Name: Los Angeles in World War II
Brand: Ruth Wallach
SKU: 9780738581811
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Los Angeles in World War II

9780738581811

$24.99

During World War II, the Los Angeles region underwent rapid industrial growth as Kaiser Steel opened a giant mill in Fontana, and the aircraft giants--North American Aviation, Lockheed, Douglas, and Hughes--expanded with war contracts. The war economy's demographic and ethnic dimensions included women and African Americans entering factory work and troops streaming through Union Station to San Pedro for embarkation. The Zoot Suit Riots defined the tensions between servicemen and the Mexican American community, and the internment of Japanese Americans led to the eventual disappearance of established neighborhoods. The war inspired home front efforts by local civic and academic institutions, by the entertainment industry, and by émigrés from Nazi Germany. It led to the training of civilian corps, rationing, and vigilance for enemy activities. American participation in World War II from 1941 to 1945 energized the region's growing industrial infrastructure and spurred postwar economic and housing development.

March Air Force Base

9780738571591

$24.99

During World War I, March Air Force Base quickly established its reputation as a major flight-training institution. The base came to define the "Golden Age" of aviation as its roster of training expanded to include aerial pursuit, fighter, and bomber units. Later March would play host to a number of historic firsts, including Bob Hope's first USO show and aerial feats that helped make the U.S. Air Force the undisputed leader in combat aviation today. From kite-like biplanes and cold war sports car races on the tarmac, to the war birds of World War II and some of the modern air force's most sophisticated aircraft, March AFB has sealed a legacy of strength and central importance to its Riverside home--and to the countless servicemen and women around the world associated with the historic base.

Around Trona and Searles Valley

9781467133999

$24.99

Trona was once the most populous community in the Upper Mojave Desert. Originally explored by the Death Valley 49ers in 1850, Searles Valley was formed by remnants of the Owens River Lakes. The small towns of Borosolvay, Magnesium, Burnham, and Slaterange City prospered for a period before fading. Homewood Canyon, Westend, Argus, Pioneer Point, and Trona continue to provide pleasant housing for Searles Valley residents. The valley is dominated by mining history, and Searles Valley Minerals still produces products for worldwide markets. Wyatt Earp played cards and gambled at Poeville and was arrested in 1910 in Searles Valley for claim jumping. In 1913, Stafford Wallace Austin helped create the planned town of Trona. Amelia Earhart's husband, George Putnam, died at the Trona Hospital in 1950. Sit down and enjoy the jaunt through some of the most interesting history in the West.

Bullock's Department Store

9781467132961

$24.99

From the store's beginnings in March 1907 until its closing on June 25, 1983, Bullock's was Los Angeles's store of choice. Throughout its 76 years of operation, Bullock's flagship department store became an icon, a commercial beacon in the vast city. The name Bullock's has engendered many memories in many people. For those loyal patrons who grew up, lived in, or visited the City of Angels, Bullock's was--and still is--a part of their lives. Bullock's was a rite of passage. From baby clothing to back-to-school gear, prom dresses to bridal gowns, Bullock's offered quality merchandise and exemplary customer service. The store's professional sales staff solidified its place in retail history. The staff knew you by name, and Bullock's was more than just a shopping destination. It was part of the community; it was your family and was always there for you.

King City

9781467108041

$23.99

The town of King City came into existence in 1886, when the railroad arrived north of San Lorenzo Creek in the Salinas Valley of Central California. Named after Charles H. King, owner of this portion of the San Lorenzo Land Grant, King City has grown into a hub for the magnificent agricultural fields that surround it and support its economy. US Highway 101 and the Salinas River are unique features of the town, and Mesa Del Rey Airport was instrumental in the training of pilots during World War II. Author John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden is set near King City.

