Name: San Francisco's Financial District
Brand: Christine Miller
SKU: 9780738529998
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

San Francisco's Financial District

9780738529998

$24.99

Some call it "Wall Street West," while some just call it "downtown," but San Francisco's financial district is a long-running business powerhouse, home to scores of corporate headquarters, prominent law firms, restaurants, hotels, banks, the Pacific Stock Exchange, and striking waterfront views radiating outward from the landmark 1898 Ferry Building. The district was among the first areas to be settled,
and many of the original 19th-century buildings still stand, along with streets and businesses named for early California business leaders like Mills, Sharon, Fair, and Flood. The district holds examples of nearly every type of commercial architecture and is arguably the city's most popular, as its population swells by tens of thousands of office workers each day.

Central Coast Aviators in World War II

9781467139526

$21.99

During World War II, thousands of volunteer combat aviators trained at places like Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and Hancock Field in Santa Maria. Some air cadets and WASPs--young women pilots--lost their lives in training accidents. The graduates would go on to fight in both the Pacific and European theaters. They faced flak bursts and collisions that resulted in horrifying explosions and were sent on strafing runs that made them targets in a lethal shooting gallery. Downed airmen encountered both unexpected kindness and cruel deprivation as prisoners of war. Through interviews and official records, Jim Gregory tells the stories of heroic Central Coast veterans who fought a war that stretched from New Guinea to North Africa.

Midtown Sacramento:

9781626196735

$21.99

Though once scheduled for demolition, Midtown Sacramento battled back to become the city's geographic and cultural center--a beacon for offbeat artists, progressive thinkers and independent spirits. This eclectic neighborhood made history through social progress and artistic innovation. Through the hippie counterculture of the 1960s, the irreverent power of punk rock in the 1970s and '80s and the social and political consciousness of Generation X in the 1990s and beyond, Midtown always led the way. Now Sacramento historian and Midtown resident William Burg tells the story of the diverse generations of Sacramentans who shaped this trailblazing neighborhood.

Wicked Jurupa Valley:

9781609495206

$21.99

The Wineville Chicken Coop Murders a horrible 1928 national news story that inspired the 2008 movie The Changeling from director Clint Eastwood are only the most infamous despicable deeds that have bloodstained the rural countryside between Riverside City and the San Bernardino County line. Jurupa Valley has been a region of dark doings and scandalous misdeeds for generations. The city of Jurupa Valley was formed in 2011 from the area's smaller communities, including Wineville (renamed Mira Loma to escape the shame), Pedley and Rubidoux. Buried in its landscape are salacious sagas of unchecked bootlegging, payday orgies and gruesome murders. Author Kim Jarrell Johnson digs deep to disinter the unsavory stories that have traditionally marked her home city as a resting place of enduring infamy.

Skiing in Southern California

9780738555683

$24.99

Known for its sunshine and sandy beaches filled with bathing beauties and musclemen, Southern California is a Mediterranean-climate haven for winter-weary Americans from Michigan to Maine. But for those with a hankering for winter sports, one could scarcely ignore the snowcapped peaks of Mount Baldy and San Gorgonio shimmering in the bright California sunshine. By the 1930s, skiing was all the rage, with the towns of Big Pines, Lake Arrowhead, and Big Bear Lake evolving into popular snow-sport locales. Southern California was also home to many who made their mark in the world of American skiing: Walter Mosauer, the father of skiing in Southern California; Tyler Van Degrift, owner of Los Angeles's first ski shop; Clarita Heath Bright, talented member of the first U.S. Women's Olympic ski team; Dorothy McClung Wullich, first woman member of the National Ski Patrol; and Sepp Benedikter and Tommi Tyndall, both leading the way with ski schools and instruction. These and many others are documented here in this collection of rare and vintage images of Southern California skiing.

