Name: The Hollywood Scandal Almanac: Twelve Months of Sinister, Salacious, and Senseless History
Brand: Jerry Roberts
SKU: 9781609497026
Price: 14.99 USD
Availability: InStock

The Hollywood Scandal Almanac: Twelve Months of Sinister, Salacious, and Senseless History

9781609497026

$14.99

The real-life scandals of Hollywood's personalities rival any drama they bring to life on the silver screen. The Hollywood Scandal Almanac provides daily doses of high and low crimes, fraud and deceit, culled from Tinseltown's checkered past. The exploits of silent-era stars Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle are recounted, along with the midcentury misdeeds of Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe and the modern excesses of Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan. This calendar of Hollywood transgressions has a sensational true tale for every day of the year. Join author Jerry Roberts on a tongue-in-cheek trip down a stormy memory lane filled with sneaky affairs, box-office bombs and careers cut short--sometimes by murder. It's a collection that proves the drama doesn't end when the credits roll.

The Hollywood Scandal Almanac: Twelve Months of Sinister, Salacious, and Senseless History

San Francisco's Panama-Pacific International Exposition

9780738530093

$24.99

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.

San Francisco's Panama-Pacific International Exposition

California State Fair

9780738580890

$24.99

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.

Sparks

9781467126489

$24.99

In the late 1800s, the area now known as Sparks consisted of ranches and farms. It was not until the early 1900s that Sparks would become the sixth-largest city in Nevada, almost overnight. E.H. Harriman moved the Salt Lake Division of the Southern Pacific Railroad from Wadsworth to swampland four miles east of Reno, and that area would become Sparks. The railroad was the largest and most reliable employer for 54 years, before leaving in 1957. Some railroad employees were transferred and reassigned to jobs outside of Sparks, but many chose to stay. Employment was found in Nevada's thriving hospitality industry, including John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino. Sparks became a major distribution center for national companies like S.S. Kresge and Pacific Freeport, and many manufacturing companies opened after Nevada passed the right-to-work law in 1951. Sparks is now the fifth-largest city in Nevada.

San Francisco's Midwinter Exposition

9780738520889

$24.99

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.

Forgotten Tales of Utah

9781467137300

$21.99

Characters ranging from Mormon pioneers to Butch Cassidy all helped give the Beehive State color and tenacity. Uncover the state's hidden gems with stories like the first group of Latter-day Saints who arrived in the Salt Lake Valley days before Brigham Young proclaimed it as "the right place." Meet an ancient prophet believed to have walked the arid landscape, offering his blessing on several sites long before the pioneers arrived. Learn why a former lawyer was buried without a proper headstone. Discover the state's quirky side with the strange goings-on at an obscure ranch and the alleged monsters once believed to haunt some of Utah's lakes. Author Andy Weeks offers this quirky and informative collection of little-known tales about the forty-fifth state.

Alameda County Fair

9780738581934

$24.99

What began as a ranching family's Sunday pastime of horse racing, with cheering crowds and thundering hooves on dusty roads, would give way to the Alameda County Fair that we know today. The Bernal family built the original racetrack in 1859 on their 52,000-acre ranch, which was part of the Northern California land grant, Rancho Valle de San Jose. Looking to turn his newly acquired racetrack into profit, businessman Rodney G. MacKenzie approached a group of county businessmen and ranchers with a proposal to hold a county fair on his property. The first Alameda County Fair ran from October 23 to October 27, 1912. Local leaders sought to form a modern fair, and in 1939 the Alameda County Fair Association was established. Once considered a racing fair, the Alameda County Fair now boasts livestock and agriculture. For young and old alike, the thrilling carnival rides, beautiful quilt exhibits, baking contests, fast-paced horse racing, or just a corn dog and cotton candy provide something for everyone, as the Alameda County Fair now prepares to celebrate its 100th year.

The Orange County Fair: A History of Celebration

9781626198029

$21.99

The Orange County Fair is one of Southern California's most anticipated summer events. From its first year in 1890 with a few livestock exhibits and horse races, the fair evolved into what is now a month-long extravaganza of rides, games and entertainment that still celebrates the importance of local agriculture. Millions of visitors have crowded the grounds over the years to enjoy the spectacle of everything from ostrich races and demolition derbies to its unique Centennial Farm and the time-honored All-Alaskan pig race. Author Chris Epting recounts more than a century of community history and revelry at the OC Fair.