Brentwood

9781467160544

$24.99

The beautiful Brentwood area of Contra Costa County is the oldest continuously populated community in California inland from the great coastal centers. Californios eschewed this challenging portion of the Central Valley, so pioneering physician John Marsh established a permanent settlement here in 1837 at his Rancho Los Meganos. Soon, the burgeoning viniculture, wheat, orchard, and cattle operations attracted many Gold Rush miners back to their original agricultural callings, now in the California Delta. The 1860s arrival of British agribusiness concern Balfour Guthrie Investment Company soon established the largest grain-export and fruit-packing venture in the West. Brentwood Township, established in 1878 and named for Marsh's ancestral home in England, includes some of the state's most bountiful land. The region fostered the greatest wheat production west of the Mississippi River during the 19th century.
Carol A. Jensen, author of Arcadia Publishing's Byron Hot Springs , The California Delta , and East Contra Costa County , presents here in vintage photography the best of Brentwood, culled from local archives and collections. Combined with Jensen's prose, these images showcase Brentwood's progression from rural beginnings as an agricultural stronghold to the modern city of houses, shops, schools, and places of worship we know today.

Residential Architecture in the East Bay

9781467109628

$23.99

Flat Pack, catalogue and pre-manufactured homes have a secret history in the Bay Area. Many homes were pre-cut and delivered to the job site to be assembled in a matter of days. From small 2 bedroom beach bungalows to spacious 2000+ square foot shingle houses that line the streets of Alameda, many homes were ordered from a catalog and assembled on urban lots where people still live contented lives. There were also local architects and developers that created pre-fabricated homes locally to be delivered and built in developments. This book explores this history, through local leaders, archives, historians as well real estate brokers, investors, agents and homeowners. Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley and the surrounding areas were architecturally developed and influenced by the modern concept of efficient assembly line building. The book also explores how that building was affected by redlining and race relations at that time.

Residential Architecture in the East Bay

Lake Arrowhead Architecture

9781467109659

$23.99

Located in the mountains above San Bernardino is a surprising enclave of significant architecture built by some of the region's most important architects. The Lake Arrowhead area was long a getaway for the rich and famous, who brought many of the architects they used down the mountain to design their hidden hideaways on their own private lake. Things have changed since the golden age of building, and the area, while still private, is enjoyed by a far broader sector of the population. Yet the legacy of that early architecture and the transformation into a modern resort community is still intact and enjoyed by new generations of mountain residents. This book explores the area's architecture from its early history as a logging and cattle ranching community to its flourishing as a secret hideaway for the Hollywood crowd to its current status as a mountain resort for Southern Californians.

San Luis Obispo County Architecture

9781467160049

$24.99

California is rare among states and nations in having two cultural capitals--Los Angeles and San Francisco--and San Luis Obispo is smack in the middle. In the middle of nowhere or equidistant from everywhere, its architecture is a riot of variety: samples of practically every 19th- and 20th-century form; experiments by local builders; and one-offs by nationally known architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Julia Morgan, Richard Neutra, Edla Muir, and Warren Leopold ("Not A Licensed Architect" engraved on his tombstone), all without anxiety of influence from the outside. Where Santa Barbara, rebuilt after an earthquake during the City Beautiful movement, celebrates Spanish, Mission, and Moorish Revival, and Palm Springs embodies Mid-Century Modern, San Luis Obispo is California's capital of the eclectic. Wright's one Usonian office; Morgan's biggest and smallest commissions: Hearst Castle and her cab driver's daughters' playhouse; the world's only Greek Revival Streamline Moderne movie theater across from the Roman Revival PWA Moderne County Courthouse, like Ginger and Fred; the world's first industrial desalinization plant in a power plant modeled after an Egyptian Temple and sheathed in aluminum; Art Beal's bricolage Nitt Witt Ridge: all have an extraordinary story. Author James Papp is an architectural historian and writer of walking tours as well as a principal with Historicities, a cultural resources consultancy in San Luis Obispo. He is a member of the Oceano Economic Development Council Advisory Board, the Education Committee of the California Preservation Foundation, and the City of San Luis Obispo Cultural Heritage Committee.

