943, when a small group of US Navy Seabees and several newly organized amphibious units headed across the Oxnard Plain to establish an advance base training facility. Toward the end of World War II, the small naval air base began testing newly developed guided missiles, pilotless aircraft, and special weapons to combat kamikaze pilots. This early testing transitioned Point Mugu from a temporary base into a pioneer in the world of science and national defense. On October 1, 1946, the Naval Air Missile Test Center Point Mugu and, later, the Pacific Missile Range were established to create, research, and test weapons systems. Point Mugu continues to support many diverse military missions, including testing weapons systems, operating space satellite systems, and providing radar and communication support to the naval aviation community.
San Francisco Fire Department
9780738520841
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In San Francisco, history is as close as the sound of the fire engines and trucks racing by, sirens wailing. The San Francisco Fire Department took shape, as did the city, from the ashes and embers of the Great Fire of 1906. In the tumultuous seaport full of those seeking California's newly found gold, volunteer fire companies had to adapt to a teeming city full of canvas tents, wood shacks, kerosene lanterns, ocean breezes, and hilly winding streets. From a force that initially pulled hand-operated pumps and competed to be the first at a fire, traveling in horse-drawn equipment, the department has grown from a volunteer contingent of a few hundred to a company 1,800 strong and equipped to protect a city of 49 square miles, surrounded on three sides by salt water. The historic photographs of this volume document the establishment of the volunteer department on Christmas Eve 1849 and the inception of the paid force in 1866, as well as such colorful characters as Lily Hitchcock Coit, a belle who battled many a blaze with the volunteers and a portion of whose estate went to build the 210-foot Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill. Striking images, many never before published, illustrate how the fire department was affected not only by the well-known inferno of 1906 but by the six blazes that leveled the waterfront in the 1850s and a number of other fires throughout the city's history.
Inyo National Forest
9780738593050
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The great eastern front of California's Sierra Nevada and the parallel, similarly high White and Inyo Mountains; these are the lands of "the Inyo," one of the most spectacular and popular national forests in America. Established at the dawn of the 20th century to secure more water for Los Angeles, the forest now spans 165 miles and two million acres. From the Kern Plateau south of Mount Whitney to the peaks above Yosemite, plus Mono Lake, the mountains, lake basins, and canyons here have become some of America's favorite places for fishing, hiking, climbing, and skiing. The Inyo National Forest is also America's refuge for Sierra bighorn, golden trout, and bristlecone pines, the world's oldest living trees.
Onizuka Air Force Base
9781467104067
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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.
Mining in Yuba County
9781467132909
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Mining in Yuba County illustrates the story of how this geologically unique part of California drew multitudes of people from around the world during the early days of the Gold Rush. It depicts the region's evolution from anarchy to civilization. It gives faces to the individuals who were instrumental in creating society in Yuba. It elaborates on incidents in which Yuba influenced the nation, on matters as historically significant as California entering the Union as a free state and affecting the outcome of the Civil War. Mining in Yuba fostered technological advancement precipitated by the depletion of surface gold and the necessity to get to the obscured gold. Conflicts between miners and agriculturists over hydraulic mining were litigated, and landmark legal decisions regarding the regulation of hydraulic mining all but ended the practice and were the beginnings of environmental protectionism and water rights issues in California. Finally, it reveals that despite heavy regulations that exist today, there is still mining in Yuba County.
San Bernardino Fire Department
9780738528519
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Sixty miles east of Los Angeles, the now-bustling city of San Bernardino established its first fire department in 1865 with just 4 ladders, 4 axes, 4 hooks, and 24 buckets. Though this company was soon disbanded, another rose to take its place following several disastrous blazes in 1878. From these early days of leather helmets and hand-drawn trucks to the modern era of computerized equipment, the San Bernardino Fire Department has kept step with the community's rapid growth through the 20th century and, today, continues to provide first-class service to the citizens of San Bernardino.
