Hellacious California!

Hellacious California!
Author: Gary Noy
Publisher: Heyday.ORIM
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2020-06-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1597145041

“Teems with bittersweet compounds of 19th-century nefariousness, including . . . gambling, knife fights, the demon drink, con artistry, and prostitution.” —Los Angeles Review of Books In 1855 an ex-miner lamented that nineteenth-century California “can and does furnish the best bad things,” including “purer liquors . . . finer tobacco, truer guns and pistols, larger dirks and bowie knives, and prettier courtezans [sic]” than anywhere else in America. Lured by boons of gold and other exploitable resources, California’s settler population mushroomed under Mexican and early American control, and this period of rapid transformation gave rise to a freewheeling culture best epitomized by its entertainments. Hellacious California tours the rambunctious and occasionally appalling amusements of the Golden State: gambling, gun duels, knife fights, gracious dining and gluttony, prostitution, fandangos, cigars, con artistry, and the demon drink. Historian Gary Noy unearths myriad primary sources, many of which have never before been published, to spin his true tall tales that are by turns humorous and horrifying. Whether detailing the exploits of an inebriated stallion, gambling parlors as a reinforcement and subversion of racial norms, armed skirmishes over eggs, or the ins and outs of the “Spirit Lover” scam, Noy expertly situates these stories in the context of a live-for-the-moment society characterized by audacity, bigotry, and risk. “Confidently carries the reader into the everyday lives of early Californians. The focus on Californians’ popular pastimes . . . with an eye on vice, decadence, and scandal, makes this book a rowdy tour.” —Dr. Patrick Ettinger, Professor of History, California State University, Sacramento; Former Director of CSUS Public History Program and the Capital Campus Oral History Program

Hellacious California!

Hellacious California!
Author: Gary Noy
Publisher: Heyday Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781597144995

In 1855 an ex-miner lamented that nineteenth-century California "can and does furnish the best bad things," including "purer liquors...finer tobacco, truer guns and pistols, larger dirks and bowie knives, and prettier courtezans [sic]" than anywhere else in America. Lured by boons of gold and other exploitable resources, California's settler population mushroomed under Mexican and early American control, and this period of rapid transformation gave rise to a freewheeling culture best epitomized by its entertainments. Hellacious California tours the rambunctious and occasionally appalling amusements of the Golden State: gambling, gun duels, knife fights, gracious dining and gluttony, prostitution, fandangos, cigars, con artistry, and the demon drink. Historian Gary Noy unearths myriad primary sources, many of which have never before been published, to spin his true tall tales that are by turns humorous and horrifying. Whether detailing the exploits of an inebriated stallion, gambling parlors as a reinforcement and subversion of racial norms, armed skirmishes over eggs, or the ins and outs of the "Spirit Lover" scam, Noy expertly situates these stories in the context of a live-for-the-moment society characterized by audacity, bigotry, and risk. Published in collaboration with Sierra College Press.

Distant Horizon

Distant Horizon
Author: Gary Noy
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 492
Release: 1999-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780803283718

The West has figured in the American imagination under many guises: as the last best place on earth, a refuge, an escape, a land of opportunity, but also as a place of conquest and failure. Where Lewis and Clark saw great possibilities, Native cultures found disappointment and loss. This collection presents the diverse and often contradictory accounts that make up the mosaic of the nineteenth-century American West. From Thomas Hart Benton?s famous speech in the Senate when he argued that non-white civilizations must fall before the western expansion of white Americans to Black Elk?s story of a way of life lost on the frozen ground at Wounded Knee, Gary Noy offers a representative sampling of the many Wests that historians have strug-gled to define for over a century. Distant Horizon chronicles the dusty world of the cowboy, the hard-scrabble existence of the farmer and the settler, and the miner?s vision of golden glory. It examines the independent nature of the explorer and mountain man and the sometimes heroic, sometimes cruel existence of the soldier. We hear the voices of those outside the mainstream of power?women and Westerners of color?and explore the most tragic element of Western history: the confinement, subjugation, and extermination of Native Americans. No other single volume provides as many readings on as many topics in the history of the American West.

