February 21
Indians in 1824
Chumash Indians at Santa Ynez Mission revolted against harsh living conditions and brutal treatment by soldiers. It spread to Santa Barbara and La Purisima de Concepcion, where Chumash warriors controlled the mission for about a month. Some 40 natives and several monks died in the fighting.
Santa Barbara in 1872
Santa Barbara gas street lamps were lit for the first time.
The Chapala Street Wharf, Santa Barbara (circa 1872)
Newspapers in 1874
The Oakland Daily Tribune began publication.
Peckinpah in 1925
Sam Peckinpah, film director, was born in Fresno. His films are known for action and violence, like “The Wild Bunch” (1969) and “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” (1973).
Transportation in 1937
The Waterman Aerobile, an experimental automobile – airplane flew in Santa Monica. It reached 120 mph in flight and 70 mph on the highway. Few were built.
Music in 1958
Merle Haggard, singer, was sent to Bakersfield Jail then transferred to San Quentin Prison after he tried to escape. He later became a county music legend.
Bill Wlaton (left) and Kareem Abdull-Jabbar (right) faced off in 1983.
Sports in 1983
The San Diego Clippers began a 29-game losing streak on the road.
Accidents in 2006
Stefan Eriksson, age 44, crashed a million-dollar Ferrari Enzo in northern Malibu. He was later sentenced to three years in prison for embezzlement and gun possession.
Ferrari Enzo.
Project Homeless Connect.
Homeless in 2007
Mayor Gavin Newsom announced San Francisco received $19.7 million in federal funds to help fight homelessness.
Police in 2007
The San Francisco Police Commission approved a computerized system to track problem behavior by police officers.
Google.
Business in 2008
Google Inc., in Mountain View, announced upcoming storage of medical records for a few thousand people. It was testing a service that would raise concerns about the volume of sensitive information trusted to the Internet company.
February 22
Seal of San Francisco.
San Francisco in 1859
San Francisco adopted its current official seal, changing the one adopted in 1852. The motto “Oro en paz, fierro en guerra” is Spanish for “Gold in peace, iron in war.”
Sports in 1860
Organized baseball was played in San Francisco for first time. The game was between the Eagles and the Red Rovers.
San Francisco (1860).
City of Rio de Janeiro sinking (1901).
Accidents in 1901
The steamship City of Rio de Janeiro crashed on rocks at the entrance to San Francisco Bay and sank quickly. Italian fishermen saved 82 of some 210 people. Many of the passengers were Chinese immigrants. The ship was rumored to carry $2 million in silver bars that have never been found.
Churches in 1906
William Seymour, African American evangelist, arrived in Los Angeles. He lead the Azusa Street Revival in April, a historic event that began the Pentecostal movement.
1906 San Francisco Earthquake refugee camp.
1906 Earthquake in 1907
Workers at the San Francisco Ingleside district refugee camp for people who lost their homes in the 1906 Earthquake agreed to work one day a week to improve the camp or miss their free tobacco allowance.
Naming in 1910
The Sierra Club, headquartered in San Francisco, named Mount Davidson and Sutro Crest in the city’s Sutro Forest.
Lowell High School.
Education in 1913
Lowell High School moved to a new campus in San Francisco. It began in 1856 as the Union Grammar School then changed to its current name in 1896. Lowell moved to its present location in 1962.
Racing in 1920
Owen Patrick Smith introduced a mechanical or artificial hare, replacing live hares, at a dog-racing track in Emeryville.
Flight in 1921
The first transcontinental air mail plane that flew at night left San Francisco at 4:30 a.m. and landed at Long Island, New York at 4:50 p.m. on February 23. Before that, pilots navigated by the railroad tracks during the day and landed at night.
A de Havilland-4B carried 350 pounds of mail.
Business in 1923
Mathias Chapman landed in San Pedro from Chile with the first 12 chinchillas in the U.S. and began raising them commercially for their luxurious fur and later as pets.
Mathias F. Chapman holding a chinchilla at Chapman Chinchilla Farm, Inglewood (1932-1934)
Brooklyn Dodgers.
Sports in 1957
Walter O’Malley announced the Brooklyn Dodgers would play 10 exhibition games in California in 1958.
Labor in 1974
Cesar Chavez lead a United Farm Workers march from Union Square in San Francisco to Gallo’s Modesto headquarters to protest labor conditions. This was part of the Salad Bowl Strike that led to the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act (1975).
Billy Martin baseball card
Sports in 1979
Billy Martin became manager of the Oakland A’s, following his success coaching the New York Yankees. Early success with the A’s led him to overwork his pitchers. When they went 68 – 94 in 1982, he was fired.