Monterey Fire Department
9780738576237
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For more than 129 years, the firefighters of the Monterey Fire Department have provided outstanding service to the people of Monterey. The department has protected the community since 1882, when the first brigade was a handful of citizens armed with buckets and axes. In 2010, a total of 64 firefighters responded to 6,233 calls. This book is dedicated to the memory of Monterey's firefighters, who have all served valiantly.
Fighting Fire in the Sierra National Forest
9781626193710
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To live in the foothills on the periphery of the Sierra National Forest is to live with the certainty of summer wildfires. Each year, from April forward, Californians watch the sky and sniff the air for telltale signs of smoke. While fire remains a constant threat, the strategy for combating it has evolved with the understanding of its beneficial role in the forest environment. Marcia Penner Freedman traces the history of firefighting and fire management from the forest's early years through the policy shifts that began in the 1960s and the measures used today.
The Building of the Oroville Dam
9781467130790
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In the early 1960s, thousands of construction workers and their families came to Oroville, in Northern California, to help build the largest earth-fill dam in the world. Located nine miles northeast of town, the Oroville Dam would be the cornerstone of the California State Water Project, which would provide flood control, electric power, recreation, and water to California residents. The project was so massive that it would reinvent the look of much of the area; require the building of roads, bridges, and railroads; inundate much of the area's history under hundreds of feet of water; and greatly effect the lives of the residents of Oroville. The successful completion of the project came at a price--34 construction workers died.
Covina Valley Citrus Industry
9780738574424
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Drawn by the California dream of golden sunshine and promise, many settlers came to the Covina Valley, where, after clearing the rocks, sagebrush, and cactus, they found rich alluvial soil. With the addition of water, everything grew in abundance. Citrus gradually became the best cash crop. This is the story of the men and women who made the citrus industry work in and around Covina, how they founded towns and eventually planted 25,000 acres of oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits. They endured droughts, floods, freezes, insect invasions, and unscrupulous buyers who almost ruined them financially. Together they developed water resources and the first stockholder-owned citrus cooperative, and brought railroads, transforming the Covina Valley into a major citrus producing and processing center.
City of Industry
9781467107785
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Incorporated on June 18, 1957, the City of Industry is located 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. The city's founding was based on providing a dedicated area for industrial employment in between two major railroad lines. Starting with about 50 businesses, this young municipality grew rapidly and had a national reputation for attracting large manufacturers like Mattel, Inc., Schwinn Bicycle Company, and Libbey, Inc., within its boundaries. The city is known as the "Economic Engine" of the San Gabriel Valley, and currently, it provides 68,000 jobs for the valley's population of 1.7 million people. In the 1970s, the city developed the internationally renowned Industry Hills Resort and Conference Center and the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum. As the last portions of Industry's 12 square miles are being developed, this dynamic economic base is continuing its dedication to businesses and to its neighboring residents by way of charitable giving, public/private partnerships, and innovative community programs.
San Francisco's Midwinter Exposition
9780738520889
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On January 27, 1894, as the rest of the country bundled up against the winter weather, the people of San Francisco opened the California Midwinter International Exposition and invited the world to enjoy "The Land of Sunshine, Fruit and Flowers." The San Francisco Fair, held in the burgeoning city's Golden Gate Park, was the first U.S. hosted Exposition west of the Mississippi River. When the Fair closed in June of 1894, more than two million people had seen its incredible exhibits as well as this promising new land. The Fair celebrated a city that less than 50 years before had been a village of fewer than 250 people, a city that now was the commercial, financial, and social capital of the West. In San Francisco's Midwinter Exposition 1894, author William Lipsky presents the history, creation, and people of the Fair in over 200 vintage images. From the exotic exhibits on the Fair's midway, to the structures and architectural wonders presented at the Fair, Dr. Lipsky presents a striking visual history of this influential moment in San Francisco and California history.
