Port Hueneme Historical Society Museum

In 2008, Chris Willson responded to an unusual Craigslist ad offering up a cruise ship. Today, he lives with his girlfriend, cat, and dog aboard a 293-foot luxury liner in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. From S.F. Chronicle https://californiasun.us16.list-manage.com/track/click

Humboldt County was named for an 18th-century Prussian naturalist. Calaveras County got its name from the bones of Native Americans found along a river. Here's a fascinating map depicting the name origins of California counties. https://californiasun.us16.list-manage.com/track/click

Eddie Van Halen in 1975. Photo Credit: Kevin Estrada Archives In the early 1970s, singer David Lee Roth and guitarist Eddie Van Halen were high school kids in Pasadena. They were a perfect pairing, Roth said years later: desperate people seeking desperate fortune with a smile. Their band thrived in Pasadena's backyard party scene, drawing thousands of kids on weekends. Here's a great read on how Van Halen, the son of blue-collar immigrants, and Roth, the son of a doctor, joined forces and remade rock. https://www.latimes.com//2/eddie-van-halen-guitar-dies-65

St. George Reef Lighthouse still stands off the coast of Del Norte County Photo Credit: Anita Ritenour/CC BY 2.0 In 1865, the steamer Brother Jonathan was carrying a shipment of gold from San Francisco to Portland when it slammed into the rocks off the coast of Crescent City. Of 244 people aboard, just 19 survived. It was the worst shipwreck the Pacific Coast had ever seen and gave rise to perhaps California's most foreboding and desolate lighthouse.... Built in the 1880s on volcanic rock 8 miles from shore, the lighthouse at St. George Reef was a lighthouse keeper's most dreaded assignment. Over the years, the swirling seas pulled several of them under the water. Others suffered mental breakdowns. The lighthouse was finally decommissioned in 1975, replaced by an illuminated buoy. But the old tower still stands, a sort of gravestone for the lives lost below.

There are many pictures of Griffith J. Griffith, the benefactor of Griffith Park and Observatory. But few images exist of his wife, a daughter of aristocracy named Mary Agnes Christina Mesmer, from whom much of Griffith's wealth and prestige sprang. That's in large measure because Griffith was a violent alcoholic who permanently disfigured her face. One summer afternoon in 1903, Griffith ordered his wife to kneel and swear that she had been faithful to him. Darling, you know... I have, she replied. She begged for her life. Unmoved, he shot her through the left eye. Griffith went to jail for 20 months, and later died of liver disease. Mary Agnes Christina Mesmer spent the rest of her life in seclusion, hiding her face behind a veil. Pictured below is one of the only photos of her, captured before she was shot. Some historians think she ought to be a more recognizable figure of Los Angeles's story. From KCET.

This October 18, 2020, the Friends of the Port Hueneme Library would be celebrating the 19th Victorian High Tea but then Covid-19 happened and everything closed... down. This was especially critical for the Friends because the Victorian High Tea is the biggest source of funding for children’s, teens’, and adult programs at the Prueter Library. Since we cannot invite you to join us for tea, we decided to hold a non-event event. From now until the end of October, please sit down, put up your feet, and write out a generous check to the Friends. You don’t even have to get out of your jammies or sweatpants. Then on October 17, 2021, when we invite you to the official 19th Victorian High Tea, you will know that you helped out when we needed you most. The Friends of the Ray D. Prueter Library Federal Tax ID is #77-0084572. Make out your check to Friends of the Library and send it to F O L, PO Box 532, Port Hueneme, CA 93044-0532 If you also wish to become or renew a membership, indicate that as well. Memberships are $10 Individual, $15 Family, $25-$49 Friend, $50-$99 Patron and $100 or more Sponsor See more

Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk/CC BY-NC 2.0 It's sometimes claimed that San Francisco's Coit Tower was designed to look like a firehose. Built in the early 1930s, the Art Deco structure was added atop Telegraph Hill as a tribute to firefighters at a time when memories of the 1906 earthquake and fires were still fresh. It quickly became one of San Francisco's most recognizable symbols. But the firehose story, alas, is untrue. It was just designed to be pretty.

Did you know ? Maybe not everyone knows that Popeye really existed. Frank 'Rocky' Fiegel, inspired Popeye character. He was a Polish sailor, emigrated to Illino...is to the United States, who was always involved in fights and rides. Frank was also known for his strength out of the ordinary. He beaten opponents much bigger than him to the point that sometimes they didn't get off the ground when he hit them with a unppercut. He is also remembered for his good heart and affection towards children. The cartoonist Elzie Crisler Segar was near Frank and created the character Popeye in 1919 for a New York Journal comic book inspired by his friend. Frank had one eye bigger than the other, so the cartoonist baptized the character Pop-Eye which in English is the name of a disease that hits some fish leaving them with one eye bigger than the other. The can of spinach that gives strength to the sailor also existed in real life and was Frank's snack during work break at the port. Olivia Oyl was inspired by a real woman named Dora Paskel, while Brutus was inspired by a very strong young man who arrived at the port where Franz 'Rocky' Fiegel was located and fought against him. Frank - Popeye, of course, won the fight! See more

Remember passing the time during the day by going through these?

A bronze plaque memorializes John Denver on the shores of Pacific Grove at Monterey Bay. Photo Credit: David Litman Colorado’s greatest champion is memorialized on a rocky shore at Monterey Bay. John Denver became a folk music hero in the early 1970s with earnest songs about the pleasures of nature at a time of war and rising cynicism. He lived for much of his life in Colorado, a state whose soaring wilderness became a theme in his music. But in the final year of his life, D...enver stayed on California’s Central Coast, where he kept a home in Carmel and indulged his love of aviation over the Pacific. John Denver, seen in 1979, made a home near Monterey Bay in 1996. Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns On this day in 1997, Denver played a morning round of golf with some friends, then headed to Monterey Peninsula Airport to take his new two-seater aircraft, a Rutan Long-EZ, for a spin over the bay. Roughly 15 minutes after takeoff, he was dead. An investigation concluded that Denver likely tilted a rudder inadvertently while trying to adjust a tricky fuel valve in the cockpit, causing him to lose control and veer into the sea. He was 53. From California Sun