Name: Sacramento on the Air:
Brand: Annette Kassis
SKU: 9781626191655
Price: 21.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Sacramento on the Air:

9781626191655

$21.99

In 1921, a chance encounter with a radio receiver sent Sacramento Bee newspaperman Carlos McClatchy on a determined path to break into broadcasting. Ushered by the enterprising McClatchy family, the Bee became the first Pacific Coast newspaper to enter the radio business. For decades, broadcasting in Sacramento was shaped by the brilliant but fatally flawed Carlos McClatchy; his strong-willed, micromanaging father, C.K.; and his sister Eleanor McClatchy, who sacrificed her own aspirations for the sake of the family business. From a single five-watt station, the family built a large media company, established a radio network with William Randolph Hearst and helped shape media in the American West. Historian Annette Kassis tells the fascinating story of the pivotal McClatchy family and the path they charted through the "ether" above Sacramento.

Pacific Electric Red Cars

9780738546889

$24.99

Of the rail lines created at the turn of the 20th century, in order to build interurban links through Southern California communities around metropolitan Los Angeles, the Pacific Electric grew to be the most prominent of all. The Pacific Electric Railway is synonymous with Henry Edwards Huntington, the capitalist with many decades of railroad experience, who formed the "P. E." and expanded it as principal owner for nearly its first decade. Huntington sold his PE holdings to the giant Southern Pacific Railroad in 1910, and the following year the SP absorbed nearly every electric line in the fourcounty area around Los Angeles in the "Great Merger" into a "new" Pacific Electric. Founded in 1901 and terminated in 1965, Pacific Electric was known as the "World's Great Interurban."

East Contra Costa County

9780738547749

$24.99

Ho for California! The terminus of the first overland immigrant pack train destined for California was John Marsh's adobe, Brentwood. Since 1841, East Contra Costa County has been a grain and fruit basket to the world, a recreational playground for resort living, and a home for health and family life. Its wheat was exported for brewing Guinness beer, and fresh apricots, peaches, and cherries still bring produce fanciers for summer harvest. Weekenders houseboat, wakeboard, and fish through the region's thousands of miles of delta waterways. This sentimental history of the communities of Brentwood, Bethel Island, Byron, Discovery Bay, Knightsen, and Oakley reveals the importance of these California Delta communities in settling and developing the Golden State.

The Norconian Resort

9780738555591

$24.99

The Norconian Resort Supreme was a magnificent disaster. A chance discovery of "hot sulfur water" in 1926 led entrepreneur Rex Clark to construct one of the finest and most comprehensive recreation facilities on the West Coast. Movie stars, Olympic champions, and the richest of the rich flocked to it. Sadly the Norconian debuted just months before the onset of the Great Depression, and very quickly Rex Clark's $4.5-million dream became known as "Rex's Folly." The resort eventually became one of the preeminent naval hospitals in the nation, a top-secret think tank, and a medium-security prison.

Miraculously most of the original structures still exist. The old hotel, despite its placement on the National Register of Historic Places, has become a political hot potato and now sits languishing in the middle of the California Rehabilitation Center--abandoned yet stunning, with fabulous chandeliers, tile work, and breathtaking paintings still intact.

Legendary Locals of Encinitas

9781467100090

$24.99

Drawn by extravagant promises of "a beautiful village of 500 inhabitants, studded with orange trees and grapevines," the Hammond family arrived in Encinitas in 1883 only to find that advertisements had rather overstated the case. Undeterred, these 11 English settlers remained and, in doing so, doubled the town's population overnight. Subsequent pioneers brought wide-ranging talents to this fledgling California coastal town--none more so than the Ecke dynasty, whose flower fields established Encinitas as the poinsettia capital of the world. Today, the city encompasses five distinct communities, and while it boasts many famous celebrities, it is the ordinary folk whose passion and daring have made Encinitas the place their forebears long ago envisaged.

Legendary Locals of Oxnard

9781467100564

$24.99

The roots of Oxnard history begin on the fertile plain of western Ventura County. A century after the Native Chumash were interrupted by the Spanish Mission system, the rancho period that followed was slow to develop on the Oxnard Plain. By the late 19th century, groups of newcomers from Europe, Latin America, and the post-Civil War states began settling on the agricultural terrain. After experimenting with various dry crops, the introduction of the cash crop of sugar beets brought about the next wave of emigration from Asia, as well as a steady flow of emigrants from the Latin countries. As Oxnard has grown, so has its diverse population and the contributions from the many residents who have made this area their home for generations. Legendary Locals of Oxnard offers a glimpse of some of these individuals.

