From the category archives:

history

Map of L.A. in 1880

July 12, 2010

It is kind of insane to think about just how fast L.A. grew from a sleepy village surrounded by orchards into a world-class megalopolis, but L.A. is so good at paving over its history that it’s tough to get a good perspective on it. Recently, the excellent L.A. History tweeted out this link to an [...]

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Vintage National Park Window Stickers

June 22, 2010

Apparently, well before I was stomping around any hiking trails, the National Park Service had a little tradition of handing out window decals when you visited a park. Starting in 1918 (probably unofficially) as a way to tell which motorists had paid their entrance fees, the practice was eventually officially adopted by the Park Service, [...]

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Bodie State Historic Park

June 9, 2010

So, this isn’t exactly a hiking trip – but anyone who’s even mildly interested in the history of the American West owes it to themselves to visit this unique State Park just outside the eastern boundary of Yosemite National Park. The town of Bodie, north of Mono Lake, was a bonafide boomtown. Named for W. [...]

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Sierra Club Covers L.A. Mountains

April 29, 2010

I just stumbled across this feature article on the Sierra Club’s web site and had to share it – former L.A. Times columnist Brendan Buhler has written a fantastic piece on L.A.’s relationship with the Angeles National Forest. In the article, he touches upon the area’s human and natural history, highlighting some of the unique [...]

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Santa Monica Mountains Science Festival this Weekend

April 15, 2010

If you’re looking to learn a little bit more about some of our local hiking areas or just wanted to reacquaint yourself with the Santa Monica Mountains, you may want to check out the first annual Santa Monica Mountains Science Festival this weekend. A joint production of the National Park Service and the Natural History [...]

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Adams’ Pack Station Update and Fundraiser

April 2, 2010

Yesterday, the LA Times ran a piece on the Adams’ Pack Station at Chantry Flats, which is currently under siege by the LA County Health Department – and the news is good, but not great. The County has agreed to drop some of its demands due to the historic nature of the building, but the [...]

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Public Comment on World War II NPS Historic Sites

November 30, 2009

This Thursday and Friday, the National Park Service will hold listening sessions in Los Angeles and San Francisco to take public comments about its grand program for preserving World War II-era Japanese Internment sites. I know it’s not technically hiking news, but I had the opportunity to visit Manzanar National Historic Site this year on [...]

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Pre-Sale and Discount on National Parks Box Set

September 23, 2009

The PBS store announced today it would be offering a 20% discount on all their Ken Burns paraphernalia, in preparation of the new National Parks series that’s just around the corner. The storefront is accepting pre-orders for the new doc series, which will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on October 6th. For your completists [...]

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Ski History at Kratka Ridge

August 6, 2009

A while back, Zeke from the Ski Channel emailed me, asking about some of my pictures from a hike at Kratka Ridge. Unbeknownst to me, this short, pleasant hike in the upper San Gabriels was holding a piece of skiing history – one of the last remaining single-person chairlifts in the country. I’m not much [...]

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Happy Birthday, Smokey

August 5, 2009

Thursday, August 13th, is Smokey Bear’s 65th birthday, but the US Forest Service has planned ahead and launched a birthday section of SmokeyBear.com, devoted to the mascot’s long history in our wilderness … thankfully replacing the pretty racist WWII forest safety posters that preceded him. The site has a huge gallery of historic print, radio, [...]

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