History

Golden State’s crazy, cheezy dreams

It’s World Cheese Day, don’t you know… Gold rush opportunists, hippie goat ladies, Latino newcomers: California entrepreneurs dream of cheese: The idea for Humboldt Fog goat’s milk cheese first came to Mary Keehn in a dream. She fell asleep on an airplane and awoke with a vivid picture in her mind of how the cheese looked. And then she set out to realize her vision –…


Sessions suing California over immigration

President Donald Trump’s recent trip to California came days after Attorney General Jeff Sessions sued the state for violations of federal immigration law. That case challenges recent California laws limiting cooperation with federal agents. Several cities and states have declined to help with increased federal efforts to arrest, detain and deport people living in the United States without authorization. These are only the latest arguments…


Coastal protection on the edge: The challenge of preserving California’s legacy

By Gary Griggs, University of California, Santa Cruz and Charles Lester, University of California, Santa Cruz For 50 years California has used laws and policies to manage development alongs its 1,100-mile coastline and preserve public access to the shore. Climate change will make that task harder. The California coast is an edge. It’s the place where 1,100 miles of shoreline meets the largest ocean on…


Imagining the ‘California Dream’

Who gave the world the idea of the California Dream? One way to answer this question is: “Who didn’t?” Millions of people today and in the past imagined California before ever going there – or without ever going there at all. Their collective vision of this place, what it means and how it might make, or remake, those who come here is one way to…


After tax cuts derailed the ‘California dream,’ is the state getting back on track?

In 1978, the year I graduated from college with a degree in economics, most voters in my state chose to turn their backs on the “California dream.” Not unlike the American dream, California’s iteration focused on the limitless possibilities awaiting anyone who moved to the state. It was the state’s basic philosophic footing, a social compact that connected generations, geographies and economic classes in a common destiny….


Blast from the past, Dick Noel dead at 90

Dick Noel, a crooner with the Ray Anthony Orchestra who went on to be known as “The King of the Jingles” for his work on commercials, died Friday, Oct. 23 at Escondido after a long illness, his friend Hank Jones said. He was 90. A Time for Love, his highly regarded 1978 album made in collaboration with pianist Larry Novak, featured world-weary renditions of such…


Celebrating state of California at age 167

On Sept. 9, 1850, California was admitted as the 31st state in the U.S. Here are a few things to know about our 167-year old state: Plenty of people to celebrate with: California’s population has gone from 92,597 in 1850 to an estimated 39 million in 2017. In 1962, California became the most populous state in the nation when it surpassed New York. Places to throw a…


Through Pulitzer photog Don Bartletti’s lens

California State University Bakersfield’s Walter Stiern Library Presents Program is exploring issues in immigration with a series of events through December. The series includes a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, a documentary screening, and a poetry reading. The prize-winning photographer, Don Bartlett of the Los Angeles Times, spent a lot of time visiting migrant camps around North County San Diego, including Oceanside, Carlsbad, Fallbrook, Valley Center and Escondido….


Historic homes open for Mother’s Day Tour

Who: Old Escondido Historic District What: 19th Annual Mothers Day Home Tour – Five historic homes will be open to the public. Where: In the Old Escondido Historic District, just south of Escondido’s historic downtown. When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 8. Why: To further the Old Escondido Historic District’s mission “to promote and protect Old Escondido, the city’s oldest neighborhood.” How: Tickets can…


Indiana Jones meet them bones, fossils and rocks of Roynon Museum

Don’t look now Indiana Jones, but Keith and Judy Roynon and their highly eclectic, totally jaw-dropping Roynon Museum of Earth Sciences and Paleontology is gaining on you. The Roynon’s’ huge, private collection of fossils from around the world along with rocks and pre-historic artifacts once filled their South Escondido home. It brought in school groups by the busload for about 15 years. Museum official Jeannie…