california history

Rancho Santa Fe Covenant won’t change racist coding

Rancho Santa Fe’s Covenant Association, basically a quasi-governmental homeowners association dating to the community’s founding in the 1920s, refuses to change the covenant designation that harkens back to racist restrictions in its original 1928 documentation despite the 1948 outlawing of the practice by the United States Supreme Court, sources say. “What’s unique about Rancho Santa Fe’s covenant is that it went beyond just restricting the…


Firefighters learn from Battle of San Pasqual

The Battle of San Pasqual: Decision Making Lessons Learned from the “Bloodiest Battle in California’s History” By Fire Apparatus Engineer Heather Thurston, CAL FIRE – Monte Vista Unit During the Mexican-American War President James Polk sent the U.S. 1st Dragoons, under the command of General Stephan Watts Kearny, 2000 miles from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to California. On December 6, 1846 these troops engaged a group…


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…


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…