Sonoma Community Center

9781467132596

$24.99

If these redbrick walls could talk, a chorus of voices from 100 years of community use would echo all that was good about Sonoma: the love of food and wine, the search for cultural enrichment, and the need to care for people. Since the day it opened as the Sonoma Grammar School, the center has promoted education, the arts, and a respect for history. Thousands of elementary-age students walked its halls until 1948, when building codes closed it as a public school. But it was reborn in 1952 as the Sonoma Community Center due to generous donors who formed a nonprofit organization to save the building they considered the heart and soul of Sonoma. Since then, thousands of others have used its classrooms, lecture halls, and auditorium to be entertained, to celebrate events, to develop creative interests, and to cultivate their sense of community.

San Carlos

9780738547930

$24.99

Located in the heart of the San Francisco peninsula, San Carlos is known as the "City of Good Living." Originally inhabited by the Costanos Indians, the town was part of the Rancho de las Pulgas land grant during the Spanish mission days. Incorporated in 1925, San Carlos is considered the birthplace of
today's Silicon Valley, having been home to such firms as Varian, Ampex, and Dalmo-Victor. The town has also boasted one of the military's largest dog-training facilities, the Morse Seed Company, and a number of great theaters. Community values are strong here, with popular events such as the Home Town Days Parade and Festival, Art and Wine Faire, Hot Harvest Nights, and the biannual Chicken's Ball. Over the years, the city has worked to preserve its history and many of its early structures while also providing citizens with modern civic buildings and other amenities.

Pacifica

9780738520681

$24.99

Predominantly built as a "bedroom" community for the San Francisco Bay Area, Pacifica's rich and diverse heritage stretches back to the Spanish explorers of the 17th century. Captured here in over 200 vintage images is a tribute to this coastal community and the settlers and pioneers who made it what it is today. From the early 1900s story of the Ocean Shore Railroad to the recent battles over the California red-legged frog, Pacifica has often been shaped by outside forces. Like few other cities, it is primarily the result of a mixture of people and location; blue-collar families from the 1950s discovered Pacifica's oceanside charm, and helped create it. In the 21st century, the wealthy from the Peninsula and Silicon Valley are rediscovering the same charms, choosing Pacifica over the hustle and bustle of the rest of the Bay Area. This book of photographs, culled from the collection of the Pacifica Historical Society, the files of the Pacifica Tribune, and contributions of local residents, offers a glimpse of the history of one of California's "best kept secrets."

San Francisco's Interurban to San Mateo

9780738530086

$24.99

It's strange to think that an electric commuter rail line rivaling BART in efficiency, speed, and comfort ran over 100 years ago between San Francisco and San Mateo, but run it did. The 40 Line, or San Mateo Interurban, began in 1892 with an initial segment operating between Market and Steuart Streets out to the county limits on San Jose Avenue. Three years later, the line reached Baden in present-day South San Francisco, and by 1903 service was opened all the way to downtown San Mateo. During the line's heyday, there was talk of extending it down the peninsula from San Mateo to Palo Alto to connect with the Peninsular Railway to San Jose. The 1906 earthquake put this plan on hold. Following much the same route as today's Mission Street, El Camino Real, and Caltrain, the San Mateo Interurban carried over four million passengers a year along its main and spur lines until 1949, when the system was shut down amidst much fanfare.

Los Angeles's Chester Place

9780738546872

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Hidden behind massive 120-year-old gates a few blocks south of downtown Los Angeles is Chester Place, the oldest gated community in the city. Created as an enclave of the wealthy and powerful in 1899, the remarkably intact stately mansions of this historic neighborhood were once home to the movers and shakers of politics, industry, and entertainment. Beside century-old palm trees, the former mansion of oil-industry pioneer Edward Doheny stands as the centerpiece of the neighborhood at No. 8 Chester Place, which was purchased in 1901. His family dominated the neighborhood for the next 57 years. Located side by side with St. James Park in what is today called the West Adams District at the northern extents of University Park, containing the University of Southern California, Chester Place has been home to the campus of Mount St. Mary's College for a generation.

