Napa

9780738529516

$24.99

The name "Napa" may come from "Napato," a clan of the Wintun Indians who once lived along a river that flows into San Francisco Bay. In the 1850s, miners sought refuge in the young city that grew up by the Napa River, living in tents along its main street. Later they and other newcomers found work at businesses and nearby ranches while Napa City flourished as goods and produce from all over the valley were loaded onto steamers bound for San Francisco. Shortening its name in 1900, Napa continued to provide housing and shops, utilities and transportation for a growing agricultural center, and it shared the valley's economic hard times through Prohibition and the Great Depression.

Russell City

9780738570044

$21.99

Between 1853 and 1964, on the western shore of what is now the city of Hayward, there existed a small rural community. This pictorial history traces the role that this region, which became known as Russell City, played in the development of the East Bay. Named for Joel Russell, a New England teacher who came to California during the Gold Rush and found success as a judge, political activist, and businessman, Russell City later became a destination point for diverse migrant and immigrant groups including Spaniards, Danes, Germans, Italians, African Americans, and Mexicans. While the economic means of the residents were never great, social riches abounded in the cultural and religious traditions that were practiced. A plan to create an industrial park on Russell City land emerged during the 1950s, and by 1964 the residents and businesses were entirely removed through eminent domain. An annual reunion picnic, begun in 1978, serves as a reminder of the community once built and then tossed to the winds. In the words of the former residents, "The city may be gone, but the memories live on."

Rancho Santa Fe

9780738571850

$24.99

Nestled amongst a forest of eucalyptus trees and hidden behind private gates are the beautiful homes of the ultra-successful: CEO s of major corporations, sports celebrities, movie stars, musicians, politicians, and astronauts. This exclusive community is Rancho Santa Fe, and it is truly the town the railroad built. Though it began as a failed attempt to grow lumber for its railroad ties, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway soon transformed the area into an exclusive community offering "gentlemen's estates." Among the first to sign on were Hollywood's reigning couple, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Santa Fe officials hired the best engineers, architects, landscape architects, and naturalists to affect a utopian community. It was not long before Rancho Santa Fe was home to celebrities such as Bing Crosby, Howard Hughes, and astronaut Wally Schirra.

Camarillo State Hospital

9781467103329

$24.99

Camarillo State Hospital, affectionately known as "Cam," officially opened its doors in 1936, during a time when the California State Commission in Lunacy oversaw the treatment and care of those deemed mentally ill. A pioneering research institution in autism and schizophrenia, Cam achieved notoriety as one of two state institutions that accommodated children and as the first state hospital to receive certification for treatment of the developmentally disabled. Although it was an independent body, retaining its own dairy, farm, residences, and even a bowling alley, Cam also developed creative relationships with volunteers, educators, and businesspeople for the betterment of its patients. "Enhancing Innovation Through Independence" became Cam's final ambition and, in the end, its ultimate achievement.

Colma

9780738547275

$24.99

The official slogan of this quaint and curious town proclaims, "It's great to be alive in Colma!" In no other city in the United States would such a slogan have the meaning that it does here. Colma, only 2.25 square miles, has 1,500 living residents but more than a thousand times that in its deceased population. Seventeen cemeteries cover 75 percent of Colma's land. There is, however, more to Colma--formerly named Lawndale--than its cemeteries and monuments. A vibrant community, it boasts a rich history, including agricultural and business history, sports teams, schools, a theatre, and drayage businesses. Together, these components comprise a unique and important town and a critical part of San Mateo County's heritage.

Riverside

9780738547169

$24.99

The thousands of acres of navel orange groves that once blanketed Riverside, California, were one of the most recognizable icons of the state's early citrus industry and also the origin for California's nickname, "The Golden State." Founded as a utopian colony in the wake of the Civil War, Riverside soon began to lure wealthy foreign and eastern investors who turned their sights towards Riverside where the perfect combination of sun, soil, and water turned the opportunity of citrus growing into a multimillion-dollar industry. Twenty-five years after Riverside's founding, millions of dollars of investments had transformed the small agricultural outpost into the wealthiest city per capita in the nation. The city's "Orange Barons" invested their money by building stately Victorian mansions and imposing brick commercial buildings. Others lured additional investors by creating parks with tropical plant gardens, formal avenues landscaped with rare and beautiful trees, and a carefully designed downtown area with beautiful churches, hotels, and civic buildings.