Sutter Creek

9780738546865

$24.99

Between 1848 and 1849, whispers of gold in California became a roar. The gold rush was on, and thousands established rough camps in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Among these camps, nestled in a small valley, was Sutter Creek. The town is named for the famous John Sutter, whose discovery of gold at Coloma started the rush. And though many gold-mining tent cities died out over time, Sutter Creek transitioned to a solid community with wide streets, two-story businesses, and beautiful homes. Blacksmiths, foundries, and other industries provided services to the ever-deepening mines, among the world's richest. Settlers used the ideal soil and climate to produce crops and livestock, gradually replacing head frames and hoist works, as the last mine finally closed in the 1950s. Thousands still journey to Sutter Creek, some for gold, but most are attracted by the rich heritage still visible along historic Main Street.

Grass Valley

9780738546971

$24.99

Grass Valley was named for its spring-fed meadows, but its history springs from deep below the soil. An immeasurable wealth of gold lay in ancient river courses, embedded in quartz, or scattered capriciously in surface gravel. Vibrantly entrepreneurial since its inception, Grass Valley echoed with the roar of stamp mills crushing gold-bearing quartz 24 hours a day, every day, for decades. Its mines produced $350 million, and millions more are thought to be buried beneath the modern city. Grass Valley's wealth drew flamboyant stars like Lola Montez and gold-camp-urchin-turned-star Lotta Crabtree. It was here that philosopher Josiah Royce was born and Cherokee writer Yellow Bird (John Rollin Ridge) lived his final days. Grass Valley was often the subject of Alonzo Delano's tales of the gold rush, and more recently, it was the setting and inspiration for Wallace Stegner's best seller Angle of Repose.

Saratoga

9780738569635

$24.99

One of California's earliest communities, Saratoga was settled before the Gold Rush. Water from the hillsides provided power for a mill, and Saratoga became a center for lumbering, for milling, and for paper manufacturing. By the Civil War, the community was known as a resort for summer homes of wealthy San Franciscans. Blessed with a wonderful climate, scenic terrain, and abundant natural springs, newcomers discovered it was possible to grow a wide variety of fruits, and hundreds of orchards appeared almost overnight. By 1900, Saratoga had the largest prune and apricot orchards known in America, and was home to Sunsweet. The flowering fruit trees inspired an annual Blossom Festival that brought thousands of visitors to the Saratoga area. An outstanding school system, wonderful climate, and a strong sense of community make Saratoga one of the most wonderful places to live in California.

Hollywood 1940-2008

9780738559230

$24.99

Since World War II, Hollywood has fought and won that same war many times, won the West even more often--plus got the girl--and laughed like crazy, too. The postwar era in the dream factory was a prosperous time of expansion and wealth through the 1970s, decline in the 1980s, and rebirth in the new century. Vintage photographs from the rare collections of Hollywood Heritage and Bison Archives depict the municipal, business, residential, and entertainment industry growth in Hollywood proper, from 1940 until the beginning of the 21st century. This companion volume to Arcadia Publishing's Early Hollywood completes the pictorial saga of the world's most renowned storytelling capital. These images depict the rise of the television industry, changes along Hollywood Boulevard, and movers and shakers whose visions and influence have made Hollywood the entertainment industry's Mecca.

Cajon Pass, The

9780738570754

$24.99

California bloomed when modern men conquered Cajon Pass. California's two transverse (east to west) mountain ranges, the San Gabriel and San Bernardino, prevented commerce east between two-thirds of Southern California and the rest of the state. Cajon Pass, the low point between the two ranges, was first opened to business by roads that generally followed old Native American trails. When railroads pierced the divide in 1885, Northern and Southern California and states to the east benefitted. Utility trunks followed: first electrical power in about 1912, followed by telephone, and finally natural-gas pipelines. Courageous, tireless, independent pioneers settled Cajon Pass while looking for gold, mining lime, and nursing water from the ground to satisfy needs of livestock and crops. Even today, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific Railroads run their busiest freight transport tracks through Cajon Pass, and Highway 15 competes successfully with its more western counterpart, Highway 5, for record numbers of vehicles per day moving north and south through California.

