I have to admit I’ve been skipping over this particular episode for awhile, assuming it was a duplicate, part of Huell’s series on all the California missions. You may recall that I featured the episode including Mission San Juan Bautista back in March of this year. Well, I finally decided to confirm my suspicion — and discovered I was wrong. […]
This Classic episode of California’s Gold originally aired November 1997 — and a lot has changed at Vandenberg since then! These days the facility is known as Vandenberg Space Force Base, and it has been the site of numerous military space launches as well as those of NASA and SpaceX. As a military installation, access to the Vandenberg property is […]
Over the past 8 years, I’ve really enjoyed sharing links to episodes of the various shows Huell Howser created during his time at KCET in Los Angeles. And I’ve always been very happy to showcase the Chapman University Archives in doing so. But recently their page has changed one single aspect that’s making it very difficult for me to continue […]
There are a number of different Chinatowns in California these days. The one in San Francisco is probably the best known, as it’s fairly large and still thriving, very popular with tourists. In contrast, San Luis Obisbo’s Chinatown has very nearly disappeared, with only one original building remaining — Ah Louis store, first built in 1874. One of the main […]
This week I’m revisiting a Christmas-themed episode of California’s Gold, one I originally featured back in December 2016. The Sixteen to One Mine that appears in this segment opened in 1896 and is still in operation. I don’t know about you, but I’m still finding it hard to wrap my mind around the fact that Christmas is a mere 12 […]
A couple of days ago I stumbled upon a news article describing the history of Sacramento’s Japantown and how it was basically erased in the period following World War 2. I was amazed to learn that at one time there were more than 30 flourishing Japantowns throughout California — now there are only three, in San Francisco, San Jose, and […]
The area around Santa Cruz has seen plenty of changes over the decades, and the latest bit of change means saying goodbye to the beloved pier at Seacliff State Beach (seen in the photo above). It’s due to be demolished any day now because of heavy storm damage that occurred earlier this year. Although it appears only briefly in this […]
This is another one of those episodes of California’s Gold that I could have sworn I’ve already featured. Mono Lake is certainly a fascinating, beautiful, and unique feature, one that I can’t say I’ve ever visited, but it’s definitely been in the news at various points throughout my lifetime, given the delicate nature of its ecosystem and the importance of […]
This Classic episode of California’s Gold first aired back in 1998. This wasn’t Huell’s only visit to the area; two years later he returned to explore Under Lake Arrowhead in an episode which I previously featured in 2018. The Arrowhead Resort reached the height of fame and glamour many decades ago, and since then has been somewhat in decline. After […]