Santa Monica Lifeguards

9780738546988

$24.99

From the early days of the 20th century, when lifeguard legend "Cap" Watkins rode a horse to make ocean rescues, to present-day crew members who are aided by Baywatch rescue boats, the history of the Santa Monica Lifeguards is one of the most colorful in ocean lifesaving. Under these guards' careful gaze, Pres. John F. Kennedy swam along the Santa Monica shoreline, Charlie Chaplin collected seashells, and surfing icons Duke Khanamoku and Miki Dora took to the waves. From historic legends to millions of yearly beachgoers, Santa Monica's lifeguards have provided decades of ocean-lifesaving services. Their work has helped to make Santa Monica Beach the world-renowned destination it is today.

Fort Ross and the Sonoma Coast

9780738528960

$24.99

The Kashaya Indians made foot trails through the grassy mountain slopes of Sonoma's northern coast for centuries before colonists from the Russian-American Company arrived in 1812. These Russians, the vanguard of European settlement, built Fort Ross from virgin redwood on a bluff overlooking the sea. Although they stayed only 30 years, they left behind a heritage that includes the earliest detailed scientific and ethnographic studies of the area and California's first ships and windmills. Soon others came to ranch, lumber, and quarry, shipping their harvest and stone to help build and feed San Francisco. Ranches and mill sites evolved into towns, often bearing the names of the rugged men who first settled there. Much of the coastline remains as it was in centuries past, its rich history still visible in ship moorings and chiseled sandstone, and new residents and visitors are still drawn to this dramatic meeting of blue Pacific and forested coastal mountains.

Lighthouses of the Ventura Coast

9780738581866

$24.99

The Ventura County coast has been illuminated for more than a century by three distinctive lighthouses, united in their mission of warning mariners of coastal hazards and guiding ships to safe passage. Port Hueneme's original 1874 Victorian Stick Style lighthouse stood sentry until it was replaced in 1940 by the still-standing art moderne structure, which guards the only deepwater port on the California coast between San Francisco and San Pedro. The Anacapa Island Light, a cylindrical brick structure in the Channel Islands lit in 1932, was the last new lighthouse on the West Coast. Ventura, originally dubbed San Buenaventura by Fr. Junipero Serra in 1782, extends its "good fortune" to the steamers, warships, tankers, and other craft guided to safety by these navigation beacons.

South Pasadena's Raymond Hotel

9780738559193

$24.99

Built in lavish Victorian style in 1886 atop Bacon Hill, the Raymond Hotel was the most regal feature on the skyline in the San Gabriel River Valley--a sundown silhouette of the wealth and prominence that had coalesced in the Pasadena area. It became the base of activities for Eastern tycoons' families enjoying the balmy Southern California climate, even fostering the development of the winter mansions on Orange Grove Avenue. After the original 200-room hotel with 80 chimneys burned down on Easter Sunday in 1895, the second 300-room Raymond Hotel opened in 1901. The pioneering orange groves on the sprawling grounds gave way to a golf course. Pres. Theodore Roosevelt and Charles Chaplin are just two examples of the early-20th-century celebrities who stayed there. This visually stunning collection of images is a mere sample of the vintage professional photography that exists of South Pasadena's iconic landmark.

Italians of the Bay Area

9780738546643

$24.99

These images are part of the life work of Italian immigrant Gino Sbrana, who started his American life in San Francisco as a vegetable peddler. By 1911, he had launched a large photographic studio, Pisa Foto, at Columbus and Broadway in San Francisco. Later Gino founded a studio in Oakland and, in 1919, settled in San Jose. Not content to confine his artistry to the formally posed studio portrait, he traveled over the Bay Area countryside with his large wooden field camera, using soft light on the shady side of barns or under large oaks to capture his fellow countrymen. Gino posed them in the coastal mist with machetes poised to harvest cauliflower, perched atop their brandnew motorcycles, assembled by trucks loaded with produce from the fields, sleeves rolled up and holding their vino.

