Arcadia Publishing: 7502 books

The San Ramon Valley stretches for 20 beautiful miles under the shadow of Mount Diablo and includes the bustling communities of San Ramon, Alamo, and Danville. Some 113,000 people make their homes here in a scenic area of open spaces, gracious homes, and tree-lined streets. Also here are major business...

A neighborhood in the southeast corner of San Francisco, Potrero Hill enjoys some of the city�s finest weather and most spectacular views. Once pastureland and home to immigrants working in the shipbuilding industries, Potrero Hill was long ignored by guidebooks. Now �The Hill� is regenerating, and these pages highlight what is gone and what remains on these sunny slopes.

Los Olivos was named for central Santa Barbara County wine country�s other small fruit. The local fascination for vineyards is fairly new, but Los Olivos has thrived as a community since not long after Native American days. Los Olivos grew important enough to local trade and travel to become the inland...

In the early 1900s, the golden age of postcards was just beginning. Millions of cards were mailed across America, and many survive today in archives and private collections. Through these snapshots of history, Tyler's evolution can be traced. While fruit and cotton production was king into the early...

Los Altos would never have existed if not for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Since the 1850s, Los Altos, Spanish for �heights� or �foothills,� was the name generally applied to the two ranchos (San Antonio and La Purisima Concepcion) between Palo Alto and Mountain View southwest of El Camino...

Nestled among the spreading oaks of Santa Cruz County, just north of Monterey Bay, lies the city of Scotts Valley. First used as a hunting and camping spot on a Native American trading route, and later a stop on the stage route over the Santa Cruz Mountains, Scotts Valley has a long tradition of providing...

A small town with a big history, Helotes�20 miles northwest of downtown San Antonio�was named for the Spanish word elotes, or corn on the cob. So extensive were the fields of corn along its namesake creek, a Spanish official in 1723 called the area el Puerto de los Olotes, or Corncob Pass. When settlers...

Originally named Walnut Springs in 1838, Seguin was renamed one year later after Mexican Texas Revolution hero Juan N. Seguin, who fought at the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto. The town of Seguin and the surrounding area have always been a crossroads for commerce�from the southeast Gulf Coast...

Centered in the midst of the Columbiana County hills, Lisbon was founded in 1803. High hopes for growth and prosperity were first realized through industries producing iron, coal, and pottery; however, even with modern inventions, fascinating people, and hopes for a successful canal, the dream of...

As one of the West Coast�s most unique and beautiful resort cities, Laguna Beach has thrived as an enduring enclave of art culture, a destination of hidden beaches, and a coastline rich in natural wonders, which its officials and residents strive to maintain. Settlers arrived in the 1870s, and by the...

Located halfway between Los Angeles and Yuma, Arizona, Indio came into being as a railroad town in 1876 when the Southern Pacific Railroad completed this last link in its southern transcontinental route. Settling this arid land took ingenuity and courage, and Indio�s early residents had both. In the...

Lemon Grove dates to 1892 when it first appeared in the San Diego County records as �Lemon Grove.� The tiny, whistle-stop town emerged during the �second gold rush,� the rise of California�s citrus industry, which was facilitated by the 1849 Gold Rush, the break up of the Mexican ranchos in...

On September 13, 1876, the bell on Atwood Hall rang, students assembled, and Rio Grande College began its 140-year search for identity and its struggle for existence. Ira Haning, a Freewill Baptist minister, conveyed the idea of a college to a prominent couple, Nehemiah and Permelia Atwood. Nehemiah...

One of the original 27 counties of California, Mariposa County, located on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and containing more than 900,000 acres, once covered one-fifth of the state and was considered the �Mother of California Counties.� First inhabited by several Native American tribes,...