Wicked Crescenta Valley

9781626193062

$21.99

From illegal gambling and prostitution to claims of alien abduction, Crescenta Valley has seen it all. Once home to thriving moonshine operations and shocking Nazi rallies, the valley's past is riddled with scandalous tales that many would prefer to forget. Yet not all of Crescenta Valley's tawdry history could remain forgotten or hidden in its day. The infamous C.C. Julian oil scandal made national headlines. Even today, recent information reveals a local internment camp for Japanese and Germans that opened the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Join Gary Keyes and Mike Lawler, authors of Murder & Mayhem in the Crescenta Valley," as they reveal the seamy underbelly that belies the valley's beautifully pleasant exterior."

Thais in Los Angeles

9780738581842

$24.99

Los Angeles is home to the largest Thai population outside of Thailand. With a relatively recent history of immigration to the United States dating to 1965, reports estimate that 80,000 Thais make their home in Southern California. In spite of its brief history in the United States, the Thai community in Los Angeles has already left its mark on the city. While the proliferation of Thai-owned businesses and shops has converted East Hollywood and some San Fernando Valley neighborhoods to destinations for cultural tourism, the Thai community in Los Angeles County reverberates still from global attention over the 1995 El Monte human trafficking case. The great popularity of Thai cuisine, textiles, and cultural festivals continues to preserve, enrich, and showcase one of Asia's most distinctive cultures.

Napa Valley's Jewish Heritage

9780738588988

$24.99

As the world rushed in to profit from California's gold strike of 1848, many Jews joined the throng, not necessarily to mine but to sell merchandise to prospectors. Some settled in Napa Valley, a basin of rich agricultural land nestled between two mountain ridges. These pioneers conducted business, making significant contributions to the development of the Valley. Participating in cultural life, holding public office, and leading organizations, many also made fine wines, something perfected thousands of years ago as commanded in scripture. They continue to do so, and this is their story told through photographs.

South Santa Clara County

9780738558455

$24.99

South Santa Clara County, situated at the south end of San Francisco Bay, was a cattle-ranching area in the 19th century. With 300 days of sun a year, it became a major agricultural and food-production center. Since the 1960s, the electronics and computer industries have transformed the Valley of the Heart's Delight into a world-class technology center. City dwellers are now taking up residence in an area once steeped in agriculture, with more than 240,000 people making their homes here. Featured in this book are south San Jose, Coyote Valley, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, and unincorporated parts of the south county, such as east Santa Cruz Mountains and Pacheco Pass.

Fremont Older and the 1916 San Francisco Bombing:

9781626192676

$21.99

On Saturday, July 22, 1916, as Preparedness Day" parade units assembled south of San Francisco's Market Street, a terrorist bomb exploded, killing ten people and wounding forty. San Francisco was outraged. Instead of searching for the perpetrators, however, the district attorney used the bombing as an excuse to arrest, try and convict two obscure labor figures without evidence. Author John C. Ralston chronicles the dramatic events following the initial tragedy as newspaper editor Fremont Older discovers the case is based on blatant perjury and exposes the secondary crime to the public. What became known as the "American Dreyfus Case" led to an international outcry, finally resulting in one defendant's pardon and the other's parole--but only after both men had been imprisoned for twenty-three years.."

Fremont Older and the 1916 San Francisco Bombing:

Frontier Days in Crescenta Valley:

9781626195080

$21.99

Modern Crescenta Valley practically defines the notion of quiet suburbia with its lovely homes and tree-lined streets. Yet the communities that lie north of Los Angeles between the Verdugo and San Gabriel Mountains once formed a vast, isolated, treeless, windstorm-swept dell. The settlers who stayed in this valley found day-to-day subsistence challenging. They farmed, hunted, tried bee ranching, gathered greasewood, cultivated vineyards and dodged rattlesnakes. As settlement in the area continued to develop, such refinements as literature and photography flourished. Join author Jo Anne Sadler as she brings the Valley's frontier days to life, recounting such quirks as a visit from a rainmaker" and the reasons behind the construction of the gaudy local landmark the Gould Castle."