Eagle Rock

9780738569963

$24.99

Eagle Rock grew as a small farming community just north of Los Angeles on Tongva ancestral lands that had become the great eastern pasture of the Rancho San Rafael. Eagle Rock enjoyed a geographic unity and a strong identity that revolved around its prominent namesake promontory. By 1906, trolleys made for an easy commute to Los Angeles, and Eagle Rock, which incorporated as a city in 1911, became increasingly integrated in the urban fabric yet remained defined by its residential nature and small-town character. Occidental College saw the quaint neighborhood at one end of York Valley as a place to grow. The annexation of Eagle Rock by Los Angeles in 1923 brought ample water supply as well as Eagle Rock High School, a center of town life into the 21st century. Freeway construction and shifts in business patterns affected Eagle Rock's growth in the post-World War II years, but the pleasant neighborhood identity remains despite its proximity to urban bustle.

Lake Arrowhead

9780738547022

$24.99

Lake Arrowhead is Southern California's premier alpine resort located in the heart of the scenic San Bernardino Mountains. From the 1920s to the 1950s, the resort's "golden years" offered city-weary urbanites a sophisticated rural playground of camping, boating, golfing, horseback riding, hunting, fishing, luxurious lodging, and dining--all showcased here in many vintage images never before published. Taken from author Keller's private collection of postcards, this history of Lake Arrowhead offers a true window into the past with images and evocative postcard sentiments about this remarkable community.

Legendary Locals of Fillmore

9781467101929

$24.99

Since its beginning as a Southern Pacific Railroad town 100 years ago, Fillmore has been the setting of many legends and true tales, like the St. Francis Dam disaster, the 1994 earthquake, and the Hollywood film shoots. Joaquin Murietta hid in the hills, and the story of the T. Wallace More murder in Rancho Sespe in 1877 was the "murder of the century." Rancho Camulos, owned by the del Valle family until 1924, signifies the last of the Californios. Today, it is owned by the descendants of August Rubel. Tales of the sycamore tree abound, and it is an icon on Highway 126, as is the tower of the Sanitary Dairy, which was ordered from the Sears, Roebuck & Company in Chicago. Oil was discovered early in Shiells Canyon and brought Texaco to town. The fruit industry prospered, and Sunkist was welcomed. Hugh Warring installed indoor plumbing in the Piru Mansion. The likes of "Booty" Sanchez, Marcelino "Woody" Ybarra, Gene Wren, Kevin Gross, Jim Fauver, and Dorothy Shiells still influence the community.

San Pedro

9780738547077

$24.99

Arcadia Publishing's second collection of postcard images concerning the Los Angeles Harbor community of San Pedro follows the 2005 Postcard History Series volume San Pedro Bay. Where that work concentrated on the harbor and water aspects of the colloquially known "Peedro," this new volume looks at the town and its development, buildings, businesses, streetscapes, and residences. The port village and town that grew from it has a rich and varied past with vital influence on the histories of the city of Los Angeles and California, and others no less epic than the sagas of the U.S. military, American labor unions, and world cargo shipping.

Forgotten Foster Park

9781467132770

$24.99

Surrounded by steeply sloped hillsides, Foster Park was a tiny rural community that took shape during the oil boom of the 1920s. It was situated at a bend on Highway 33 adjacent to Foster Memorial Park, for which it was named. Among the 50 or so homes was a thriving business district that most notably included a dance hall hosting musical greats of the time--such as Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the Everly Brothers--and a saloon equipped with a boxing ring. The Ventura River, once loaded with giant steelhead trout, and the Southern Pacific Railroad both ran through the town. It has been described as unreal by some and a rural slum by others. With the makings of a Norman Rockwell portrait, it came to its end in the mid-1960s to make room for the hotly contested extension of the Ojai Freeway. To younger generations and newcomers of the area, Foster Park's former existence is virtually unknown.