Filipinos in Hollywood

9780738555980

$24.99

The memoirs of Filipinos in Hollywood span more than 80 years, dating back to the early 1920s when the first wave of immigrants, who were mostly males, arrived and settled in Los Angeles. Despite the obstacles and hardships of discrimination, these early Filipino settlers had high hopes and dreams for the future. Many sought employment in Hollywood, only to be marginalized into service-related fields, becoming waiters, busboys, dishwashers, cooks, houseboys, janitors, and chauffeurs. They worked at popular restaurants, homes of the rich and famous, movie and television studios, clubs, and diners. For decades, Filipinos were the least recognized and least documented Asians in Hollywood. But many emerged from the shadows to become highly recognized talents, some occupying positions in the entertainment industry that makes Hollywood what it is today--the world's capital of entertainment and glamour.

Ranchos of San Diego County

9780738559650

$21.99

The Mexican ranchos of San Diego County were a colorful and vital part of early California history. Ranchos covered the most fertile lands in San Diego and produced grain, vegetables, and fruits and grazed thousands of head of cattle, sheep, and horses. The dons and doñas who owned the ranchos were wealthy in land and cattle and built large adobe ranch-house complexes. The Kumeyaay, Luiseño, and Cupeño were the backbone of the ranchos, providing the labor needed to run a successful ranch. Daily life of the dons, doñas, and their families included the Californio traditions of family and religion, dancing and fiestas, roundups and rodeos, and generous hospitality. Many of the ranchos no longer exist. Those that are preserved provide a window into California's past.

Victorian Los Angeles:

9781626196087

$21.99

Before the oil boom and rise of Hollywood brought today's renowned landmarks to downtown Los Angeles, an entirely different and often forgotten high Victorian city existed. Prior to Union Station, there was the impressive Romanesque Arcade Station of the Southern Pacific line in the 1880s. Before UCLA, the Gothic Revival State Normal School stood in place of today's Los Angeles Public Library. Elsewhere the city held Victorian pleasure gardens, amusement piers and even an ostrich farm, all lost to time and the rapid modernization of a new century. Local author Charles Epting reveals Los Angeles's unknown past at the turn of the twentieth century through the prominent citizens, events and major architectural styles that propelled the growth of a nascent city.

Fighting Fire in the Sierra National Forest

9781626193710

$21.99

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.

Fighting Fire in the Sierra National Forest

Early Cupertino

9780738531410

$24.99

A priest with Juan Batista de Anza's expedition in 1776 named a wild creek where the group camped after St. Joseph of Cupertino, Italy. A village known as Westside adopted the name in 1904 as it grew up by that stream, now Stevens Creek, near the road that is now De Anza Boulevard. Like its Italian namesake, Cupertino once had wineries, and vineyards striped its foothills and flatlands. Later vast orchards created an annual blizzard of spring blossoms, earning it the name Valley of Heart's Delight. The railroad came to carry those crops to market, and the electric trolley extended to connect Cupertino's first housing tract, Monte Vista. When the postwar building boom came, Cupertino preserved its independence through incorporation, but that bold move would not stop the wave of modernization that would soon roll over the valley.

Venice

9780738569666

$24.99

From the marshy savannahs of the Pacific coastal tidelands sprang the most amazing Venetian resort of the post-Victorian era. New Jersey-born Abbot Kinney aimed to create a cultural renaissance in 1905 on the sandy shores of Santa Monica Bay. But when the residents of Los Angeles County weren't interested, a carnival-like atmosphere replaced Kinney's opera singers, philosophers, and orators. Through the subsequent 100-plus years, the small resort had both extreme highs and lows, but it still prevails as an unparalleled fantasy by the sea.