Manhattan Beach Chronicles

9781609499082

$21.99

An isolated ocean-view village on the dunes above South Santa Monica Bay, Manhattan Beach grew with the arrival of railroads. This quaint, upscale jewel of the Los Angeles County coast has been known for its cottage-style living, the Metlox Pottery Company and the iconic pier. These diverse stories mix the city's controversies, including the still unsolved 1936 murder of Reid Russell, with true tales of pioneering women, controversial politics and the vicissitudes of seaside city development. Join author Jan Dennis, a former Manhattan Beach city mayor, on this illuminating tour through the issues and eras of her beloved city's history.

Westside Chronicles:

9781609496234

$21.99

Los Angeles sprawled westward toward the sand and sea of Santa Monica Bay throughout the twentieth century as land-grant ranchos gave way to capitalists and promoters. Developers subdivided the coastal land into neighborhoods and communities: Santa Monica, Brentwood, Bel-Air, Westwood, Venice, Ocean Park, Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Marina del Rey. These became places known to the nation at large for movie stars, moguls and business tycoons;
for Will Rogers, Henry Huntington and UCLA; and for estate homes, amusement piers and surfing beaches. Join Jan Loomis, a former West L.A. magazine publisher and historian, as she tells the stories behind how it all came to be West Los Angeles.

The Way We Were in San Diego

9781609494414

$19.99

San Diego, known for its perfect weather, naval ties and landmarks like the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park, has a history as incredible as its stunning shoreline. In this collection of articles from his San Diego Union-Tribune column The Way We Were," Richard W. Crawford recounts stories from the city's early history that once splashed across the headlines. Read about Ruth Alexander's aviation feats, the water pipeline carved from Humboldt County redwoods, the jailbreak of a man facing ten years in San Quentin for cow theft, a visit from escape artist Harry Houdini and the Purity League's closure of the Stingaree red-light district. These stories highlight San Diego's progress from a humble frontier port to the stylish city it is today."

Lucky to Live in Northern California

9780738527703

$16.99

What do you get when you cross a read-aloud storybook with a write-in memory book?
Magic moments between kids and adults!
The Lucky to Live in NorCal book is the perfect tool to jump-start meaningful conversations between generations. Read-aloud rhymes set up interesting topics. Then write-in prompts invite children to record their own views to create a personal NorCal keepsake.
The real gift lies in the interactive nature of the book as it offers the perfect opportunity for adults to share their own stories and wisdom about such issues as friendship, community, team spirit, and other topics that help develop a child's social and emotional skills. Customized NorCal content--from favorite local cuisine (sourdough bread) to interesting attractions (Golden Gate Park)--provides an even more personalized experience.

Forestville

9780738558059

$24.99

Visitors to Forestville are taken aback by its picturesque valleys laden with roaming vineyards. However, Forestville is more than a gateway to the Russian River; it is a diverse array of businesses, wineries, farming, and recreation. Forestville grew from the Spanish land grant traded by Capt. Juan Bautista Rogers Cooper from his brother-in-law Gen. Mariano Vallejo in 1834 into the town known by passing travelers as "Swindle Rig." In 1867, the town was named Forestville after Andrew Jackson Forrister, a saloon owner. It was set apart from other settlements by having the first powered sawmill in California and the Faudré Chair factory, the largest manufacturing plant in Sonoma County of that era. Collectors still seek out the factory's rawhide-bottom chairs. As a popular stop on the railway line, many vacationers from San Francisco passed through on their journeys to the Russian River. In 1963, the town continued to be different, setting aside land for a community youth park, so it is no wonder the town's slogan is "Forestville the Great Life."

Baseball in Long Beach

9780738558233

$24.99

Organized baseball in Long Beach dates to 1910, when
the Long Beach Clothiers of the Southern California
Trolley League played opponents wherever a streetcar could take them. Exhibition games later featured Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, and other Major League barnstormers. Homegrown talent includes Baseball Hall of Famers Bob Lemon and Tony Gwynn. Pioneering entrepreneur Bill Feistner built the first accommodating baseball park in 1922 at Redondo Avenue and Stearns Street in the shadow of oil-rich Signal Hill. When ballplayers weren't on the Shell Park diamond, they worked the derricks.

