At the beginning of this one-hour episode of California’s Gold, Huell describes this segment as a “learning experience,” and I certainly learned a few things relating to a portion of California about which I know very little. I believe the closest I’ve ever been to the Owens Valley was a visit to Death Valley National Park — which lies to […]
A couple of years ago I bought journalist Sean Flynn’s book Why Peacocks? as a gift for my mom, and I finally got around to reading it myself, finishing it early last week. In one chapter the author talks about Lucky Baldwin and the fact that he was responsible for introducing six Indian Blue peafowl to his Southern California ranch […]
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. […]
Often imitated, the Meyers Manx remains unique — and more sought after — even all these years later. It just may be impossible to live in California and not have known about these fun little cars, but I had never heard the name “Meyers Manx” until now. And although I’ve never had the pleasure in riding in either an original […]
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 […]
There’s so much to see in this one-hour episode of California’s Gold, originally aired in May 2008. The USS Midway and the USS Hornet are both veterans of the Second World War, but they’ve seen many other types of service over the years. Both ships are still in open to the public, the USS Midway in San Diego and the […]
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 […]
If you’re into history (like me) and if you love trees (again, like me) this episode is the perfect fit! Although this episode originally aired over 20 years ago on October 10, 2003, both trees still survive — more or less. You may not see the historic Vizcaino-Serra oak tree standing tall in its original location, but if you are […]
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 […]