Alameda County Fire Department
9781467134286
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Alameda County spans from the shores of the San Francisco Bay to the golden inland hills. Alameda County Fire Department (ACFD) is comprised of multiple consolidated agencies that began joining forces and sharing resources in 1993. Protecting unincorporated county land as well as Ashland, Cherryland, San Lorenzo, Castro Valley, San Leandro, Dublin, Union City, Newark, Emeryville, and the National Laboratories at Livermore and Berkeley, ACFD serves over 500 square miles and 330,000 citizens. This legacy stretches back 140 years, recalling the shared experiences of bucket brigades, teams of horses pulling steam-engine pumpers down muddy roads, the advent of motorized apparatus, and the days when school boys would be pulled from class to ride tailboard to fight blazes in the hills. These agencies have sent soldiers to two world wars, survived massive earthquakes, fought catastrophic wildfires, and touched the lives of Bay Area citizens for over a century. The ACFD is the sum of its many unique parts, which together form a premier, all-risk fire department.
Mount Tamalpais and the Marin Municipal Water District
9780738593173
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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.
East Bay Hills
9781467137256
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Like the mist rising from San Francisco Bay encircles the towering redwoods, the little-known legends of the East Bay Hills enrich a glorious history. Follow the trails of Saclan and Jalquin-Yrgin people over the hills and through the valleys. Ride with the mounted rangers through the Flood of '62. Break into a sealed railroad tunnel with a pack of junior high school boys. Learn how university professors, civil servants and wealthy businessmen planned for years to create a chain of parks twenty miles along the hilltops. Author Amelia Sue Marshall explores the heritage of these storied parklands with the naturalists who continue to preserve them and the old-timers who remember wilder days.
California's Deadliest Earthquakes
9781467136020
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Home to hundreds of faults, California leads the nation in frequency of earthquakes every year. Despite enduring their share of the natural disasters, residents still speculate over the inevitable big one. More than three thousand people lost their lives during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Long Beach's 1933 earthquake caused a loss of nearly $50 million in damages. And the Northridge earthquake injured thousands and left a $550 million economic hit. Historian Abraham Hoffman explores the personal accounts and aftermath of California's most destructive tremors.
Logging in Plumas County
9780738559292
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Located within the northern Sierra Nevada mountain range, the forests of Plumas County were once seen as a source of endless timber. Lumber was needed during the Gold Rush for water flumes, mine timbers, and an array of buildings. While timber was abundant, the abilities of the early settlers to harvest, transport, and mill the logs were often very limited. Markets remained relatively local throughout the second half of the 19th century until the completion of the Western Pacific Railroad in 1909. This sparked a new rush of industry into the region. Vast tracts of untapped Plumas County timber were bought up by speculators, and many sawmills were erected. Logging in the western United States moved from animal power to steam engines to internal combustion in the space of about 50 years. While Plumas County's lumber industry was reflective of these developments, it also found its own identity as a timber-producing region that was nearly unequaled.
Plymouth and Northwestern Amador County
9781467108775
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Situated near the Sierra Nevada foothills in the northwestern region of Amador County is the small town of Plymouth. This hamlet, and other surrounding towns such as Drytown, Fiddletown, and River Pines, have been home to farmers, ranchers, and merchants since the early days of the California Gold Rush. Plymouth, known to be the gateway to the world-famous Shenandoah Valley wine country, is a thriving community with a hometown feel. History lives here, from the aged buildings along Main Street to the ruins of the Plymouth-Consolidated Mine, one of the largest gold producers in California.
Quicksilver Mining in Sonoma County
9781626194724
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In the 1870s, a quicksilver mining boom took hold of Sonoma County, California. Claims were staked, and a rowdy camp took shape in Pine Flat as farmers traded plows for picks and miners answered the siren call of cinnabar. In this compelling account, historian Joe Pelanconi relates the development of the twenty-mile Cinnabar Mining District. Pelanconi shares intriguing stories like those of the Donner Party survivor, Chinese laborers who worked the mines in danger of mercury poisoning and the two brothers who were leading citizens of the district and purported victims of murder. Delve into Sonoma County's heritage and a lost era when eccentrics and dreamers sought shining flasks of riches in the Mayacamas Mountains above today's wine country.
