I’m not sure how many people actually realized this, but March 31 was Cesar Chavez Day, a U.S. federal holiday, observed since 2014. I suspect most folks don’t stop to think how important Mr. Chavez’ accomplishments are — and I must include myself in that number. I did grow up hearing his name frequently on the evening news, and I […]
The small coastal town of Point Arena has become one of my favorite places to stay and explore the Mendocino coast; and the Big Guy likes it too, because he can reliably find a nice, secluded spot along the shore to cast a line within the Stornetta Public Lands. With miles of trail covering a variety of terrain and beautiful […]
This is another one of those episodes I had passed over several times until the topic was suddenly brought to my attention by Facebook a few days ago. Huell actually visited the Madrona Marsh Preserve a couple of different times for separate shows aired in 1995 and in 2003. Today I’m featuring the latter, California’s Golden Parks, which highlights the progress of this very special natural area and the opening of the Visitors Center; but to compare the change since the mid 1990s, you can check out the earlier episode of Visiting. Vernal pools are such an important and precious resource, and the fact that the city of Torrance chose to set this land aside — right across the street from a huge shopping mall — is just amazing. Much of the credit goes to the Friends of the Madrona Marsh, local citizens who donate their time and energy to keeping non-native plants from taking over. And that Facebook item I mentioned? It was a short episode of Pat Pattison’s Best of California, providing a right-up-to-date look at Madrona Marsh today! Rescued from future development and a history of oil drilling, the 42-acre Madrona Marsh Nature Preserve in Torrance is one of the last remaining vernal marshes in Southern California. The non-profit, volunteer organization Friends of the Madrona Marsh fought vigorously throughout the ’70s and ’80s to save this delicate natural habitat. Although Huell’s visit shows us a great success […]
Huell did more than one show about the L.A. River, and when I chose this for my topic today it took me some time to decide which episode to feature. I finally realized that this half-hour segment, originally aired in 1994, was the best place to start. The L.A. River has been popping up in the news lately following heavy […]
I had a post about a historic California ghost town randomly pop up on my Facebook feed Tuesday morning, and the name sounded familiar to me — so I went into Chapman University’s archives and found this episode of California’s Gold, originally aired in August 2008. The town was named after the Rand Mountain gold strike, at the Yellow Aster, […]
I apologize in advance if today’s featured episode gets your stomach growling or wakes up your sweet tooth! This segment of Visiting originally aired in January 2001, but I thought it would be fun to take a look at it on Valentine’s Day. Fake food is certainly one way of avoiding unwanted calories, and this company is apparently still very […]
Whenever I think of Seal Beach the first thing that comes to mind is Leisure World, the huge retirement community based in this Southern California coastal town. That’s because I still recall a few visits my family had with a lovely older couple who lived there when I was quite young. I have at least one photo of Grandma Pat, […]
This week I have a handful of slide images from December 1981 that I’ve hesitated to share for awhile. Although I was present for at least some of them, my memories are very vague, and I wish I could remember more details. I actually kept a small journal but it provides only sparse information. My family was spending Christmas and […]
Today I’ve been so busy I still haven’t checked to see the groundhog’s weather prediction for the next six weeks — although locally we’ve been alternating between sunshine and rain. I did have a small surprise when I realized it was seven years ago today that I had my first and only experience with indoor skydiving at iFly Sacramento. I’m […]