Camp San Luis Obispo

9780738529158

$24.99

Camp San Luis Obispo, founded in 1928 amid the starkly beautiful rolling hills north of San Luis Obispo, has an ideal central California location. It is the original home of the California National Guard and remains today the Guard's principal training facility. In 1941 the U.S. Army commandeered the post, enlarging it to over 10,000 acres for the training of half a million soldiers and 42 infantry divisions. Salinas Dam, 20 miles away, was built to provide a dependable source of water for the troops. Reverting to the state after major conflicts, the camp is also the headquarters for the U.S. Army Reserve, California Specialized Training Institute, and a host of agencies and academies. It remains on the frontline for modernizing the military into the 21st century.

Santa Monica in Vintage Postcards

9780738520551

$24.99

Santa Monica was founded in 1875 and by 1887, the area was caught up in the real estate frenzy of the time with advertisements suggesting that it had "one of the grandest panoramic views the human eye has ever rested on . . . " In over 200 vintage postcards, here is Santa Monica in all its coastal splendor, including views of the bathing beaches, the Roosevelt Highway, and private citizens' beautiful Chinese Gardens.

Atwater Village

9780738574899

$24.99

In the shadow of Griffith Park along the Glendale Narrows section of the Los Angeles River sits Atwater Village, a charming slice of Los Angeles nestled amid Silver Lake, Los Feliz, and the city of Glendale. Atwater's beginnings date to 1868 when W. C. B. Richardson bought the 671-acre Santa Eulalia Rancho. Starting in 1904, the Pacific Electric Red Car offered a convenient commute to downtown Los Angeles, and the Art Tile Company (later Gladding McBean) and Van de Kamps Bakery became key local employers. Stylish homes and bungalows proliferated along the tree-lined streets, built in the Mediterranean, English Tudor, Spanish Colonial Revival, California Craftsman, and Fantasy architectural styles. A library, post office, schools, and churches sprang up along with more than 100 family-owned and corporate enterprises. Nearly 4 miles long and half a mile wide, Atwater evolved as a wholly contained community, prompting residents in 1987 to successfully petition the city to officially add the word Village to its name.

Wineries of Santa Clara Valley

9781467133289

$24.99

The Santa Clara Valley was the first premier wine production region in California. The valley's history of winemaking dates back to 1777, when Spanish padres founded Mission Santa Clara and planted their grape cuttings in order to make wine for religious purposes. Immigrants from around the world, following the American dream, were soon lured to the Santa Clara Valley for its rich soil and ideal growing climate. These immigrants brought centuries of winemaking traditions, passed down through the generations.

MacArthur Park

9781467133456

$24.99

Known as Westlake Park for its first 60 years, MacArthur Park is considered one of Los Angeles's original parks. Throughout its history, it has endured countless challenges as the neighborhood and city that surround it grew to become the current metropolis. Born out of progressive vision and drought, MacArthur Park, due to its elegant design and cultural programming, has been referred as a "civic jewel" and the West Coast version of Central Park. Like many urban parks, it has also been burdened with a negative image due to its many decades of neglect, crime, and municipal disinvestment. Today, MacArthur Park has survived as a critical green and cultural space for one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the country. More importantly, MacArthur Park has served as an authentic democratic space for local stakeholders and visitors to gather, play, and protest.

Oakland Fire Department

9780738529684

$24.99

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.

San Diego Harbor Police

9781467132428

$24.99

The San Diego Harbor Police Department has proudly provided more than 50 years of law enforcement. From its humble beginnings as a small security force formed after World War II to protect San Diego imports to the modern and sophisticated police force it is today, the San Diego Harbor Police Department serves as a shining example of the exciting and important role law enforcement plays in the development of a busy 21st-century city. Through a stunning collection of never-before-seen photographs, this book tells the story of the officers who have served and protected one of America's most historic and vital harbors. History lovers, police aficionados, and San Diego locals and visitors will be fascinated by the photographs within, which document the department's history from 1934 through its 1962 transition into the San Diego Unified Port District of today.

Lake Elsinore

9780738530666

$24.99

At the foot of the Ortega Mountains on the flank of Cleveland National Forest, the 3,300-acre Lake Elsinore is one of Southern California's more spectacular natural wonders. It is also the region's only large natural lake. The city of the same name on its shores was incorporated in 1888 through the efforts of financier Franklin H. Heald. His partner, D. M. Graham, fancifully wrote, "We can imagine no more enchanting picture than Elsinore will present when the taste
and energy of the settlers shall have made it a valley of fruit and flowers in the midst of which the lake shall lie like a priceless gem." Named after the castle in Shakespeare's Hamlet, the lake and city proved to be a stopover spot for hunters and ranchers, eventually vacationers, and then water and motor sports aficionados. Today Lake Elsinore has a thriving population of about 30,000 year-round residents in the southwestern corner of Riverside County.