Balboa Park and the 1915 Exposition
9781626193451
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The Panama-California Exposition of 1915 established San Diego as a focal point of cultural activity in California. The Spanish Colonial Revival exposition buildings, along with those from a second exposition in Balboa, house several of the great museums of San Diego. This 1,200-acre park in the central portion of the city contains the world-famous San Diego Zoo, fifteen museums, the Old Globe Theatre, sports and recreation facilities, hiking trails and some of America's most elaborate gardens. The late Richard W. Amero, longtime Balboa Park historian, wrote extensively about the park and its two expositions. His chapters on the creation of the first exposition have been edited into this essential volume on city history by Michael Kelly, president of the Committee of One Hundred. .
Oakland Fire Department
9780738529684
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For over 150 years, brave firefighters have battled to preserve the lives and property of the citizens of Oakland. Beginning in 1853, volunteer engine and hook and ladder companies organized and the Oakland Fire Department formed in 1869. Until 1922, teams of magnificent horses pulled steamers belching black smoke and embers, with firemen holding on for dear life. These gallant fire horses were as much firefighters as the rugged men of Oakland who extinguished blazes with leather hoses and brass nozzles. After waging an internal battle of racial integration--a 35-year struggle that began in 1920--the Oakland Fire Department became one of the first in the nation to hire women firefighters beginning in 1980.
The Dams of Western San Diego County
9781467127219
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The unreliability of the San Diego River compelled the Franciscan fathers to construct the area's first dam in 1813 to conserve drinking and irrigation water for the Mission San Diego de Alcalá. This water-driven circumstance continued and expanded in the ensuing American era. Lacking a reliable water source at the turn of the 20th century, San Diego County was destined to experience modest growth. The region's semiarid conditions, cyclical droughts, and existing river systems determined that the only effective way to maintain a ready water supply was to conserve runoff and river floodwaters behind dam-created reservoirs. Between 1888 and 1934, private and municipal interests constructed a series of massive structures that made San Diego County the dam-building center of the world. The county featured some of America's first multiple arch dams and earliest hydraulic fill dams. Into the mid-1940s, dammed reservoirs remained the principle water source for county consumers and made the municipal expansion of the city of San Diego possible.
Newport Beach Fire Department
9780738555935
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For nearly a century, the men and women of the Newport Beach Fire Department have served their Orange County community with dedication, professionalism, and grace. Starting with a primitive hose reel and a dozen volunteers in 1911, determined Newport Beach firefighters protected the always tourism-friendly community with more dedication than equipment. In 1927, the volunteers were disbanded and a paid fire department was organized. This volume celebrates 100 years of the Newport Beach Fire Department's exemplary service by combining historical photographs with a narrative that traces the evolution of firefighting in Newport Beach from its turn-of-the-century roots to the state-of-the-art operation it is today, entrusted with protecting one of coastal California's most affluent and picturesque showcase communities.
Bridges of Downtown Los Angeles
9781467133531
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The Los Angeles River was tamed years ago. The river, by nature wanting to be violent and random, doses now in a concrete bed through downtown Los Angeles. In the city's core, there are over a dozen bridges that connect Los Angeles across the river—and these bridges are architectural marvels! These bridges were built in the first decades of the 1900s, and their history continues. The largest and longest bridge, the Sixth Street Viaduct, is in the process of being replaced. Others have been upgraded and enlarged; Spring Street is underway now. Many of the bridges were designed by one man, Merrill Butler, who made each bridge different, yet matching. In this volume, the reader will explore the necessity of the bridges, how they came to be, and where they are going in the future. The time is ripe for a reexamination of these jewels of downtown Los Angeles.
