San Francisco Through Time depicts the evolution of a cosmopolitan city that began as the settlement of Yerba Buena (Spanish for good herb), and was renamed San Francisco (Spanish for...
Idyllwild, California, is an extraordinary mountain village. On weekends and holidays, it hosts a flood of visitors. Many are drawn by its reputation as an arts community; more come simply...
How could a circle of women without power, money, or political position become one with the tapestry of a city? This is the question arising from the story of the...
Somewhere between the Hollywood sign and the Pacific Ocean, underneath the palm trees and above the crowded highways, there they are. You may have seen one in your favorite movie,...
Hollywood, California, Through Time is a visual discovery of the most dreamed about city in the world. Hollywood is a physical place, with over a century of cinema, where you...
In the past century, dreams have flourished in the deserts of California, fueled by gold, war, optimism and wealth, only to later be abandoned. Homes, mines, utopian societies, railroads, airports,...
For well over a century, San Diego has been at the forefront of air and space innovation, development, and exploration. From the first flights by John J. Montgomery in 1883...
In 1880, San Diego was a sleepy, dusty, western border town of about 2,500 souls. Today, it is a modern, world-class city with a greater metropolitan area population of more...
Driving through Northern California, you will find sprawling military bases, immense wineries, gold mining towns, and amusement parks all lying abandoned. The combination of different people and industries this part...
From prospectors' haunts in old ghost towns dating back to the Gold Rush, to the now-almost-deserted roadside towns of Route 66, the history of Southern California lives on through its...
It was a sailor's dream: more than 100 bars, casinos and whorehouses, just a short boat ride across the Napa River that separated the sprawling Mare Island Naval Shipyard from...
San Francisco's first cable car line opened in 1873. The successful development of the electric streetcar by Frank Sprague in 1888 plus the 1906 San Francisco earthquake resulted in the...
In Weird Crescenta Valley, we learn about the odd events, people, and places of the valley, along with natural and supernatural oddities. For instance, a new-age religion was briefly located...
The story of Lake Tahoe is the story of people and the environment and their reciprocal influences. The environment shaped the lives of the early people of Tahoe, and later,...
The columns in this book focus on the colorful and fascinating history of Vallejo, a shipyard town just north of San Francisco. The writing began following the publishing of author...
Somewhere between the allure of the Hollywood sign and Pacific Ocean, there it is. You may have seen it in your favorite movie, walked by it a thousand times, or...
Three miles outside California’s jurisdiction amid the second half of the roaring twenties, a handful of bootleggers, gamblers, Mafiosi, and political fixers sank their earnings into a boisterous new venture....
From native peoples to today’s inhabitants, this anthology collects Delta stories. For native peoples, the Delta satisfied mind, body, and spirit. For the Spanish recruiting native labor and souls, it...
In Northern California, there are four tourist railroads that have established themselves as go-to destinations for railroad enthusiasts and tourists alike: Niles Canyon Railway, Napa Valley Wine Train, California State...
Abandoned Salton Sea: Dystopian Panoramas presents a journey into this unique Southern California region. An initial glimpse of the Salton Sea and its environs is a surreal experience—the landscape is...
Creating a “fun” history book can be a tall order, but author Bo Grebitus has made a real go of it in his new book, Touching History. In rediscovering Tahoe...
In 1832, the captain of the brigantine Catalina ordered Scotsman James Black, dying of typhus, abandoned at Monterey, California. Nursed by J. B. R. Cooper's wife, Black survived to hunt...
The Crescenta Valley is an upper middle-class suburb of Los Angeles. It enjoys a low crime rate and high property values. But like any community, it has a distasteful side...
It was as if the word GOLD echoed around the world as people came to the Pacific Northwest in droves in search of sudden wealth in the 1850s. Thousands of...
Abandoned Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: California Revealed is an unforgettable nocturnal journey through secret locations hidden in the deserts of California. California has more than its share of abandoned planes,...
Throughout its rich and storied history, California has seen the rise and fall of countless individuals, industries, and empires. Men have dug deep into her rich soil in search of...
Ghost Stories from the San Joaquin Delta provides an introduction to local history through stories that reflect our culture and identity. Tule fog, railroads, waterways and remote homesteads provide a...
Southern California can be called a sunny place for shady people. Its criminal history is as rich and varied as anywhere. Old West outlaws, serial killers, gangsters and thieves have...
San Mateo is situated on the San Francisco Peninsula, just 15 miles south from San Francisco. It was named by the De Anza exploration party when they set up camp...
The Salton Sea, California’s largest inland body of water, was a spectacular oasis in the desert which attracted droves of boating, fishing, and beach enthusiasts for fun in the sun....
The San Francisco Bay Area is in perpetual transformation.From the ancient Gold Rush to the recent Tech Boom, the city is always reinventing itself, and leaving behind artifacts of transitions...
Murder is shocking. The savagery of Elizabeth Short’s (also known as the Black Dahlia) slaying was beyond anything Los Angeles, indeed the U.S., had experienced. Short would not be the...
Junkyard Nights is a nocturnal love letter to the ghosts of our automotive past. Follow photographer, Troy Paiva, as he shoots two old school junkyards in California’s agricultural heartland by...
“Hooray for Hollywood,” the 1937 anthem by Johnny Mercer for the film Hollywood Hotel, says it all cinematically as dozens of star wannabes head for Hollywood in a full production...
In Journal Across the Plains, 1852: The Brothers Verdenal, Missouri to California, pre-teen brothers John and Dominique Verdenal document the day-to-day events of the El Dorado wagon train traveling between...
The San Francisco East Bay is home to a large and expanding variety of graffiti artists. In this collection of cities, you can find their expressions and experimentations in secret...