Half Moon Bay

9780738529639

$24.99

First dubbed San Benito and then "Spanishtown," Half Moon Bay is a coastside town with a long and intriguing story. Many know it for its lovely natural surroundings, quaint downtown architecture, and relaxed atmosphere, but not many people know that this town was the first to be established in San Mateo County as a result of 1840s land grants to early Spanish settlers. Isolated on the coast for a time, it became home to Mexican, Chilean, Italian, Portuguese, and other cultures after the 1850s, when roads finally reached over the mountains. During the 20th century, a wide variety of businesses thrived here, as people arrived by road, water, and even railroad. Farms, churches, schools, businesses, and homes sprang up, and the town modernized, though today's Half Moon Bay looks much like it did 100 years ago.

Old Cucamonga

9781467133135

$24.99

To its first inhabitants, the Tongvan Kucamonga tribe, cucamonga meant "land of many waters," referring to the area's numerous streams flowing down from the southeastern end of the San Gabriel Mountains. By the 1800s, it was a Mexican land grant named Cucamonga Rancho. Murder, drought, and foreclosure led to the subdivision of the rancho's 13,000 acres. Immigrants from around the world arrived in Cucamonga's renowned "wine valley." Italian immigrant Secundo Guasti bought a huge swath of land in southern Cucamonga and planted the world's largest vineyard. Many of Guasti's workers lived north of the winery in an area they named Northtown. Still others planted farms, started businesses, and built schools and churches. The farms are gone, most of the wineries are closed, and parts of the old rancho are now known as Upland and Ontario, but the story of Cucamonga lives on through these and other photographs.

Early Anaheim

9780738530697

$24.99

As one of the largest cities in one of the nation's most populous counties, Anaheim anchors a host of Orange County attractions, not the least of which are Disneyland, the 2002 World Champion Anaheim Angels, and the Anaheim Convention Center. But Anaheim's early history followed the hardscrabble route, with fitful years of early cityhood steered in part by hardy immigrant German vintners who, with a civic-mindedness, advanced the establishment of the churches, schools, banks, civic services, and a Carnegie Library that made Anaheim thrive. This collection of more than 200 vintage images reveals the foresight of such men as John Frohling, Charles Kohler, George Hansen, John Fischer, August Langenberger, and others who shaped the beginnings of one of California's great cities.

World War II Arroyo Grande

9781467119580

$21.99

On December 7, 1941, war came to Arroyo Grande when two local sailors were killed on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. People from the small town were thrust into great circumstances and quickly answered the call for action. A local storekeeper's son won the Silver Star after he brought his flaming B-17 safely back to base. A valley farmworker served with the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team, largely composed of soldiers of Japanese descent. Chinese guerrillas commanded by Mao Zedong--the future Chairman Mao--threw a birthday party for an Arroyo Grande soldier. At home, community groups like the Arroyo Grande Women's Club brought packed lunches for their Japanese American neighbors on the morning they were forced to leave for the internment camps. Local author Jim Gregory brings to life the sorrows and triumphs of a dramatic period in local history.

Larchmont

9781467134118

$24.99

Larchmont Boulevard is more than a street; it is the soul and spine of the surrounding neighborhoods created in the early 1900s when Los Angeles was just coming into its own. Located in the heart of Los Angeles, Larchmont Boulevard is a charming, walkable street running north and south from Third Street to Melrose Avenue that gives residents and visitors the feeling of a small town tucked inside the vast, car-centric city of Los Angeles. This book tells the story of Larchmont's beginnings in 1921 when the Los Angeles Times reported that developers Julius La Bonte and Charles Ramson had purchased seven lots on Larchmont Boulevard to create a business district of 30 stores between First Street and Beverly Boulevard. The one-block stretch, where a trolley line once ran, is affectionately known as "the village" by locals in the surrounding neighborhoods of Brookside, Citrus Square, Country Club Heights, Fremont Place, Hancock Park, La Brea-Hancock, Larchmont Village, Melrose, Oakwood-Maplewood-St. Andrews, Ridgewood-Wilton/St. Andrews Square, Sycamore Square, Western-Wilton, Wilshire Park, Windsor Square, and Windsor Village.