Bay Area Iron Master Al Zampa:
9781467119139
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Farming in Torrance and the South Bay
9780738559308
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Jared Sydney Torrance originally founded Torrance in 1912 as an industrial city. But the land and its surrounding South Bay region thrived through agricultural activities, beginning in 1784 on the Rancho San Pedro. Farming activities continued after Ben Weston became the first one to buy land from the Dominguez family's rancho in 1847. Farming remained an important part of city commerce in the transition to a thriving Los Angeles County suburb in the late 1950s. Throughout those early years, family farmers contributed to the city's economy by raising cattle, pigs, and turkeys, as well as sugar beets, alfalfa, beans, hay, oats, barley, and flowers, and operating dairy farms. Other South Bay cities also relied on agriculture for economic growth, including Carson, once home to a thriving cut-flower farm industry, and Gardena, the one-time berry capital of Southern California, as well as the Palos Verdes Peninsula, where dry farming was a successful industry.
The Navy in Norco
9780738575261
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On December 8, 1941, sixty miles from the ocean, the US Navy rolled into Norco. There, on the grounds of the former Norconian Resort, the federal government built what may have been the finest and most complete World War II naval hospital in the nation. The first patients to arrive were those wounded during the attack on Pearl Harbor; they were cared for in luxurious rooms once reserved for movie stars. By 1945, approximately 5,000 sailors and Marines were being treated. In 1951, the smartest physicists, engineers, and mathematicians in the world set up laboratories in the hospital's tubercular wards and entered into the Cold War. Today the hospital is gone, but the magnificent buildings and top secret naval laboratory remain, along with thousands of photographs of one of the most historic and colorful sites in America.
Oceanside Fire Department
9780738581057
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For more than 120 years, the firefighters of the Oceanside Fire Department have had the privilege of serving one of Southern California's most active and popular coastal communities. Its firefighters are well known regionally as being highly skilled, capable, and aggressive when it comes to firefighting. This legacy has been handed down from Oceanside's first firefighters as they lived in the Wild West of the late 1800s, fighting blazes similar to those of today but with dungarees, cowboy boots, and nothing to guide them but instinct and bravery. Today a force of more than 100 modern, paramedic-trained firefighters protect over 180,000 Oceanside residents and visitors 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Long Beach Fire Department
9780738530017
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The Long Beach Fire Department's adaptability has been tested by a wide variety of disasters that have marked it as a unique firefighting force on the West Coast. Thousands of residents and others have owed their very lives to the department since its 1897 formation. The LBFD moved into action during the devastating 1933 Long Beach earthquake, in which its own Fire House No. 1 was reduced to rubble. Its firefighters have quelled oilfield blazes through the 20th century, and its fireboats have poured water onto flames engulfing the docks and warehouses of the bustling port. Other duties have included such side excursions as working standby during Howard Hughes's 1947 flight of the Spruce Goose and taking care of Sam the cat, a Station 6 mainstay who slid down the fire pole to the delight of television audiences.
Sacramento's K Street
9781609494254
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From its founding, K Street mirrored the entrepreneurial development of California's capital city. Initially the storefront for gold seekers trampling a path between the Sacramento River and Sutter's Fort, K Street soon became the hub of California's first stagecoach, railroad and riverboat networks. Over the years, K Street boasted saloons and vaudeville houses, the neon buzz of jazz clubs and movie theaters, as well as the finest hotels and department stores. For the postwar generation, K Street was synonymous with Christmas shopping and teenage cruising. From the Golden Eagle and Buddy Baer's to Weinstock's and the Alhambra Theatre, join historian William Burg as he chronicles the legacy of Sacramento's K Street, once a boulevard of aspirations and bustling commerce and now home to a spirit of renewal.
Sacramento's Moon Rockets
9781467133890
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On July 16, 1969, a Saturn V rocket launched the Apollo spacecraft carrying American astronauts to the surface of the moon, where Neil Armstrong would take his famous first steps and fulfill Pres. John F. Kennedy's goal of a successful lunar landing by the end of the decade. This event marks one of the greatest achievements in human history and is in large part due to the years of rocket testing that took place at the Douglas Aircraft Company's Sacramento testing facility (SACTO). The SACTO facility played one of the most important roles in the success of the Apollo 11 lunar mission and is where the Saturn rocket's S-IVB stage was developed and tested--making this historic accomplishment possible.