Weinstock's:

9781609494445

$21.99

In 1874, David Lubin hung a provocative sign over a ten by twelve-foot space on the corner of Fourth and K Streets in Sacramento, California: D. Lubin: One Price." Thus began the dry goods store that would evolve into Weinstock, Lubin, and Co., one of Sacramento's landmark businesses and eventually a regional giant. While many Sacramentans will remember Weinstock's spectacular Christmas displays, the signature children's milk bar and the gala openings of suburban stores at Country Club Plaza and Sunrise Mall, historian Annette Kassis goes beyond the storefront to uncover the philosophy that placed Weinstock's at the forefront of business innovation. More than a retail establishment, Weinstock's one-hundred-year legacy brought high fashion, progressive politics and the leading edge of modernization to California's Capital City."

San Gorgonio Search and Rescue Team

9780738555768

$24.99

In February 1958, a tragic climbing accident occurred on Big Falls, in Forest Falls, California, resulting in the death of a 13-year-old boy. Rescue attempts were futile because there were no experienced personnel or climbing equipment available. As a result of this unfortunate tragedy, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department
spearheaded a recruitment of volunteers, forming the county's first mountain search and rescue team. Since that time, the San Gorgonio Search and Rescue Team has performed thousands of searches, rescues,
and body recoveries. The organization is the oldest of its kind in San Bernardino County and is proud to have second-generation team members. This book tells the story of these dedicated volunteers through photographs taken by team members and through the stories retold by those who were there.

The Picture Man: From the Collection of Bay Area Photographer E.F. Joseph 1927-1979

9781467125659

$24.99

From 1927 until his death in 1979, E.F. Joseph documented the daily lives of African Americans in the Bay Area. His images were printed in the Pittsburgh Courier and the Chicago Defender but not widely published in his home community. A graduate of the American School of Photography in Illinois, Joseph photographed the likes of such celebrities and activists as Josephine Baker, Mahalia Jackson, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Thurgood Marshall. However, what is perhaps more compelling within these pages are the countless images of everyday citizens--teaching, entertaining, worshipping, working, and serving their community and their nation.

The Picture Man: From the Collection of Bay Area Photographer E.F. Joseph 1927-1979

The Warlord's Kites

9781589801806

$16.99 $8.50 Save 50%

All is calm in the warlord's palace, and the artist's apprentice Chuan sits with his friend Jing Jing, watching the sunset, when an invading army approaches. Jing Jing comes up with an ingenious solution using Chuan's knowledge of calculating area as well as his handmade paper and ink to frighten the troops into leaving.

Lucky to Live in SoCal

9780738527680

$16.99

What do you get when you cross a read-aloud storybook with a write-in memory book?
Magic moments between kids and adults!
The Lucky to Live in SoCal book is the perfect tool to jump-start meaningful conversations between generations. Read-aloud rhymes set up interesting topics. Then write-in prompts invite children to record their own views to create a personal SoCal keepsake.
The real gift lies in the interactive nature of the book as it offers the perfect opportunity for adults to share their own stories and wisdom about such issues as friendship, community, team spirit, and other topics that help develop a child's social and emotional skills. Customized SoCal content--from favorite local cuisine (cobb salad) to interesting attractions (Joshua Tree National Park)--provides an even more personalized experience.

Redondo Beach Police Department

9780738581644

$24.99

The Redondo Beach Police Department dates to May 9, 1892, when Marshall S. Rogers was appointed as the city's first marshal. One of the first city ordinances prohibited the discharge of firearms within city limits and provided the option for hiring of a deputy "if needed." He was needed, of course, as the city would grow into a major West Coast resort by the 1920s. The department adapted through the changes brought on by the Depression, World War II, and the postwar boom, serving and protecting citizens and fighting crime both unique to beach-city life as well as changing times while enforcing all laws for residents and tourists alike across the dawns of two centuries. In the 21st century, more than 250 sworn officers, support personnel, and volunteers serve one of Southern California's most respected and innovative departments.

