This episode of California’s Golden Parks, originally aired in January 2005, sees Huell visiting Pio Pico State Historic Park in Whittier. The house was built in 1850, after Pio Pico’s time as governor of Mexican California had come to an end and around the time California became the 31st state. At its largest, Pio Pico’s ranch was 8,894 acres; nowadays […]
I’m not sure why I keep stumbling upon empty, abandoned houses in the past couple of months. It started on our most recent trip to the Mendocino coast — four such neglected structures caught my attention. Three of those I hope to explore in the future, and the fourth gave off such creepy vibes I chose to give it a […]
Although this one-hour episode of Visiting originally aired in August 2006, I do feel like it’s fitting, as we say hello to a brand new year, to take a long look at the the stars that surround us, to consider our place in the universe, and to ponder where we have been and where we are going. Another more personal […]
Today I’m sharing more pictures from my visit to the Haas-Lillienthal house in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. I know I’m not the only one fascinated by the beautiful details of Victorian houses. Our tour guide took a few minutes to explain gingerbread trim and shingles on the building’s exterior, and later ushered us inside to admire the woodwork, stained […]
During our visit to Mendocino in early March 2023, we stayed in a quiet cabin on the east side of Highway 1, about a mile from the headlands. I’ve never been inside the MacCallum House Inn or barn, and when I shot these pictures I didn’t even realize there were guest rooms in the barn; but I was drawn to […]
Sometimes it surprises me when I go back and look through my photos to see what I’ve skipped over and forgotten or neglected to share. And occasionally, the surprise is that the photos that should be there, just are not. That happened to me this week when I made the unhappy discovery that more than two months’ worth of photos […]
I found so many amazing sights during my visit to Mission Dolores in San Francisco. Although I did have some trouble finding my way to the site of this landmark in the Mission District, once I arrived all that was forgotten; I wandered through the original mission, the “new” basilica — completed in 1918 — and the attached cemetery. Although […]
Every now and then a couple of my interests will happen to coincide in ways I never expected. That happened recently after my fascination for Chinese history and California history brought me to read Heather B. Moore’s novel The Paper Daughters of Chinatown (published in September 2020). Although in novel form, the story, set in San Francisco of the late […]