Lost Ski Areas of Tahoe and Donner

9781467140584

$21.99

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Lake Tahoe and the Donner Summit region became California’s first developed winter sports areas. Plentiful snowfall and newly built highways opened up the summer playground for visitors year-round, and skiing flourished. The Sierra Ski Club formed in 1925, attracting members eager to experience everything the mountains had to offer. People flocked to the slopes, visiting places like Clair Tappaan Lodge in Soda Springs, boasting one of the summit’s earliest ski tows, and the Yuba Gap Lodge, a pioneer in night skiing. Join Ingrid P. Wicken, award-winning author and ski historian, as she recounts the fascinating beginnings of this celebrated ski hub.

Cover image for Lost Ski Areas of Tahoe and Donner, isbn: 9781467140584

Chinese in Mendocino County

9780738559131

$21.99

Mendocino County's name comes from the Native Americans who resided seasonally on the coast. The county is known as a scenic destination for its panoramic views of the sea, parks, wineries, and open space. Less well known are the diverse cultural groups who were responsible for building the county of Mendocino. The Chinese were instrumental in the county's development in the 1800s, but little has been written documenting their contribution to local history. Various museums throughout the region tell only fragments of their story. Outside of the over-100-year-old Taoist Temple of Kwan Tai in the village of Mendocino, which is well documented, this volume will become the first broad history of the Chinese in Mendocino County.

Sacramento's Alkali Flat

9780738571515

$24.99

Sacramento's oldest residential neighborhood, Alkali Flat, rests near a busy downtown and is bordered by the rail yard, river, and thoroughfares that helped form its identity over a century ago. Named for the crusted alkali deposits that were left by seasonal flooding, the neighborhood has, over time, attracted governors, legislators, artists, and pioneering physicians to take up residence in some of the most exquisitely crafted homes in the American West. Neighborhood lore includes the gradual conquest of the odiferous China Slough and Federal troops billeting there during 1894's Pullman Strike, while the haunting story of little May Woolsey and a tragic tale of crime are the stories spoken of today. Boasting mills, dairies, railroads, and media as well as schools, hospitals, multiethnic churches, and local businesses in its heyday, Alkali Flat's history is characterized by contrasts-old landmarks have fallen or adapted to other uses, but the future holds promise for one of Sacramento's most unique neighborhoods.

Beach Mexican

9781609496616

$21.99

Alex Moreno Areyan's odyssey of growing up Latino in white upper-middle-class Redondo Beach in the 1950s presents a story of assimilation different from that experienced by Mexican Americans in larger barrios. His annual white lie" to classmates was that his father got a job up north and the family was moving. They moved, all right--in a 1941 Plymouth with the harvest. In Marysville, Meridian and Mendota, they lived in tents and cars, under trucks and in corrugated tin hovels while picking cotton, tomatoes, peaches, walnuts and plums. The kid once threatened with permanent expulsion from Redondo Union High for speaking Spanish on campus eventually received a plaque from the City of Redondo Beach for writing the Mexican American history of the city. "Beach Mexican" proves the journey wasn't easy."

Early Los Angeles County Attractions

9780738559285

$24.99

With the arrival of affordable transcontinental rail travel in the late 1880s, hundreds of thousands of tourists and transplants began making the trip to Los Angeles. Quickly becoming a haven for Easterners escaping cold winters and crowded cities, Los Angeles and neighboring communities, such as Pasadena and Santa Monica, boasted a sunny Mediterranean climate and the unique situation of both nearby mountain resorts and seaside amusements. The city also developed a bustling shopping and entertainment district downtown. More than 200 vintage postcard images illustrate a greatly diverse range of popular early attractions, including Mount Lowe, Eastlake Park, Hollywood, the Wilshire district, Griffith Park, Cawston's Ostrich Farm, the downtown shopping and theater district, and the expansive beaches, ranging from the turn of the 19th century up until World War II.

Historic Tales of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

9781467142953

$24.99

Visiting the redwoods in nineteenth-century California meant coming to Big Trees Grove, now part of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. This forest of giants in the Santa Cruz Mountains attained fame through the 1846 exploits of explorer John Charles Frémont, whose namesake tree still stands. Saved from the logger's axe by Joseph Warren Welch in 1867, these were the first coastal redwoods preserved for public recreation. As a world-renowned resort for sixty years, Big Trees Grove hosted thousands of visitors--from picnickers to presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt. Join author Deborah Osterberg as she recounts the stories of those first visitors and the awe-inspiring landscape they preserved for future generations.

