I honestly didn’t expect an episode entitled ‘Cotton’ could be all that interesting, but as usual Huell takes what might be a dull subject and makes it informative yet fun. California grows its share of the nation’s cotton, both Upland/Acala and Pima types, and cotton is the main industry of the town of Buttonwillow, which was founded back in 1895. […]
If you enjoy trains or 19th-century machinery, this episode of Visiting is for you! It’s not the first time Huell has featured model train enthusiasts; you may remember my post from October 2020 in which he visited with the Fairplex Garden Train in Pomona. I also couldn’t help feeling like the Walt Disney barn seemed awfully familiar — it appeared […]
Huell really isn’t kidding when he says that this episode of California’s Gold starts off “with a bang,” and it’s sure to put a smile on your face right away! This is a really fun episode that’s filled with early motion picture theater history — not the big stuff like movie studios and glamorous stars, but the nearly forgotten details […]
I was able to get extremely close to the fire apparatus in the Angels Camp Museum both last summer and in September 2018; by contrast, on my visit to Auburn’s historic red-and-white-striped firehouse, I found everything locked up tight. I shot my photos of the horseless carriage through the windows. Finally, a wire screen protected the entrance to the old […]
This Classic episode of California’s Gold, first aired in 1995, may be titled Olives and Berries; but after watching it I would say it’s really the story of two very different family-run businesses, both of which have been incredibly successful and long-lasting. I was drawn to the story of the olives because at one time, during the late 19th and […]
Every time I find myself wandering the grounds of Denio’s market in Roseville, I realize it’s a very good thing that we live in a small house — one that’s already pretty well packed with mementos of our lives. If I had space for even just a few of the cool items I see for sale during the weekends, I […]
I’m hoping to take another trek back to the Angels Camp Museum this spring, but in the meantime, here are a few more shots from my last visit, in June 2021.
Although I was completely unaware of its existence during my two visits to the Queen Mary in 1974 and 1985, the giant crane featured in the first half of this 1993 episode of California’s Gold was sitting a mere five miles away. It was that very same crane (built in 1941) which lifted the “Spruce Goose” from its original hanger […]
The area around Big Break Regional Shoreline, just east of Antioch on the San Joaquin River, looks to have been a very busy place in the past — rusted machine parts and abandoned boats lie scattered about, faint reminders of days gone by. Nowadays, this part of the shore has been dedicated to restoration and preservation of habitat that welcomes […]