Legendary Locals of the Santa Clarita Valley

9781467100274

$24.99

Cradled among chaparral-covered canyons an hour north of downtown Los Angeles is a fascinating place called the Santa Clarita Valley. The history of the valley has significantly shaped the cultural development of Southern California for centuries. But while events are often credited with creating its history, the true
portrait of the valley is painted using the palette of personalities who left their indelible mark on the landscape. It is these stories of cowboys, Native Americans, outlaws, farmers, shepherds, soldiers, miners, range warriors, ranchers, saloon keepers, stagecoach drivers, railroaders, town drunks, teetotalers, engineers, land speculators, explorers, missionaries, actors, and common folk that make the history of the Santa Clarita Valley so compelling. Legendary Locals of the Santa Clarita Valley is a pictorial journey through time, telling tales of the colorful cast
of characters found sprinkled throughout the region's past, and the "legendary locals" who still make history today.

Legendary Locals of the Santa Clarita Valley

The Torrey Pines Gliderport

9781467131360

$24.99

As "Air Capital of the West," San Diego boasts a rich history in aviation that began with glider flights by John J. Montgomery in the 1880s. By the 1930s, gliding experienced a renaissance as an inexpensive means to take to the skies. Gliderports dotted the West Coast with pilots testing their designs in the prevailing sea breeze. Locations such as Torrey Pines attracted pilots from all over the nation for their idyllic conditions, where humans could soar with birds over the sea. These early pioneers helped define soaring as a sport and left an indelible mark on American aviation. Of the coastal gliderports of the 1930s, only one remains today--the Torrey Pines Gliderport--an aviation landmark that has become famous around the world with aviators who share this unique resource through multiple forms of motorless flight.

Redondo Beach

9780738530772

$24.99

Redondo Beach in the 1910s and 1920s was one of the best-attended weekend getaway spots in America. The beaches, pier, and downtown were jammed with vacationers and the Hollywood crowd. Water sports mavens drawn to the area included the great surfing pioneer George Freeth, who became a local icon. At one time, Redondo Beach boasted the world's largest indoor plunge along with visionary tycoon Henry Huntington's enormous Hotel Redondo overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The town grew as an import-export point for the City of Los Angeles until political powers decided to put its main port in nearby San Pedro. Since World War II, Redondo Beach has evinced a quaint charm as the jewel city of Santa Monica Bay's southerly shores.

Blythe and the Palo Verde Valley

9780738530727

$24.99

Located midway between Los Angeles and Phoenix, the Palo Verde Valley enjoys year-round sunshine and mild winter temperatures. In the late 1800s, surveyor O. P. Callaway recognized the valley's potential for flood irrigation from the Colorado River. He enlisted Thomas Blythe of San Francisco to finance the irrigation project. During the early 1900s, as more people settled in the valley, farming became the major industry as the extremes of a great river and a great desert merged into a flourishing greater produce garden. The Palo Verde Valley and its main settlement, Blythe (incorporated in 1916), grew into a thriving cohesive community loved by its year-round inhabitants as well as the "snowbirds" and river folks who come and go. The valley has over 40,000 acres of prime farmland and produces cotton, alfalfa, melons, lettuce, broccoli, onions, and many other fruits and vegetables. The Colorado River provides numerous opportunities for boating, skiing, and fishing.

Mexican American Boxing in Los Angeles

9781467130899

$24.99

Welcome to the colorful, flamboyant, and wonderful world of Mexican American boxing in Los Angeles. From the minute they stepped into the ring, Mexican American fighters have electrified fans with their explosiveness and courage. These historical images bring to life a sociological culture consisting of knockouts, the Main Street Gym, the Olympic Auditorium, neighborhood rivalries, Mexican idols, posters, and promoters. Like a winding thread, "the Golden Boy" Art Aragon bobs and weaves throughout the book. From "Mexican" Joe Rivers to Oscar De La Hoya, the true stories of their sensational ring wars are told while keeping alive the spirit and legacy of Mexican American boxing from the greater Los Angeles area.