Posts by Mike McPhate

There’s a town in the Mojave Desert named Zzyzx that was founded by a legendary huckster. Curtis Howe Springer was an Alabama-born radio evangelist and medical quackery salesman who grew restless during his retirement in Depression-era Los Angeles. He decided to create a retreat center dedicated to healthy living and filed a mining claim on 20…

People paid 25 cents to watch actors pose as “nudists” at San Diego’s Balboa Park in 1935. Yes, it was controversial. The Zoro Garden nudist colony was an attraction at the 1935-36 Pacific International Exposition designed to demonstrate the ideals of the “natural outdoor life.” The public was invited to watch topless women and bearded…

1Wards Ferry Bridge spans the Tuolumne River just outside Yosemite. It’s been a popular hangout spot for teenagers, who have left almost none of the deck’s surface untouched by spray paint. Letter writers to the local newspaper have complained that the renegade artwork spoils the area’s natural beauty. But seen from the sky, it looks…

1. A herd of about 100 wild zebras wanders a stretch of the Central Coast. At pretty much any given moment, motorists who have pulled over along Highway 1 can be seen squinting at what looks like a scene out of the African savannah in the golden pastures near San Simeon. The zebras are descendants…

Tim Palmer loves rivers so much that he lived out out of a van for 22 years so he could be near them. Aged 70, the photographer and naturalist has published 26 books, including “Field Guide to California Rivers” and “Rivers of California.” “California is unique in every way, and rivers are no exception,” Palmer…

The Frisbee was invented in the Golden State. As a teenager in 1930s Los Angeles, Fred Morrison had tossed around cake pans for fun. Later, after serving as a pilot in World War II, he created a series of flying disc prototypes. He sold a plastic version called the Pluto Platter to Wham-O, which rolled…

The Los Angeles Dodgers invented the high five. That’s at least according to one of the most widely cited origin stories of the now-commonplace gesture. It was Oct. 2, 1977, when the Dodgers outfielder Dusty Baker sent his 30th home run of the season over the fence during a game against the Astros. That made…

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is among the world’s most diverse marine ecosystems. The so-called “Serengeti of the Sea” spreads across thousands of square miles from north of San Francisco to the southern end of the Big Sur coast. Established in 1992, the waters abound with dozens of species of marine mammals — including whales, dolphins,…

1The Los Angeles Dodgers invented the high five. That’s at least according to one of the most widely cited origin stories of the now-commonplace gesture. It was Oct. 2, 1977, when the Dodgers outfielder Dusty Baker sent his 30th home run of the season over the fence during a game against the Astros. That made…

A couple weeks ago, the N.Y. Times published an addictive precinct-level map of results from the 2016 presidential election. Statewide, California voters resoundingly favored Hillary Clinton, giving her 61.5 percent of the vote to Donald Trump’s 31.5 percent. But viewed in granular detail, the Times map powerfully demonstrated how many of us really do live…

The legend of Bigfoot turns 60 this month. It was in August of 1958 that Jerry Crew, a tractor operator working in the remote wilderness of Northern California’s Six Rivers National Forest, spotted giant footprints in the mud. They were 16 inches long and, to his eye, manlike. The news media pounced. Writing about the…

John Orr, a former Glendale arson investigator, was uncannily close at hand when fires broke out in Southern California in the 1980s. Colleagues thought he might have a sixth sense. The area was being terrorized at the time by the so-called Pillow Pyro, an arsonist who sometimes targeted linen shops. As chronicled in Joseph Wambaugh’s…

In the 19th century, California’s grizzly bears were commonly regarded as menaces. But settlers did see some value in the mighty beasts — as gladiatorial combatants. Among the pastimes popular at the time were fights to the death between grizzly bears and bulls staged as Sunday entertainment for the after-church crowd. “A bull and bear…

In 2009, Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano heckled Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a gathering in San Francisco, shouting “You lie!” and telling the Republican leader “kiss my gay ass!” Later, Schwarzenegger sent a letter to lawmakers vetoing a bill that Ammiano had sponsored. But it was accompanied by another message. The first letters at the start of seven…

Al Arnold was an unlikely candidate for a sports hero. He was athletic as a young man in the 1950s Bay Area, but later settled into a sedentary life making electrical devices. Nearing 40, he was overweight and out of shape. Then, jolted by a glaucoma diagnosis, he started running. Hobby grew into obsession. He…

1One of the most popular tourist attractions in San Luis Obispo is a downtown alley with walls covered by half-chewed gum. Bubblegum Alley’s origins are murky, but some historians say it evolved from a prank by students in the 1950s into a full-fledged landmark. Visitors wander along a kaleidoscope of stickiness that stretches across both…

1Discarded sofas are commonplace on Los Angeles sidewalks. But where some see trash, Andrew Ward saw something strangely poignant. His photo project “Sofas of L.A.” began as an Instagram hobby, then grew into an obsession that has earned critical acclaim. Andrewward.com | Tumblr Sunset in the East Bay hills. The image was among those selected…

The California historian Kevin Starr placed the Central Valley in the lineage of great irrigated cultures that gave rise to civilization itself. Its rich land yields more than 230 crops — including pistachios, peaches, asparagus, garlic, grapes, apricots, kiwis, and cabbage. That diversity faces a creeping threat. California officials and scientists have been sounding the…