History
The strange boundary line that divides California in two
On county maps of California, an oddly straight horizontal line bisects the state about 30 miles north of Bakersfield. In perennial debates over where Southern California ends and Northern California begins, no official answer exists and opinions vary widely. But it was based upon this line — comprising the northern boundaries of San Luis Obispo, Kern, and…
Read MoreThe 12 flags of California
Texas has embraced the slogan “Six flags over Texas” in recognition of the six sovereign countries that once presided over the state, incorporating their emblems into malls, official buildings, and the namesake theme park Six Flags. If California did the same, it would need a lot more flagpoles. All told, at least 12 flags have flown over the…
Read MoreThe daredevils who posed at Yosemite’s cliff edges in days of yore
This month, a selfie video showing a man dangling his legs from an overhang at Yosemite’s Half Dome made the rounds on social media, with many viewers aghast at the apparent risk involved. The danger is real. According to Michael Ghiglieri, co-author of “Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite,” of about 1,200 deaths at Yosemite National Park…
Read MoreLos Angeles County’s oldest home in hidden inside a mobile home park
The oldest house in Los Angeles County is encircled by a ring of aging mobile homes just off the 5 Freeway in the working-class city of Bell Gardens. Concealed from view and largely blocked off to the public, Casa de Rancho San Antonio contains the story of California. As historians tell it, the adobe structure was built…
Read MoreWhen Yosemite welcomed bear feeding
For decades, the National Park Service used to welcome visitors to feed the bears in Yosemite, even establishing “bear shows” at trash pits. Inevitably, the powerful animals became aggressive. People were mauled, and a number of bears had to be killed. By the 1940s, park officials had learned their lesson. The bear shows were eliminated, signs…
Read More“Babe-raham Lincoln”: The story behind Los Angeles’s sexy Abraham Lincoln statue
There’s a statue of a Abraham Lincoln as a young stud inside a Los Angeles federal courthouse. This fun fact was brought to Twitter’s attention in 2019 by the screenwriter Zack Stentz, whose post about the “swimsuit model” interpretation of the Great Emancipator set off a wave of disbelief and jokes: “honest abs,” “the Gettysburg undress,” “more…
Read MoreJulia Morgan, California’s trailblazing female architect
Julia Morgan, born in Oakland in 1872, was the first woman licensed to practice architecture in California. She designed more than 700 buildings of almost every type, including one of California’s grandest structures: Hearst Castle. By the time of her death in 1957, her Beaux-Arts background was being overshadowed by the rise of Modernism. But…
Read MoreA California agricultural inspector quit his job during WWII to tend the farms of interned Japanese families
After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, the U.S. government forced people of Japanese descent into internment camps for the duration of the war. Many lost their homes to bank foreclosures or thieves. Bob Fletcher knew some of the farmers from his work as an inspector. Appalled by the injustice, he quit his job and…
Read More