The California Tales

The California Tales
Author: Mathew Kinsella
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 501
Release: 2009-08-20
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1469101114

Exhibit-A To dream the im-poss-ible dream to fight the un-beat-able foe to run where the brave (or wise) dare not go -From the Broadway production of The Man of La Mancha, music by Darien and Leigh, 1965 Gracing the awesome coastline of California like a set of stained glass and adobe rosary beads, the 18th-century chain of twenty-one old Spanish missions offer the modern tourist a window into the history of the golden state at once colorful, quaint, often romanticized and just possibly not as benign as the tourist literature would lead us to believe. Investigating just that possibility, three amateur researchers have uncovered an historic mission artifact that, proven authentic, could shaken the golden state to its foundations. Nor would the repercussions end there, cautioned research director Brother Kolbe. Not by a long shot. At the state capitol in Sacramento, the governors Mission Affairs Department, and entrenched bereaucrazy representing the vested interest of the church, civic groups, university and private concerns, is naturally interested in the discovery. With real estate totaling in the multi-billion dollar range, including treasure troves of priceless relics and artwork, the Mission Affairs Department is somewhat hesitant at relinquishing control of their flock of iconic golden geese. Exposing the scandalous mission hullabaloo to the light of day may very well, researcher Samara Del Rio smiled with a perfectly beatific malfeasance, induce a state of anarchy. This my quest, to follow that star no matter how hopeless, no matter how far Along with Sam, ostensibly the team sociologist; Franciscan Brother and linguist Kolbe McCeanna and computer technician Felicia Bonaventura have tracked the legendary article to the derelict ruins of a minor auxiliary mission, Mision Estancia San Micmac, abandoned deep in the cathedral redwoods of Californias rugged pacific coast foothills. Exhibit-A.: as Sacramento knows, the notorious artifact is a legendary mission document lost since the colonial era, and thought to be a Spanish translation of aboriginal petroglyphs, entitled Las Cuentitas Primaveritas de Isla Califia. Past as prologue, a highly divisive work of folkloric Outside Art, colonial-era historians date the slim manuscript to the year 1561. Spakespearean scholars, however, citing key internal references to The Bards colonial-era play The Tempest, insist that the text is no older that the year 1611. Anti-Stratfordians, of course, call the Spakespearean theory leaky as an unstaunched wench. Adding to the debate, pre-Columbian archivists at Villa Poggio Gherado in Canterbury, England claim tevidence supporting a composition date of 1348. Equally divided, modern pundits dismiss Las Cuentitas as nothing more than psychosocial gibberish and third-rate poetic doggerel anyway, or else venerate the document as instrumental to a radical psychosocial transformation. Either way, if birds of a feather flock together than the infamous manuscript resembles a traditional book to the extent a penguin resembles an ostrich. [Embedded in translation throughout the plot of The California Tales], Las Cuentitas represents an extraordinary multimedia-literary genre suppressed censored and banned since the 1960s as irredeemably subversive to the status quo. During its brief hayday in the sun, the tempestuous genre was known as Prosperos Salient Heliotropic Articulation Grids: pSHAGs. And, particularly threatening to the dominate paradigm, pSHAG poetry, (or poemetry), was known, rather tongue-in-cheek, as Teleothanantological Neuropeptidal Algorithms: T.N.A.s. Moreover, reputedly encrypted within a Prospero SHAG TNA are the sole surviving fragments of the theoretical Archetypical Tale: the mother of all manuscripts, the lore at the core. Archetypical Tale theorists insist that this so-called consummate communiqu is simultaneously primordial and pansophic, pro

Moon California Fishing

Moon California Fishing
Author: Tom Stienstra
Publisher: Moon Travel
Total Pages: 681
Release: 2012-05-01
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1612383106