The Orange County Fair: A History of Celebration

Christmas in San Diego

9781467134552

$24.99

What is the true meaning of Christmas? The author believes the answer is found in the Golden Rule. Christmas should be about being good to one another. Christmas in San Diego, therefore, focuses on people who bring joy to others. Locals are blessed to have many special individuals who share their spirit to make Christmas in San Diego a special season for everyone. This book is divided into five chapters: the history of Christmas in San Diego, the many Christmas traditions throughout San Diego, the various ways Christmas is celebrated within the communities of San Diego County, unique San Diego Christmas trees, and lastly, some special Santa Diego Santas.

Nevada Beer

9781467140447

$21.99

Nevada's population boomed in the 1800s, ignited by the rush to find gold and silver. Thousands of prospectors, many German immigrants, passed through the up-and-coming mining towns, and breweries popped up in their wake. As the mining slowly wound down, whole towns disappeared, and breweries struggled to survive in the Silver State. Carson Brewing Company was closed in 1948, Reno Brewing Company shut its doors in 1957 and it would be decades before craft brewers like Great Basin, Big Dog's and Revision brought local beer back into the spotlight. Join author Pat Evans as he dives into the rough-and-tumble history of beer making in the Battle Born State and looks ahead to its bright future.

Cheyenne Frontier Days

9780738596402

$24.99

Cheyenne Frontier Days? originated in 1897 after a few individuals conceived a signature event as a way to revive the thrilling incidents and pictures of life in the Old West. Their vision included a celebration that would bring visitors from all over the world to the capital city of Wyoming. From its beginnings, Cheyenne residents valued a rural lifestyle that inspired them to create a frontier festival. For more than a century, Cheyenne Frontier Days? has been the spirit, heart, and soul of the community and the cowboy way of life. Today, it has evolved into the world's largest outdoor rodeo and celebration of its kind.

Balboa Park and the 1915 Exposition

9781626193451

$24.99

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. .

Indio's Date Festival

9781467134255

$24.99

Since the turn of the 20th century, Southern California's Coachella Valley has embraced a unique crop: the date. As success with the fruit grew, so too did regional celebrations of it. Beginning in 1921, the City of Indio hosted a Festival of Dates, an event that became the annual National Date Festival in 1947. The area linked itself to the date's birthplace, the Greater Middle East, in multiple ways, but the festival drew national attention to Indio's use of these Arabian fantasies. Attendees celebrated the fair's camel races, Arabian Nights musical pageant, Middle Eastern architecture, Queen Scheherazade pageant, and the costumes worn by boosters and visitors alike. While the United States' political and pop-cultural relationship to the region changed over time, the Eastern Coachella Valley continued to embrace fantasies of the Middle East at its fair.

The Folies Bergere in Las Vegas

9781467127592

$24.99

Debuting at the Tropicana Hotel on Christmas Eve, 1959, at a reported cost of one quarter-million dollars (over two million in today's dollars), the Folies Bergere stage show featured a cast of "eighty stars" and promised an elegant evening of sensual entertainment complete with sensational song and dance numbers, curious novelty acts, and exquisite leggy showgirls. Imported directly from Paris, the iconic French production, famed for its elegant and chic legacy, was a mainstay on the Las Vegas Strip for nearly half a century. A 1959 Las Vegas Sun newspaper article portends the significant role that the Folies Bergere would play in the city's history: "From beginning to end this is the most dazzling entertainment which any city has been privileged to see. It's saucy, piquant and racy in the splendidly provocative French way. Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, is now no idle boast."

Escondido Grape Day Festivals

9780738559490

$24.99

Escondido is the lilting Spanish name meaning "hidden" and was given to an irregular-shaped inland Southern California valley where an investment group planted 100 acres of grapes in the early 1880s. The dry-farmed grapes grew unusually large and sweet, which prompted business leaders to envision an attraction similar to Pasadena's Tournament of Roses. The first Grape Day Festival in 1908 commemorated an auspicious occasion in Escondido's water history and celebrated the grape as a symbol of the agricultural abundance of the region. The event attracted thousands of guests who could view the valley, farm displays, a grand parade, and entertainment while eating their fill of free grapes. But by mid-century, Grape Day disappeared along with the grape in Escondido. With the memory of the grape remaining clear, the Escondido Historical Society began the revival of the celebration in the 1970s. The centennial Grape Day Festival took place September 6, 2008.