Carlsbad

9780738569925

$24.99

Once a small coastal community known for avocados and flower fields, Carlsbad has grown into a sprawling suburban city, with a small beach-town feel that still maintains ties to its roots. The discovery of its mineral wells in 1885, and the subsequent naming of the city after the famed European spa in Karlsbad, Bohemia, put Carlsbad on the map as a world-class resort destination. Miles of beautiful beaches, and three lagoons located within its boundaries, have shaped Carlsbad into a recreational destination as well. The Flower Fields, with vibrant rows of colorful ranunculus, now serves as a reminder of the past and a link to the future, as shopping and businesses have grown up around them, helping Carlsbad evolve into the diverse, progressive city it is today.

Chinatown in Los Angeles

9780738569567

$24.99

The history of Chinatown in Los Angeles is as vibrant as the city itself. In 1850, the U.S. Census recorded only two Chinese men in Los Angeles who worked as domestic servants. During the second half of the 19th century, a Chinese settlement developed around the present-day El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument. Chinese Americans persevered against violence, racism, housing discrimination, exclusion laws, unfair taxation, and physical displacement to create better lives for future generations. When Old Chinatown was demolished to make way for Union Station, community leader Peter SooHoo Sr. and other Chinese Americans spearheaded the effort to build New Chinatown with the open-air Central Plaza. Unlike other Chinese enclaves in the United States, New Chinatown was owned and planned from its inception by Chinese Americans. New Chinatown celebrated its grand opening with dignitaries, celebrities, community members, and a dedication by California governor Frank Merriam on June 25, 1938.

Trinidad

9780738571614

$24.99

When Spanish explorers turned their ships north in the summer of 1775, they were searching for new territory for the Spanish crown. Nearly 300 miles north of San Francisco, they found safe harbor in a small but beautiful bay they called Trinidad. The Spaniards erected a large cross on Trinidad Head and left the Bay of Trinidad prominently marked on maps of what would become the fledgling state of California. Many came to Trinidad to seek their fortunes--from fur traders and Gold Rush miners to pioneer homesteaders and timber barons. They found the land already inhabited by indigenous Yurok tribes, whose ancestral home encompassed the entire greater Trinidad region, bound by three rivers and filled with a vast and ancient redwood forest. Today, after more than a century and a half of boom and bust, Trinidad is a seaside oasis.

San Diego's Naval Training Center

9780738559582

$24.99

San Diego's Naval Training Center (NTC) was commissioned on June 1, 1923, and for 70 years served as a young recruit's introduction to a naval career, beginning with nine weeks of basic orientation and organization training (BOOT) camp. Originally consisting of 135 acres adjacent to San Diego Bay, NTC eventually expanded to almost 550 acres with 300 buildings, landscaped promenades, parade grounds, and a concrete training "non-ship," the USS Recruit (a.k.a. USS Neversail), where recruits learned their first duties of seamanship. Advanced training schools were later added for military personnel learning specialized duties. After training hundreds of thousands of recruits, NTC was officially closed on April 30, 1997, and has since been transformed into San Diego's new and vibrant cultural center, Liberty Station.

Alameda

9780738559537

$24.99

Through its many incarnations, Alameda has never lost its charm and ability to draw people from all walks of life. Originally a peninsula inhabited by Native Americans, it was purchased by Don Luis Peralta in 1818 and developed into a bedroom community of San Francisco. Alameda became an island in 1902, and a short time later, it was a new home to many refugees from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. The Neptune Beach amusement park attracted tourists who enjoyed the bathing, beaches, and rides, making Alameda "the Coney Island of the West." Modern transportation carried people and cargo in and out on ferries, trains, ships, and planes, which landed at the busy Airdrome. The creation of the Naval Air Station in 1938 and World War II made Alameda a military town. The 1990s brought Alameda back to its first purpose, as a small town amongst big cities, its streets lined with graceful Victorians and with a diverse and lively population.

Los Angeles's The Palms Neighborhood

9780738569932

$24.99

The Westside neighborhood of Palms is the oldest suburb of Los Angeles. Founded in 1886 halfway between L.A. and the beach on a steam railroad line, Palms attracted wealthy Angelinos escaping the summer's downtown heat as well as Easterners seeking a new life in "the natural home of the fig, olive, lemon, lime, apricot, and that class of fruit that brings the largest profit in the local market." Rancho Park and Mar Vista had yet to make it onto maps--it was all "The Palms." The school district stretched from the Santa Monica Mountains on the north toward Redondo Beach on the south. A lively social and business life sprang up, but gradually the metropolis enfolded Palms, which was annexed into Los Angeles in 1915. After World War II, subdivisions brought young families, the flatlands became a huge swath of apartments, and the barren hill area became the tree-shrouded Westside Village.

Palm Springs

9780738559827

$24.99

Nestled beneath the San Jacinto Mountains in an oasis of palm trees is a mineral hot springs. For thousands of years, this was the winter home of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the original inhabitants of this harsh desert region. A U.S. government survey party discovered the spring in 1853 and identified the area located at the base of "two bunches of palms." In 1884, Judge John McCallum of San Francisco purchased land near the springs for $800 and built the first adobe structure, which still stands today. Stage lines and railroads provided transportation through the area, bringing in visitors year-round. Dr. Welwood Murray built the first Palm Springs Hotel, and in 1909, Nellie Coffman built The Desert Inn, which would become famous as a tourist attraction. This was the beginning of the area's major industry. Today Palm Springs is still a destination for visitors throughout the year and home to a growing population of permanent residents.

Historic Hotels of Los Angeles and Hollywood

9780738559063

$24.99

This volume presents a pictorial history of Los Angeles hotels downtown, in Hollywood, and along the Wilshire Boulevard corridor from the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries. By the early 1900s, many hotels, including luxury ones, had been established in downtown Los Angeles to cater to business travelers and tourists. In the late 19th century, after the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad, hotels were built to encourage tourism and sell real estate in the agricultural Hollywood area. And with the growth of the motion picture studios in the early decades of the 20th century, grander hotels were erected to accommodate the new industry. As the city expanded westward, luxury and residential hotels were also placed in the Westlake District and along the fashionable Wilshire Boulevard corridor connecting to Beverly Hills.

Historic Hotels of Los Angeles and Hollywood

Alpine County

9780738530468

$24.99

Alpine County is named for its massive peaks, thrust up from molten earth and scoured by glaciers, reminding European settlers of their own Alps. The Washoe Indians enjoyed this precipitous Eden with over 60 alpine lakes long before famous trailblazer Jedediah Smith, his pack animals dying, made it through these mountains. At first, few settlers ventured here, but a silver strike led hopeful residents to carve out a county, making Silver Mountain, then a town of 3,500, their seat of government. But the silver boom ended, and in 1875 Markleeville took the reins, as
Silver Mountain was by then a ghost town. Although Alpine is now the least populated county in California, thousands come each year to hike, camp, or--following the tradition of famous Snowshoe Thompson--ski at popular Bear Valley and Kirkwood, or visit the delightful village of Markleeville, Grover Hot Springs, and other enchanting lake resorts.

Point Cabrillo Light Station

9780738559506

$24.99

Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, on the rugged coast of Mendocino County in Northern California, was first lit as an aid to navigation on June 10, 1909. The light station continues to serve mariners and is regarded as one of the crown jewels of lighthouses on the West Coast. In July 1850, just north of the future site of the lighthouse, the clipper brig Frolic wrecked in its journey from China to Gold Rush-era San Francisco. European settlers in search of salvage from the cargo found instead Mendocino's vast strands of virgin redwood timber stretching inland from the coast. Getting this valuable lumber to market in the mid-19th century required ships, and ships needed lighthouses to guide them. In 1909, the light known today as Point Cabrillo was built on a windswept promontory two miles north of the village of Mendocino.

Downtown Pasadena's Early Architecture

9780738530246

$24.99

At sunset, the San Gabriel Mountains form a rosy sculptural backdrop for Pasadena, a city of stately street trees and lush gardens. Attracted by a paradisiacal climate, health seekers and wealthy Easterners flocked to its resort hotels--the Green, the Maryland, the Huntington, the Painter, the Raymond--and built grand residences along Orange Grove and Grand Avenues. Scores of commercial and industrial buildings rose downtown, punctuated by public works, civic buildings, schools, and churches that doubled as works of art, like the Colorado Street Bridge, the Christian Science Church, and the California Mediterranean-style city hall. Preservation efforts have succeeded in putting Old Pasadena and the Pasadena Civic Center on the National Register of Historic Places, and continued restoration has made the city's unique architectural treasures a major attraction in Southern California.

Motorcycling in Santa Barbara County

9781467117234

$24.99

Starting in the early 1900s, Santa Barbara County became home to over a dozen motorcycle racecourses. Not one of those battlegrounds survives today. Pershing Park once had a stadium, Elings Park on Las Positas Road was Veronica Springs Hill Climb Course, and before that, La Conchita was home to hill climbing and TT events. Motorcycling in Santa Barbara County will take the readers back in time to the glory days of two wheels on city streets and engage them in competition at its racetracks. Preserved in these pages are the firsthand stories of the men that competed on these courses as far back as 1924.

Orange

9780738559056

$24.99

Located in the heart of Orange County, the City of Orange has a rich history in the citrus industry and beyond. Founded in 1871 as an agricultural community, the town flourished with the growth of orange and lemon trees in the early 1900s. Downtown Orange grew up around the iconic plaza, with its distinctive circular park and classic fountain. The surrounding neighborhoods filled with homes that reflected architectural styles from the 1880s to the 1940s. As late as 1950, Orange was still just a little town of 10,000 people. Despite the enormous postwar residential growth throughout the county and a tenfold population explosion in the city itself, the community has retained much of the small-town feel of yesteryear.

Cover image for Orange, isbn: 9780738559056

Los Angeles Police Department

9780738530253

$24.99

No police force in history has gained as much fame and notoriety as the Los Angeles Police Department. The acronym LAPD is practically synonymous with the idea of professional law enforcement. The men in blue who patrol Hollywood and the sprawling metropolis of L.A. have been investigated by screenwriters more times than vice versa. With more than 9,300 sworn officers today, the LAPD endures seemingly endless controversies and media circuses. But then there's the other side of L.A.'s protective shield--the story of the force's evolution alongside the spectacular growth of its unique melting-pot city. This book's rare and often never-before-published photographs focus on that side: the excitement, danger, tragedy, and comedy of everyday beat cops and workaday detectives--with concessions to their limelight representations, including Jack Webb's Dragnet and Adam-12.

Hot Rodding in Ventura County

9780738599687

$24.99

Stretching from Ventura to Santa Maria, California, a vibrant and colorful community of hot rod clubs bloomed throughout the middle of the 20th century. Hot Rodding in Ventura County takes a look at the people, places, and, above all, the cars that made up this historic period in automotive culture. Take a look into the golden years of hot rodding through vintage images of the first national championship drag races; visit long-lost drag strips such as Goleta, Saugus, and Santa Maria; and gain access to hot rodding's paramount clubs like the Motor Monarchs, the Kustomeers, and the Pharaohs.

Port Chicago

9780738555515

$24.99

Port Chicago was an all-American town and naval facility. Forged at the beginning of the 20th century on Suisun Bay in Contra Costa County, the navy town met its end during the Vietnam War, when it was sacrificed to preserve national security. Port Chicago was a place where no one locked their doors. It was a place of family, education, and religion--and of parades and patriotism. When the town was built, nearly everyone who lived there was from somewhere else. But between 1908 and 1968, the residents created a close-knit community, which, despite the dissolution of the town through eminent-domain proceedings, still survives today. Starting with the port's early days, continuing through the disastrous and mysterious explosion and subsequent mutinies in 1944, and ending with rumors of nuclear weapons and the controversial 1960s, this book traces the singular journey of a port town through the best and worst times of the 20th century.

California Cavalry

9781467131100

$24.99

California was home to the one of the first Native American cavalries and one of the first African American cavalries, commonly known as the Buffalo Soldiers. It was in California where the country saw the last official military cavalry in operation. California Cavalry displays the history of cavalry battalions and regiments, detailing a critical and controversial period and the eventual change from horse to mechanized technology. This book attempts to approach the topic of the cavalry in California both from indigenous and from military perspectives. Geographic regions are expanded beyond California to give context and continuity to the movement of military operations.

Ventura County Motor Sports

9781467115292

$24.99

Ventura County has a long tradition in motor sports, and area racing enthusiasts have done it all, whether on four wheels or two, on the road or off, in a straight line or a circle, or even on the water. Ventura County Motor Sports takes you back to the vintage years of the Central Coast car and racing culture with a new set of classic photographs. Visit the forgotten racetrack known as Oxnard Speedway, check out the hot-rodding scene in Ojai during the 1950s and 1960s, and meet some of the personalities from Ventura County that made their mark in the automotive and racing world, plus get a special look at local custom cars and some great motorcycle, off-road, and drag boat action from the golden years.

St. Francis Dam Disaster

9780738520797

$24.99

Minutes before midnight on the evening of March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam collapsed. The dam's 200-foot concrete wall crumpled, sending billions of gallons of raging flood waters down San Francisquito Canyon, sweeping 54 miles down the Santa Clara River to the sea, and claiming over 450 lives in the disaster. Captured here in over 200 images is a photographic record of the devastation caused by the flood, and the heroic efforts of residents and rescue workers.

Built by the City of Los Angeles' Bureau of Water Works and Supply, the failure of the St. Francis Dam on its first filling was the greatest American civil engineering failure of the 20th century. Beginning at dawn on the morning after the disaster, stunned local residents picked up their cameras to record the path of destruction, and professional photographers moved in to take images of the washed-out bridges, destroyed homes and buildings, Red Cross workers giving aid, and the massive clean-up that followed. The event was one of the worst disasters in California's history, second only to the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire.

Early Poverty Row Studios

9781467132589

$24.99

The history of Hollywood is often seen only through the lens of the major studios, forgetting that many of Tinseltown's early creations came from micro-studios stretched along Sunset Boulevard in an area disparagingly known as Poverty Row. Here, the first wave of West Coast moviemakers migrated to the tiny village of Hollywood, where alcohol was illegal, actors were unwelcome, and cattle were herded down the unpaved streets. Most Poverty Row producers survived from film to film, their fortunes tied to the previous week's take from hundreds of nickelodeon tills. They would routinely script movies around an event or disaster, often creating scenarios using sets from more established productions, when the bosses weren't looking, of course. Poverty Row quickly became a generic term for other fly-by-night studios throughout the Los Angeles area. Their struggles to hang on in Hollywood were often more intriguing than the serialized cliffhangers they produced.

Nevada City

9780738530628

$24.99

Vibrant and captivating Nevada City began as a gold-mining camp called Deer Creek Dry Diggins. The large gravel deposits alongside this creek reportedly delivered a pound of pay dirt a day by the fall of 1849, when A. B. Caldwell's general store opened to supply this haphazard collection of tents. By March 1850, somewhere between 6,000 and 16,000 boisterous souls called it home, and the new town was christened "Nevada," meaning "snow covered" in Spanish. After 1861, townsfolk took to adding "City" to the name, to avoid confusion with the new state whose Comstock silver strike drained off many Nevada City residents.
Seven fires burned early Nevada City to the ground,
sparking a fashion for brick architecture that is evident
in many of the 93 downtown structures listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.