Historic Tales of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

San Jose's Historic Downtown

9780738529226

$24.99

San Jose is the "Capital of the Silicon Valley," the high-rise, economic engine of advanced technology. Yet it was once a verdant valley, inhabited by wildlife, waterfowl, and the native Ohlone people. The Spanish who founded California's first civilian settlement here in 1777 named it for Saint Joseph, the patron saint of the Spanish Expedition. Their farms fed the soldiers at the Monterey and San Francisco presidios, beginning an agricultural industry that thrived for nearly 200 years. Although serving briefly as California's first state capital, for many decades downtown was the somewhat sleepy commercial center of the Santa Clara Valley. A housing and population expansion that began in the 1950s exploded with San Jose's rebirth as a technological mecca.

The West Branch Mill of the Sierra Lumber Company: Early Logging in Northeastern California

9781609497415

$21.99

In the late 1800s, the green gold of California's inland timber belt included the long-coned sugar pine and cinnamon-dusted ponderosa pine of Big Chico Creek Canyon. Tucked into the steep terrain of present-day Butte and Tehama Counties, the bustling West Branch Mill logging operations moved timber from the foothills east of Chico to waiting markets in Sacramento, Marysville and San Francisco. Local author Andy Mark recounts the lesser-known history of the West Branch Mill, recalling a time when resident physician Newton T. Enloe treated the daring men who faced daily peril, John Bidwell's bumpy and sometimes treacherous Humboldt Wagon Road was essentially the only route to town and Big Chico Creek was lined with an elevated flume running lumber and ambulance rafts.

The West Branch Mill of the Sierra Lumber Company: Early Logging in Northeastern California

Italians of the Monterey Peninsula

9781467133067

$24.99

Since the early 1900s, Monterey was known for its fishing, mostly for salmon and the abalone that was plentiful in Monterey Bay. The migration of the Sicilian Italian community is credited for reaping what was called the "Silver Harvest." The Silver Harvest is the name that was given to the fishing of sardines in Monterey, which mostly was done by the Sicilian Italians who established the working fabric in the sardine industry for nearly five decades. Most of that generation is gone, and only a few are memorialized in books. It is this author's attempt to capture the working class that made Monterey the "Sardine Capital of the World."

Poway

9780738555973

$24.99

The area that would become Poway was once the roaming grounds of the Diegueno and Luiseno Indians, several hundred years before the appearance of the Spaniards. It was also a pasturing place for mission stock, a ranch area for adventurous white settlers, a potential railroad stop that never materialized, and today is a diversified, thriving "city in the country" located within San Diego County. The story of Poway is one of many cultures, of many changes, and of many triumphs. Today it is a very desirable city in which to live, raise families, and send children to school; it is home to about 57,000 residents glad to have found the pleasures of living in Poway.

Cleveland National Forest

9780738558042

$24.99

On July 1, 1908, Pres. Theodore Roosevelt created the U.S. Forest Service's Cleveland National Forest. Named for pro-forest Pres. Grover Cleveland--and currently including over 460,000 acres in the mountainous backcountry of San Diego, Orange, and southwestern Riverside Counties--the Cleveland is one of the largest and oldest land-management agencies in the three-county region. During the last century, the dedicated men and women of the Cleveland have worked to establish the administrative systems, build necessary facilities and infrastructure, manage use and users, conserve resources, and protect the forest from the endemic and sometimes large and deadly wildfires, such as the infamous and destructive 2003 Cedar Fire and the October 2007 Southern California firestorms. Today the Cleveland National Forest continues to be a major tourist and outdoor recreation destination for hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, as well as for millions of Southern California residents.

Point Piedras Blancas

9780738558196

$24.99

For thousands of years, Point Piedras Blancas, located along the central coast of California, has attracted people to its rocky, windswept shores. In ancient times, it was used by Native American cultures. Since 1875, it has been the site of a First Order Lighthouse, warning ships to steer clear of its rocky shoals, a duty it continues to fulfill. Although the years have not been kind to this stunning area nor to the lighthouse, new life is being breathed into it by a partnership of enthusiastic community volunteers and government agencies. Their common goal is to restore this magnificent site to its original state while reintroducing the natural environment that was almost obliterated during the past four decades.