Millbrae

9780738547909

$24.99

Millbrae, a comfortable Bay Area suburb located just next to the San Francisco International Airport, is home to some 30,000 people and hundreds of businesses. The city stretches from the marshes by the bay up to the sweeping hills by Interstate 280, near the spot where Spanish explorer Don Gaspar de Portola first surveyed the region in 1769. In the 1830s, after Mexico gained independence from Spain, the area was part of Rancho Buri Buri, granted by the Mexican government to Jose Antonio Sanchez. As the years passed, the land was subdivided and sold to various parties, including banker and town namesake Darius Ogden Mills, who built the fantastic Mills estate here in the 1870s.

Inland Empire

9780738559070

$24.99

Southern California's vast Inland Empire is one of the fastest growing regions of the United States. It is a wonderland of old-growth vineyards, citrus groves, hot-water resorts, Wild West landmarks, and Native American territories. America's fabled Mother Road, Route 66, runs right through it. Its fertile valleys are encircled by mountains with famous resort areas such as Idyllwild, Big Bear Lake, and Lake Arrowhead. Those mountains are surrounded in turn by some of the world's best-known desert resort and recreational areas, including Palm Springs, the Mojave, Death Valley, and Joshua Tree National Park. Inland Empire is the first book of its kind, offering a postcard-perfect grand tour of the entire region.

San Francisco's Chinatown

9780738559254

$24.99

Since the Gold Rush, San Francisco's Chinatown has been a destination for sojourners, immigrants, locals, and tourists. Despite laws restricting Chinese immigration, Chinatown has thrived as a residential and commercial center. Designed for tourists and bearing little resemblance to real Chinese cityscapes, the streets and buildings have nonetheless been extensively documented in picture postcards, as have the residents, particularly from the 1890s to 1930s, the "Golden Age of Postcards." The cards, relatively few of which survive, were kept as visual souvenirs and mementos, or were mailed to family and friends.

Haunted San Pedro

9781467135771

$21.99

Home to one of the busiest ports in the country, San Pedro plays host to visitors from all walks of life--and death. Locals swap supernatural stories of shipwrecked ghosts, lost lighthouse keepers, suicidal lovers and more. The spirit of a native Gabrieleno man wanders the grounds of the Wayfarers Chapel. The phantom smell of a Civil War officer's cigar smoke wafts through the halls of the Drum Barracks. A dedicated employee of the historic Warner Brothers Theatre still fixes jammed film reels and tests equipment in the projection room. Historian and paranormal investigator Brian Clune delves into the history and mysteries of these spooky seaside haunts.

The Portuguese in San Leandro

9780738558332

$21.99

The Gold Rush drew the Portuguese from the Azores, sweeping them across the Atlantic Ocean and around South America's Cape Horn to the California shore. When gold failed to pan out, many Portuguese moved to the hamlet of San Leandro on the San Francisco Bay where land was reasonable and the ground fertile. Gradually the post-Gold Rush settlers joined with former Portuguese shore whalers to farm the fields of San Leandro. San Leandro became a principal landing place for newly arrived Portuguese immigrants putting down roots on small farms. A steady stream of relatives from the Azores and Hawaii poured into San Leandro's fertile foothills, and by 1911 the Portuguese comprised over two-thirds of the city's population. The early days were rough--Portuguese immigrants banded together in fraternal societies to overcome a lack of resources and to help one another navigate a strange world whose language they did not speak. Today the Portuguese Immigrant monument in Root Park's plaza commemorates the journey of Portuguese settlers who left everything behind to start a new life in the new world.

The Coast Guard in San Diego

9780738580142

$24.99

Located a few miles north from the border of the United States and Mexico, the U.S. Coast Guard has maintained a continual presence in San Diego since 1935. It was in May of that year that a single air detachment, led by Cdr. Elmer F. Stone, began operating out of a commercial hangar at Lindbergh Field. From those humble beginnings, a base was constructed on 23 acres of tidelands adjacent to the airstrip and eventually formed into Sector San Diego. Through the years, their units and missions have evolved as new technology and changing world events dictated new missions for the Coast Guard. Today Coast Guard Sector San Diego stands as a model of interagency cooperation for the Department of Homeland Security as the Coast Guard works with other federal agencies to protect San Diego's maritime domain.