Pack up your rod and reel, stock your tackle box, and discover the best places to cast your line in the Golden State with Moon California Fishing. A Fishing Hole for Everyone: Pick the right spot for you with options ranging from lakes and streams to rivers and reservoirs, rated by number of fish, size of fish, and scenic beauty Strategic Lists: Choose from lists like best freshwater fisheries, best hike-in fisheries, best places to teach kids to fish, and more, including the top places to find California sport fish such as trout, salmon, and steelhead Maps and Directions: Find easy-to-use maps, driving directions, and details on where to park Skip the Crowds: Have the water to yourself with Moon California Fishing's many off-the-radar spots Expert Advice: Seasoned angler Tom Stienstra offers his experienced insight and honest opinions on each fishery Tips and Tools: Advice on permits, fees, and lodging, background information on climate and landscape, and detailed instructions for novice anglers Whether you're a veteran or a first-timer, Moon's comprehensive coverage and honest expertise will have you gearing up for your next adventure. Exploring more of the Golden State's great outdoors? Try Moon California Camping or Moon California Hiking.

Ghost Town: A Venice California Life

Ghost Town: A Venice California Life
Author: Pat Hartman
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 544
Release: 2004-11-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1462812503

Visit VirtualVenice.info Pat Hartman´s first book, Call Someplace Paradise, was concerned with the public face of Venice, California - the boardwalk and boutique Venice visited by between one and two hundred thousand tourists each weekend. Ghost Town is about the other Venice. There is a book genre described by Russ Rymer as "inspecting America´s racial trauma through the lens of private experience, as it plays out in the daily difficulties of particular persons in one or another microcosmic place." Here the microcosm is Oakwood, a hotbed of diversity and danger called Ghost Town by its own citizens. The particular persons are a white single mother, age 30, and her 11-year-old, half-black daughter, along with a stellar cast of roommates, boyfriends, and neighbors. Ghost Town: A Venice California Life is a psychological adventure story that takes place in a challenging environment where many people would never consider trying to live. Much has been said and written about racial dynamics by people who, however well-informed and well-intentioned, may talk the talk but haven´t walked the walk. Whether by lack of inclination or of opportunity, many experts on race relations have never actually lived in a racially mixed neighborhood, let alone where their own group is a minority. In an environment that forces thought about race issues every single day, it´s a different world. How are attitudes about race formed? Why is it that even the most willing participants of the melting pot sometimes can´t take the heat? These and other questions are precisely as relevant now as they were in the period covered here, 1978-84. Unfortunately the subject of race will probably continue to be relevant into the next millennium and beyond, given that the human race as a whole is still around that long. Despite being burglarized, mugged, vandalized, menaced, caught in the black/chicano crossfire, and visited by men in suits who travel in pairs, the author found existence in Oakwood rewarding and positive an many ways. (Film director Barbet Schroeder, who lived in Oakwood during the same time period, told an interviewer it was "the best year of my life so far.") Like the diary of Samuel Pepys in London, like Alexander King´s memoirs of Greenwich Village, Ghost Town is a record of a fascinating and frightening urban environment through the eyes of an articulate and meticulous observer. Visit VirtualVenice.info

California and Other Places

California and Other Places
Author: Jag Allan
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2008-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0595483321

In this highly humorous, scathingly satirical, and mind-blowingly diverse collection of short stories - all reflecting some version of fringe American experience -- you will find the most unique and unusual characters ever committed to print doing things that most people can't even imagine. From The Florida State Correctional Facility For Men at Belle Glade, to a Californian college kid counterfeiting team -- from the backwoods of an Eastern Pennsylvania Marijuana plantation, to the sweltering Summer delusions of an aspiring author's shack in Pasadena -- this book will shock, titillate, cajole, befriend, and most of all, entertain you in a way that will exceed your wildest expectations.

Moon Northern California Biking

Moon Northern California Biking
Author: Ann Marie Brown
Publisher: Moon Travel
Total Pages: 542
Release: 2012-04-10
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1612383130

Avid biker and experienced travel writer Ann Marie Brown knows the best places to cycle in Northern California, from steep ocean-front rides to meandering, scenic trails through Sonoma and Napa. Moon Northern California Biking guides seasoned riders and beginning bikers to the best trails, paths, and roads throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Tahoe, Yosemite, and Northern California wine country. Complete with elevation charts, route maps, and options to extend or shorten each route, as well as information on bike shops, riding clubs, and bike organizations throughout the region, Moon Northern California Biking gives bicyclists the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience.