Venice

9780738569666

$24.99

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

Baseball in Hawai'i

9781626193130

$21.99

Alexander Cartwright, who invented the game of baseball in New York in the 1840s, soon took his bag of tricks to Hawai'i--where adoption of the pastime predates most other American locales. Pineapple plantation teams played rival sugar refinery clubs with Chinese, Korean and Japanese teams. Barnstorming big-leaguers landed during the winter, and Pearl Harbor brought the biggest names in the sport to paradise: Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, John McGraw and many more. Barry Bonds and Tony Gwynn played for the Hawai'i Islanders before heading up to the Show." Homegrown talents are on display here along with the legends, as author Jim Vitti shows that Hawai'i's baseball history is as rich and diverse as anywhere on the mainland.."

Beach Mexican

9781609496616

$21.99

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

Ghosts of Fort Collins

9781609495190

$21.99

From reports of a figure in the old firehouse bell tower to whispered rumors of apparitions seen in basements and tunnels underneath the city, Fort Collins is filled with disturbing and unnatural occurrences. In Old Town, pictures fly off walls, ghostly noises ring out through passageways and specters pass through brick walls. Tour guide Lori Juszak and her team take readers on a trip through the Choice City's most chilling hauntings and legends. Meet the guest at the Antler's Hotel who never checks out and dance along to the unexplained music in the Museum of Art. Watch out for the ghost at the Armadillo Garage and beware the spirits of the underground morgue!

Italians of the Monterey Peninsula

9781467133067

$24.99

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

San Jose's Historic Downtown

9780738529226

$24.99

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

Frontier History Along Idaho's Clearwater River

9781626197091

$21.99

The Clearwater River runs deep through northern Idaho's history. The Nez Perce tribe made its home along the river. Lewis and Clark's journey west took them through the Clearwater. In fact, the Nez Perce made the expedition's voyage from the Clearwater River to the Pacific Ocean possible by teaching them how to make dugout canoes from ponderosa pine logs. Fur traders like John Jacob Astor and William Ashley financed the first American commercial activity on the river, bringing trappers to the area and paving the way for the Oregon Trail. Later came the first gold rush, the Nez Perce war, statehood, homesteaders and the beginning of the logging industry. Join author John Bradbury as he recounts a time when native tribes, explorers, trappers, preachers, miners and lumberjacks made a life along the Clearwater, establishing the area for future generations.

Frontier History Along Idaho's Clearwater River

Del Mar Fairgrounds

9780738558226

$24.99

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

Poway

9780738555973

$24.99

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

Point Piedras Blancas

9780738558196

$24.99

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

Cleveland National Forest

9780738558042

$24.99

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

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

9781609497415

$21.99

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

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

Ripon

9780738581668

$24.99

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

Emeryville

9780738530062

$24.99

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

The Harris Company

9780738559018

$24.99

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

Cemeteries of the Eastern Sierra

9780738547862

$24.99

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

Santa Monica

9780738581439

$24.99

The city of Santa Monica in the post-World War II era has enjoyed a colorful history as both a resort community and as a bustling, vibrant city. Its coastal Mediterranean climate has provided an ideal atmosphere for the famous California lifestyle. Known for the 100-year-old Santa Monica Pier, as well as the Third Street Promenade, for its beautiful beaches and quaint neighborhoods, Santa Monica has been home to many famous Hollywood movie stars, including Shirley Temple, Cary Grant, Betty Grable, Clark Gable, Bette Davis, and Robert Redford. Arnold Schwarzenegger has also maintained offices here. Santa Monica has played host to many of the nation's most famous names, such as Gen. Jimmy Doolittle and Pres. John F. Kennedy. The companion piece to Images of America: Early Santa Monica, this volume's more than 200 photographs cover the dynamic people, businesses, events, attractions, and celebrities that have shaped Santa Monica into the world-renowned city of today.

Lost Ski Areas of Southern California

9781609493875

$21.99

The snow-laden slopes of the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains have beckoned Southland skiers since the 1930s. Many once-cherished ski areas have disappeared, yet their history remains. A short drive from the sun and sand, places like Rebel Ridge and Kratka Ridge offered snowy escapes. Thrilling races were held at the First International Pine Needle Ski Tournament in North Hollywood, while the San Diego Ski Club boasted Dorothy McClung Wullich, the first female member of the National Ski Patrol. Ingrid Wicken, ski historian and founder of the California Ski Library, chronicles Southern California's lost mountain getaways and the vanished ski areas that introduced everything from rope tows to artificial snow.

Hammond's Candies

9781626197169

$21.99

In 1920, Carl T. Hammond founded his company with a commitment to quality. He single-handedly developed recipes, sold candy and handled everything else required to run the small operation. Nearly a century after that humble beginning, Hammond's Candies still clings to that original vision, creating prized confections by hand. The Mitchell Sweet, first introduced in the 1930s, is still a top seller, and visitors touring the factory can view the original machinery being used in production. Author Corky Thompson traces the history and growth of this family-owned company from 1920 until its sale at the end of the twentieth century and follows its transition under new ownership to the present time.

Moraga

9781467116206

$24.99

Long before the Gold Rush drew settlers from the East, the land that would one day be developed into the town of Moraga was situated on a large rancho owned by the Moraga family. Nestled amongst hills just east of Oakland and Berkeley, the Moraga Valley of the 19th century attracted cattle ranchers and farmers who planted vegetables, fruit, and nuts. In particular, pear orchards established in the earliest farming days are still celebrated in the city's annual Pear & Wine Festival. In the early 20th century, tourists escaped the sometimes chilly and fog-bound cities near San Francisco Bay to picnic in the Moraga redwoods. Electric trains, which brought Moraga's commuters to cities and students to St. Mary's College, enabled the growth of subdivisions and businesses. Train tracks eventually gave way to trails for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. Once considered a potential site for the United Nations, Moraga has maintained its rural beauty while developing into a thriving suburb.

Los Angeles's Bunker Hill

9781609495466

$21.99

When postwar movie directors went looking for a gritty location to shoot their psychological crime thrillers, they found Bunker Hill, a neighborhood of fading Victorians, flophouses, tough bars, stairways and dark alleys in downtown Los Angeles. Novelist Raymond Chandler had already been there exploring the real-life "mean streets" that his hardboiled detective, Philip Marlowe, prowled in the writer's exacting prose. But the biggest crime was going on behind the scenes, run by the city's power elite. And Hollywood just happened to capture it on film. Using nearly eighty photos, writer Jim Dawson enlarges the record of L.A. history with this grassroots investigation of a vanished place.

El Segundo

9781467115896

$24.99

By 1885, Daniel Freeman owned a successful 25,000-acre ranch along the coastline in Southern California. That year, he sold parcels to J.S. Vosberg, and this became the site of the town of El Segundo. The Standard Oil Company of California purchased 840 acres of dunes in June 1911, and R.J. Hanna was hired to construct and manage the new refinery. His wife is credited with naming the town El Segundo ("the second"), as it was the location of the second Standard Oil plant. The city quickly expanded and was incorporated on January 18, 1917. From an early oil town to the "Aerospace Capital of the World" in the mid-1950s, El Segundo today includes a thriving residential community as well as several Fortune 500 corporations, an Air Force base, and the Chevron El Segundo Refinery.

The Great Crescenta Valley Flood: New Year's Day 1934

9781609494490

$21.99

As Crescenta Valley residents gathered to ring in the 1934 New Year, a cloudburst broke over Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains, unleashing a deluge on mountainsides denuded by recent fires. A roaring wall of rocks, mud and water crashed down the canyons, uprooting trees, tossing boulders and automobiles like toys and carving a path of destruction. Using painstaking research and heart-rending firsthand accounts, historian Art Cobery paints a picture of survival and redemption in the face of natural disaster, including the heroic efforts of eleven-year-old Marcie Warfield to save her father and younger brother, the devastating debris flow that claimed the lives of refugees and aid workers at the American Legion Hall and the selfless acts of neighbors caught in the storm of events.

The Great Crescenta Valley Flood: New Year's Day 1934

Maritime Marin

9780738559049

$24.99

Marin County's spectacular Pacific coast has been noted as both one of the most beautiful locations on earth and--for some early mariners--a place of absolute terror. The rocky coast here has claimed hundreds of ships and the lives of thousands of sailors. Though long known for its beautiful natural settings of woodlands, beaches, and hills, Marin's maritime history is surprisingly varied, with tales of English pirates, Spanish explorers, Yankee whalers, and an immense wartime shipbuilding effort. The rocky seascapes and sandy beaches of Point Reyes, Bolinas, and Stinson Beach--along with the bay-side villages of Sausalito, Tiburon, and San Rafael--have long been important ports for commercial and pleasure mariners.

Filipinos in Vallejo

9780738529691

$24.99

Filipinos came to Vallejo as early as 1912, and some families here can count five generations back to their roots in the Philippines. Many came to Mare Island Naval Shipyard, where Filipinos found steady, well-paying jobs that spared them from menial work and stoop labor in the fields of California. With each major conflict of the 20th century, and finally with the relaxation of immigration quotas in 1965, waves of Filipino newcomers arrived on these shores. They advanced in their work at the shipyards, settled down, and started families, buying homes and establishing successful businesses. Now this active, politically empowered Filipino community numbers in the tens of thousands, yet traditional histories ignore its contribution to Vallejo's heritage.

Los Angeles Sports Memories

9781626199897

$21.99

For five decades, distinguished sportswriter Doug Krikorian chronicled LA's most transcendent sports moments. Revisit revered columns enshrining iconic achievements like when rookie Magic Johnson scored forty-two points and collected fifteen rebounds, leading the Lakers to the NBA title against the Philadelphia 76ers. Celebrate with the Angels all over again after their 2002 World Series victory. Reflect on momentous stories featuring Eric Dickerson, Wayne Gretzky, Muhammad Ali and many other illustrious personalities. From Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's fervent feud to Dodger Kirk Gibson's legendary game-winning 1988 World Series opener home run, relive the triumphs and tribulations of one of America's marquee sports towns.

Life On Route 66:

9781609496227

$21.99

Winding through the rugged heartland of the American West, Route 66 has resonated for generations in hardscrabble stories of hopeful seekers of new homes and lives. The Mother Road has inspired books and shows by the dozens, exploring the mythology and anticipation of freedom road. But here is something new. Coauthors Alan and Claudia Heller, longtime residents of Duarte, California, along Route 66, hitched their trailer to a retirement dream and traveled the road again, in their home state and back to Chicago. They collected stories of the iconic highway, and what it means to the people who live along its way, for a series in the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group. Retrace their journey with this collection and find the people and places that make Route 66 truly historic.

Catholics of San Francisco

9780738559483

$24.99

Catholicism has greatly influenced the character of San Francisco, beginning with its origins in California in the mission system, which brought Franciscan friars, Spanish soldiers, and new settlers to these shores. Catholics have been witness to history-making events that have included the 1848 Gold Rush, the 1906 earthquake and fire, and the 1918 influenza pandemic. Parishes, schools, hospitals, and charities took shape after the archdiocese's establishment in 1853. The guidance of archbishops, dedication of religious orders, and support of the lay community has made the city named for St. Francis of Assisi into a uniquely Catholic place. The leadership of Catholics in the larger community continues today, enriched by new cultures and traditions.

Kings County

9780738558448

$24.99

Kings County, sprawling across the San Joaquin Valley south of the Kings River and encompassing the bulk of the historic Tulare Lake bed, is an agricultural wonder with ranches, dairy farms, vineyards, and multiple other field and orchard crops. Created in 1893 from Tulare County and expanded in 1909 from elements of Fresno County, Kings County has grown in the last century from a forgotten corner of California into a major agricultural-economic force.

San Francisco Police Department

9780738528984

$24.99

The officers of the San Francisco Police Department would be the first to tell you that police work in this city is nothing like Dirty Harry, The Streets of San Francisco, or Nash Bridges. It's a gritty reality, occasionally infused with glamour, but always characterized by the innovation and unusual proceedings found as a matter of course in this unique city. The department was established in 1849, when the population surge from the Gold Rush created a desperate need for law enforcement. An initial 35-member force was formed to protect over 20,000 residents. Since then, the SFPD has presided over notorious events, including the case of the Zodiac Killer, Zebra Murders, the Patty Hearst Hibernia Bank robbery, the 1975 assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford, and the Golden Dragon Restaurant and 101 California Street Massacres. While the SFPD story includes a gruesome and sometimes scandalous past, its dedicated officers continue to provide a positive and invaluable service to the diverse metropolitan community of San Francisco.

The Curious Life of Nevada's LaVere Redfield: The Silver Dollar King

9781626197046

$21.99

LaVere Redfield was a prolific hoarder. When he died in 1974, his estate was estimated at more than $70 million. Executors found 680 bags of silver coins and 407,000 Morgan and Peace silver dollars in his Reno mansion. A local Reno legend, Redfield gambled regularly in Virginia Street casinos. He survived robbery and burglaries of his home, which contained false walls to store millions of silver dollars. Hating banks and paper money, as well as big government, Redfield opted to serve a prison term for income tax evasion rather than pay his debts from his ample fortune. Join author Jack Harpster for this first book-length study of this unconventional man behind the folklore and the myth.

The Curious Life of Nevada's LaVere Redfield: The Silver Dollar King

Crestline Chronicles

9781609495848

$21.99

Situated in the beautiful San Bernardino Range, Crestline is the gateway community to the famous mountain resorts of Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake. Historically, the area was known for timber-cutting, hunting and fishing, fruit and nut harvesting and, later on, skiing and other winter sports. The first visitors to the area were Native Americans escaping the Mojave Desert summers; followed in the 1850s by Mormon lumberjacks who built San Bernardino Town at the base of the mountains; and then successors who bought the sawmills and settled into mountain living. In these stories of Crestline's formative times, historian Rhea-Frances Tetley recalls some of the more intrepid and colorful characters to have trekked through the western San Bernardinos.

Sunnyvale

9780738574356

$24.99

Sunnyvale has been a place for forward thinking and innovation since its founding in 1861, when Irish immigrant Martin Murphy Jr. allowed a new railroad to pass through his land. By linking San Jose's farms to San Francisco's docks, he did more than help overcome the muddy misery of travel on the El Camino Real. The whistle stop first known as "Encinal" quickly grew into a center for agriculture, followed by defense, novel suburban development, and high technology. Sunnyvale is a place where names like Del Monte, Hendy, Lockheed, Atari, and Yahoo! have each carried their day. Yet the city's relentless drive forward has made a sense of identity elusive. The downtown core has been rebuilt numerous times without much success, and examples abound of historic structures torn down for something new. But lately, the town has gotten its groove back. The restored city center now draws a crowd, and, thanks to a 50-year effort, the rebuilt Murphy house shimmers in the sun once again.

The Denver Folk Music Tradition

9781609495329

$21.99

In 1962, Harry Tuft founded the Denver Folklore Center to bring together contemporary folk music fans and performers such as Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins and so many more. In the following decade, a core of folk enthusiasts established the Swallow Hill Music Association. These two organizations have persevered to sustain a lasting folk legacy in the Mile High City. This is the story of how the music and the people who love and live it shaped a unique, influential tradition. Join local historian and musician Paul Malkoski on a tour through more than fifty years of Denver's proud folk music scene.

South San Francisco

9780738529219

$24.99

Locals call it "South City." The founding fathers always intended South San Francisco to be an industrial leader, clearly distinguishing it from its northern neighbor. Fuller Paints, Pacific Coast Steel, and Western Meats made an early impact on the city's economic growth. During wartime, the development of a deep-water harbor brought shipbuilding to Oyster Point. The historic sign on Sign Hill still reads "South San Francisco: The Industrial City," but evolution is the name of the game, and the workhorse of the city's modern economy is biotech research and development.