Del Mar Fairgrounds

9780738558226

$24.99

The Del Mar Fairgrounds--which hosts the county's annual fair and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club--unites local communities in an arena that attracts worldwide attention. The stunning beauties who were crowned Fairest of the Fair and the smoldering good looks of Tommy Hernandez as Don Diego symbolized the hospitality of the San Diego County Fair, whose historic roots began humbly in the genteel port town of National City, just 10 miles north of the Mexican border. That 1880 inaugural autumn fair, initiated by developer Frank A. Kimball, showcased citrus, agriculture, and horses. Today the 22nd District Agricultural Association hosts the summer fair, which features international superstars, flower shows, livestock contests, exhibits, sports events, carnival rides, and its famed fast food, together with the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's racing meet, which has helped make the city of Del Mar a star-studded world-class destination with a colorful history.

Emeryville

9780738530062

$24.99

Emeryville, one tough square mile wedged between Oakland and Berkeley with its back to the bay, has a gritty, colorful history and a bright future. Before the Gold Rush, its creek-fed grasslands served as a huge slaughtering ground for the Peralta family's hide and tallow operations. Later, railroad tracks crisscrossed a community formed on the fringe of Oakland to catch its cultural and industrial refuse. The stench from stockyards and slaughterhouses, the happy roar of a crowd at the Oakland Oaks Ball Park, acidic plumes from steel and petroleum manufacture, pomaded swells rubbing elbows with rowdies at the racetrack, and smoky gambling dens were all part of old Emeryville. Recently, an innovative, business-friendly city government brought about a striking economic transformation, making once-blighted Emeryville--now home to corporate giants like Pixar Animation Studios and IKEA--the envy of its neighbors.

Ripon

9780738581668

$24.99

Like California, the valley town of Ripon owes it beginnings to early adventurers. A group of Mormons looking for the "Promised Land" in 1846 were the first Europeans to settle along the Stanislaus River near Ripon. In 1850, another adventurous early pioneer, William H. Crow, settled in the region, and the first school to be established in the county was subsequently named for him 12 years later, in 1862. William H. Hughes purchased 1,300 acres in 1857, and in 1872, he gave the railroad a right-of-way and provided land for the depot known as Stanislaus Station. Amplias B. Crook, postmaster of this station, proposed in 1874 to rename the community in honor of his hometown, Ripon, Wisconsin. Hence California's Ripon was established on December 21, 1874.

The Harris Company

9780738559018

$24.99

For almost 100 years, the slogan "Harris" Has It" set a standard for quality merchandise, selection, and personal service. Starting in 1905 with only 25 feet of frontage at its original San Bernardino store, this partnership of three immigrant brothers grew into a corporation of nine stores, with the flagship store alone worth over $1 million. The Harris Company was the first in the region to enhance the shopping experience with the introduction of elevators, electric signs, and escalators. Although the store closed in 1999, the Harris Company is remembered throughout the Inland Empire as a shopping experience that was more than just business, it was "looking after people."

Cemeteries of the Eastern Sierra

9780738547862

$24.99

California's Eastern Sierra region, encompassing Inyo and Mono Counties, is a paradise of striking contrasts and beauty. Early settlers came to this area--now known chiefly for recreational activities such as fishing, hiking, and skiing--for its mining and agricultural prospects. Towns like Bodie, Lundy, and Keeler rose with the promise of quick riches but failed when the promise dimmed. Throughout this unique landscape are sprinkled the poignant resting places of early pioneers. Reflecting the diversity of the natural setting, the area's cemeteries range from the Mono County Cemetery overlooking Mono Lake to the overgrown cemetery at the Civil War-era Fort Independence to the garden cemeteries of Bishop. The monuments in these cemeteries, along with the beautiful country that surrounds them, honor the men and women who once carved lives out of this rugged wilderness.