Bailey in 1995
Bill Bailey, union activist with San Francisco dockworkers, died at age 86. He was a Spanish Civil War veteran, writer and actor in his later years.
Business in 1999
Levi Strauss & Co. responded to continuing sales losses by closing 11 of its 22 U.S. plants and laying off 5,900 factory workers.
Levi Strauss & Co. logo
Great Seal of California.
Government in 2002
The California Supreme Court struck down the “Son of Sam” law that required felons to turn over profits from books and movies to their victims.
Jones in 2002
Chuck Jones, cartoon animator, died in Newport Beach at age 89. His created Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Road Runner, among other characters.
February 23
Exploration in 1776
Juan Bautista de Anza’s expedition of soldiers, padres and settlers camped along the Santa Clara River, in Chumash territory, on their way to starting a Spanish colony at Monterey.
Ranchos in 1841
Rancho Rincon de la Brea, a Mexican land grant, was deeded. The 4,452-acre rancho in present day Los Angeles was east of Rowland Heights, south of La Puente, west of Diamond Bar and north of Brea.
Business in 1855
Adams & Company, a banking and freight service since 1850, failed. It was so important that it’s failure caused panic statewide.
Adams Express Company.
Movies in 1940
Walt Disney’s “Pinocchio” debuted, following the success of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937). It set a new standard for feature animation.
This diagram of a plutonium atom shows the electron shell.
Science in 1941
Plutonium, a key component of atomic bombs, was identified at U.C. Berkeley’s Radiation Laboratory. It is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94.
War in 1942
A Japanese submarine bombed the Ellwood Oil Field near Santa Barbara. While the damage was not great, the attack triggered fear of a West Coast invasion.
Japanese postcard commemorating the submarine shelling of the Ellwood Oil Field (1942).
Television in 1959
KVIE Public Television, serving the Sacramento – Stockton community, began broadcasting.
Crime in 1974
The Symbionese Liberation Army, a revolutionary group in Los Angeles, raised its ransom to free the kidnapped newspaper heiress, Patty Hearst.
Sports in 1994
Sacramento Gold Miners, a Canadian Football League team, moved to San Antonio then changed their name to the Texans.
Great Seal of California.
Government in 1998
The California State Supreme Court ruled that anybody can sue a corner store or gas station for selling cigarettes to minors.
Movies in 1999
Disney’s “Mulan” premiered in China. Only ten foreign films per year were allowed into China, which was protecting its own industry.
Music in 2000
Carlos Santana won eight Grammy awards, including album of the year for “Supernatural.” That tied the record set by Michael Jackson in 1983 for most trophies in one night.
Prisons in 2000
Pelican Bay State Prison guards shot and killed one prisoner and wounded 15 others to end a prison yard riot between some 150 inmates. Prison officials, after the brawl, found 89 inmate-made knives.
Pelican Bay State Prison Recreation Area.
Science in 2008
Dr. Nathan Wolfe, a UCLA virologist, pushed for creation of the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, a planet-wide network to forecast epidemics before they happen.
Marijuana leaf.
Government in 2009
Tom Ammiano, California Assemblyman from San Francisco, introduced a bill to legalize recreational use of marijuana.
Business in 2010
Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel, in Santa Clara, announced the “Invest in America Alliance” to create jobs and boost the nation’s competitiveness. Intel and 24 venture capital firms planned to invest $3.5 billion in U.S. technology startups over the next 2 years.
Intel.
Willis in 2011
Allen Willis, African American filmmaker, died in Oakland at age 95. His films included “Have You Sold Your Dozen Roses” (1955), produced with San Francisco poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and “Stagger Lee” (1970), a documentary interview in prison with Black Panther leader Bobby Seale.
February 24
California ranchero
Government in 1821
The rancho period in Alta California began when Mexico won independence from Spain.
Wine in 1857
A German colony was organized in San Francisco. It was called the Los Angles Vineyard Society and was the beginning of Anaheim.
Flight in 1921
A giant plane built in Los Angeles, called the “leviathan of the Skies” or “The Cloudster,” was designed by Donald Douglas and was the first to fly a load greater than it own weight. It failed a transcontinental attempt, later served as an early passenger plane flying from San Diego to Los Angeles, and was used to smuggle whiskey from Mexico during Prohibition.
Leviathan of the Skies.
War in 1942
The Battle of Los Angeles was a reported Japanese attack followed by anti-aircraft artillery fire that continued the next day. Some people say the targets were not enemy aircraft but extraterrestrial spacecraft.
