Early Los Angeles Fruit Orchards

It’s hard to imagine the agricultural landscape of the state of California before the mass cultivation of the orange or the wine grape, but I ran across an interesting 1855 article from the Daily Alta California that gives readers a glimpse of how these two crops were perceived in the mid-19th century before their mass cultivation. To be sure, southern California, as the…

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The Gazetteer of Lost San Francisco: Cannon Hill

A guide to the lost place names and geographies of San Francisco. Today’s entry of lost place names and geographies is Cannon Hill, a hill of about 370 feet that is located at the southeast corner of today’s Presidio. Cannon Hill is the location of the original survey point that outlined the United States claim to the military reservation known as the…

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Historical Ecology of San Francisco’s Mission District

The 1852 U.S. Coast Survey is one of the first maps that details many of the topographic, physical, and cultural features of San Francisco’s “Mission de Dolores.” We can see details of the rich historical ecology that supported Yelamu Native Americans in the pre-colonial era (part of the larger Ohlone group of peoples), as well as the Spanish, Mexican, and American settlements that came…

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An L.A. Reading List

Now that I’ve returned to Los Angeles and will be working with historical maps, photographs, Sanborn atlases, and reference books related to Geography and GIS, I’m finally getting to some of the books on my reading list dedicated to the subject of Los Angeles. Ashley, Abel, and I visited the Calabasas Public Library today (thanks CPL!) and I got some…

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Back in the library…in southern California!

Beginning March 30, 2015 I will be starting a new position as the Map Curator in the Department of Geography at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). As Map Curator I will be responsible for managing a collection of historical maps, atlases, photographs, and reference materials related to maps, cartography, and geographic information systems. As part of my responsibilities, I will…

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Antecedents to San Francisco’s Dolores Park

In early August 1859, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approves the establishment of a Jewish Cemetery in the Mission District–the location is not yet determined. Congregations Emanu-El and Sherith Israel relocate their small Spring Valley Jewish cemetery to the recently surveyed and platted Mission lands. The old Spring Valley cemetery, located at the corner of today’s Gough and Vallejo streets, was…

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NBC Bay Area: Defunct San Francisco Reservoir to be Turned Into Park

Defunct San Francisco Reservoir to be Turned Into Park | NBC Bay Area. San Francisco’s newest neighborhood park will be atop of Russian Hill, located at the old San Francisco City Works Reservoir at Larkin and Francisco streets. The old San Francisco City Works operated a flume that delivered city water from Mountain Lake in the Presidio to two reservoirs…

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History of San Francisco’s Parks, Plazas, & Public Squares

The History of San Francisco’s Park & Plazas will be a series of articles exploring the history of San Francisco’s parks, plazas, and public squares. Why San Francisco? As a Bay Area resident from 2000-2008 I became very interested in the city of San Francisco as a historical subject. One of my research interests includes how changes in the built environment…

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