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• MURDER IN THE GARDEN, VOL. 2

  $18.95 $11.37 0 review(s)

  
  

  Subtitle: "More Famous Crimes of Early Fresno County." With a foreword by William Secrest, Sr. Presenting 16 famous cases from Fresno, California, set mainly in the first part of the 20th century, author Scott Morrison -- a long-time detective in the Fresno sheriff's office - brings to life fascinating cases of murder and mayhem from Fresno?s past. The book introduces memorable figures such as Fresno?s ?Old Broom Man? and ?Black Widow,? and one chapter focuses specifically on all the men from Fresno County who have ever been executed by the State of California?s justice apparatus. ?Murder in the Garden, Volume 2? offer commentary that compares these sensational past cases to current high-profile criminal cases. A consideration of the changing face of crime, this history reveals a modern upswing in child abuse, multiple murders, and kidnapping cases and highlights the extended nature of the current legal process as compared to the open-and-shut character of the early 1900s.

• SKI TALES: THE HISTORY OF CHINA PEAK AND SIERRA SUMMIT

  $10.95 $6.57 0 review(s)

  
  

  The True Story of Sierra Summit in Words and Pictures. Written by an old timer who has been schussing the nooks and the crannies, the steeps and the deeps, for 50 years, Ski Tales: The History of China Peak and Sierra Summit reveals the unique, dramatic, and often humorous history of Sierra Summit, from its beginning as China Peak to the present day. Illustrated with dozens of vintage and new photos of colorful personalities and breathtaking snowscapes, Ski Tales will take you on a nostalgic journey through decades of perfect snow, sunny days, fun and friendship.

• THE VALLEYS LEGENDS & LEGACIES, VOL VI

  $18.95 $11.37 0 review(s)

• SAN FRANCISCO'S PLAYLAND AT THE BEACH: The Early Years

  $24.95 $14.97 0 review(s)

  
  

  Playland at the Beach was a magical place, revered in the hearts of San Franciscans and all who visited. Playland wasn?t just another amusement park?it had a special identity that encompassed socialization, dining, playing, strolling and sight-seeing that was purely San Francisco. From the 1920s to the 1970s, Playland enthralled generations. Everyone who visited it recognized its uniqueness, and its pioneering rides and attractions inspired the designers of the amusement parks that followed. ?San Francisco?s Playland at the Beach? is a comprehensive photographic record of Playland at the Beach from its construction in 1920 through its glorious heyday in the 1930s and 40s. The book presents over 350 rare photographs of Playland and the surrounding neighborhood, including 250 unique, never-before-seen photos drawn from the private archive of ride designer Laurence ?Laurie? Hollings. ?San Francisco?s Playland at the Beach? leads the reader through a chapter-by-chapter tour of the setting and evolution of Playland during its formative era. Photographs trace the development of the site from steam shovels carving the bare sand dunes of Ocean Beach and the construction of the main Playland buildings. Each of Playland?s famous rides receives its own chapter, with photographs showing both how the rides were built and how they looked in their prime. Other chapters cover Playland?s attractions, arcade amusements, restaurants, and nightclubs. Incidental photographs depict the clothes, cars, people, and customs of the time. The book also covers some of the most notable events that happened at Playland in the 1930s, including the Century of Progress exhibit of 1934 and a labor strike that paralyzed the park in the mid-30s. The book includes a complete timeline and history of Playland from its beginning to its destruction in 1972. ?San Francisco?s Playland at the Beach? gives readers an enchanting vision of the fun, sights, sounds, and flavors of a glamorous and care-free time. Take a turn on the Big Dipper roller coaster, the Shoot the Chutes water ride, the DodgEm bumper cars, and the six-story giant slide at the Fun House. Taste a Pie Shop blackberry pie, Topsy?s chicken, and a Bull Pupp enchilada. Listen to the staccato of the four shooting galleries, the rumble of the wooden roller coaster and the screams of its passengers, the orchestrion playing marching tunes, and the raucous laughter of Laffing Sal. Richly illustrated and painstakingly researched, ?San Francisco?s Playland at the Beach? is a time machine fun ride through little-known history.

• CALIFORNIA DISASTERS [LSI]

  $18.95 $11.37 0 review(s)

  
  

  It was another time. Deadly earthquakes, steamboat explosions, floods, train wrecks, and other tragedies were a part of everyday life in nineteenth-century California. Yet, the men and women of the day licked their wounds, mourned their dead, picked up the pieces, and plunged ahead to build a great prosperous new state that took its place in the forefront of our great Union. This is their stories, in their own words. First-person accounts of the major 19th century California catastrophes. Includes scores of contemporary period photographs and other illustrations.

• GOLD RUSH IN THE KLONDIKE: A Woman’s Journey in 1898–1899

  $22.95 $13.77 0 review(s)

  
  

  When Josephine Knowles left for the Klondike gold fields with her husband in 1898, she didn’t know she would be facing a constant battle with cold, disease, malnutrition and the ever-present possibility of death. Gold Rush in the Klondike is Knowles’s true story of her year in the Yukon territory, a revealing, never-before-published personal memoir of day-to-day life at the height of the Klondike Gold Rush. Written in a clear, forthright, nineteenth-century style, Gold Rush in the Klondike presents terrifying struggles against a hostile environment, picturesque descriptions of an untouched Arctic wilderness and Knowles’s keen observations of men and women on the frontier. A Victorian gentlewoman of refinement, Knowles found herself among swearing, whoring, sometimes violent miners, whom she won over with her grit and compassion. Deciding to never moralize or condemn, Knowles writes frankly of the intense hardships that drove miners into lives of drink and dissipation and the frontier women who were forced to make stark choices between prostitution and starvation. Knowles’s adventures include encounters with author Jack London (Knowles firmly disapproved of London’s cruel mistreatment of his sled dogs), nursing miners during a typhoid outbreak until she fell ill herself, witnessing savage fights among the miners, dangerous travel through the mountain passes and river rapids of the Yukon, and a daring surreptitious visit to a gambling saloon. Amid all hardships, Knowles formed warm relationships with the mining community, for, as she put it, “All the diseases and other troubles had knitted us into one large family.” Illustrated with period photographs, Gold Rush in the Klondike is an invaluable historical document of a lost time and place and an admirable portrait of one woman’s determination in the face of danger.