Pioneers of Mill Creek Canyon

9781467145336

$21.99

The pioneers of Mill Creek Canyon in the San Bernardino Mountains were visionaries, eccentrics and adventurers. Daniel Sexton married a Native American wife hoping to gain the secret to a mine, while Peter Forsee, a world-weary sheriff, married a widow who was sheltering two outlaw sons. Sylvanus Thurman's burros carried travelers into the wild and sometimes took them for a wild ride. George Burris didn't find gold, but his marble discovery built mansions. D. Rhea Igo created roadside attractions, and Louie Torrey left the city to farm the forest, creating a paradise for his family and others. Join author Shannon Wray as she explores the colorful lives of those who left an indelible mark on Mill Creek Canyon.

Buellton

9780738530802

$24.99

The town of Buellton was established in 1920 to provide services for early automobiles traveling up and down the California coast. But before the town was established, a ranch operated by Rufus Thompson Buell was carved out of the vast Rancho de Jonata land grant in the late 1800s. This fascinating collection of images tells the story of the Buell ranch and how a bridge built over the Santa Ynez River in 1917 completed the connection of the coast highway. The book also chronicles the establishment and expansion of Highway 101; the addition of service stations, motor courts, and diners to accommodate the onslaught of post-World War II travelers; and how a small diner, opened in 1924, expanded into a pea soup empire that ultimately outlasted the relocation of a major highway.

Westlake

9780738559117

$24.99

The Westlake section of Daly City is the quintessential postwar suburban-modernist development, and it was the singular vision of Henry Doelger that made it so. Westlake was to the San Francisco Bay Area what Levittown was to New York after World War II, providing affordable housing for thousands of service veterans and war-industry personnel who remained in California after their tours of duty. The area abuts San Francisco's Sunset District, where Doelger built thousands of homes in the shifting sands before battling the dunes in northern San Mateo County in 1948. Doelger was lauded as the Bay Area's bestknown builder of homes, apartments, and shopping centers. Daly City increased in size almost by half when Westlake was annexed in 1948.

The Warlord's Messengers

9781589802711

$16.99

The warlord's presence is requested at the emperor's banquet in two weeks, but he is sixteen days away by horseback. Using their math skills, ingenuity, and the wind, Chuan and Jing Jing reach the warlord's camp and encourage him to use their sailing cart to travel to the feast. The Warlord's Messengers is the sixth book in the acclaimed Warlord's Series, and includes directions for making your own windsock as well as suggestions for velocity-related math activities.

The Abalone King of Monterey: "Pop" Ernest Doelter, Pioneering Japanese Fishermen & the Culinary Classic that Saved an Industry

9781609494698

$21.99

In 1908, "Pop" Ernest Doelter was crowned the Abalone King. In the kitchen of his Alvarado Street restaurant in Monterey, California, Pop transformed rubbery gastropods into an epicurean delight. Working with red abalone collected by Monterey's community of Japanese divers, Pop dipped the foot in egg wash, added a secret ingredient, rolled it in cracker crumbs and cooked it quickly in olive oil. Tourists and celebrities alike sat down at Pop's table to enjoy his famous recipe, and eventually, he shipped steaks on ice to hotels and restaurants throughout the state. Pull up a chair as historian Tim Thomas recounts the story of an innovative restaurateur and a group of pioneering fishermen who turned underappreciated mollusks into the talk of the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair.

The Abalone King of Monterey: "Pop" Ernest Doelter, Pioneering Japanese Fishermen & the Culinary Classic that Saved an Industry

Humboldt State University

9780738580159

$24.99

Perched high atop a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the northernmost campus of the California State University system is celebrating its centennial. The natural environment of forests and oceans provide the perfect setting for hands-on research in forestry, oceanography, wildlife, natural resources, environmental science and resource engineering, and fisheries biology. Begun as a normal school for teacher education, it still provides a full range of credential programs and more than 40 majors for undergraduate and master's degrees in 14 areas, and it is a regional center for the arts. The university is at the forefront of studies on sustainability, green living, and environmental responsibility.