War in 1942
Some 1,600 Italians and Italian Americans living in Pittsburg were forced from their homes, lost their businesses, labeled “enemy aliens” and interned, just like Japanese Americans and German Americans.
German American internment sites during World War 2.
Bostwick in 1944
Barry Bostwick, actor, was born in San Mateo. He is best known for roles in “Rocky Horror Show” (1975) and “Megaforce” (1982).
Jobs in 1955
Steven Jobs, inventor and businessman, was born in San Francisco. He co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Wozniak.
Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs (1976).
Sports in 1987
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Los Angeles Laker, scored his 36,000th NBA point.
Shore in 1994
Dinah Shore, singer, actress, television personality, and the top female vocalist of the 1940s, died in Beverly Hills at age 76.
Randolph in 2004
Emanuel Hirsch Cohen, better known as John Randolph, film, television and stage actor, died in Hollywood at age 88.
Environment in 2006
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an emergency declaration to speed improvements to 24 severely eroded portions of Bay Area delta levees.
Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta.
Knotts in 2006
Don Knotts, comedian and film star, died in Los Angeles at age 81. His half-century career included more than 25 films and seven television series.
Saturn.
Riney in 2008
Hal Riney, a leader in the advertising world, died in San Francisco at age 76. He created the brand and image of General Motors’ Saturn automobile division.
Business in 2010
Bloom Energy, a start-up in San Jose, announced an innovative fuel cell that promised to deliver affordable, clean energy to remote corners of the world.
Bloom Energy.
February 25
Government in 1854
Sacramento became the state capital (1854). It followed San Jose (1849), Vallejo (1852), and Benicia (1853), and was before San Francisco (1862) until Sacramento became the capital permanently (1869).
Sacramento embarcadero (1850).
Calaveras Skull in 1866
Miners found a strange skull in Calaveras that caused a sensation. Some claimed the Calaveras Skull was evidence that humans, mastodons and elephants coexisted. Others believed it is a hoax.
Calaveras Skull
Environment in 1911
A rare snowstorm hit San Francisco.
Observatories in 1932
Griffith Observatory opened in Griffith Park. Named for Griffith Jenkins Griffith, its setting, architecture, programs and cinema have made it a Los Angeles landmark.
Griffith Observatory
War in 1942
After the Battle of Los Angeles, a Japanese American fishing community at Terminal Island in Los Angeles was forced to evacuate because of fears, rumors, and prejudice. The forced internment of some 110,000 Japanese Americans was approaching.
Crime in 1973
Juan Corona was sentenced to 25 life sentences for murders of 25 men he buried in fields along the Feather River north of Yuba City.
Tracy Rene Conrad.
Crime in 1996
Tracy Rene Conrad, age 11, went to play at a friend’s home in Hanford but never returned home. Her body was found a month later. Duane Galik Sr. was convicted of her murder (1997).
Business in 2005
The Walt Disney Co. agreed to sell the Anaheim Mighty Ducks hockey team to Henry and Susan Samueli for $75 million.
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
Science in 2006
Researchers in San Francisco reported discovering a new virus, XMRV, inside tumors of some men with prostate cancer.
McGavin in 2006
Darren McGavin, television and film star, died in a Los Angeles at age 83. His TV series included “Mike Hammer” (1957-1959), “The Outsider” (1967-1969) and “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” (1974-1975).
Crime in 2010
Chelsea King, age 17, did not return from a run at a San Diego park. Her body was later found in a shallow grave near Lake Hodges. John Albert Gardner III was sentenced to life in prison for attacks on her and Amber Dubois, age 14.
Margarita Gomez.
Crime in 2011
Margarita Gomez, age 56, Daly City councilwoman, pleaded guilty to insurance fraud. She was sentenced to 6 months in jail and ordered to pay $64,000 in restitution.
February 26
The Return of Indian Island Restoring the Center of the Wiyot World (2004).
Crime in 1860
White settlers murdered some 60 women, children and elder Wiyot Indians on an island near Eureka. Bret Harte, then a local newspaper reporter, fed the story to San Francisco newspapers.
Libraries in 1884
Pasadena Public Library opened after starting as “Pasadena Library and Village Improvement Society,” a private subscription library. The first building was on Central School grounds, south side of Colorado Street between Raymond Street and the Santa Fe tracks.
Pasadena Public Library (ca. 1893) in what became Memorial Park.
Bison buffalo in Golden Gate Park.
Parks in 1891
The first buffalo, a pair named Benjamin Harrison and Sarah Bernhardt, were settled in Golden Gate Park following reports that only 1,000 were left in the U.S.
Bridges in 1933
Golden Gate Bride groundbreaking celebration began at Crissy Field in San Francisco. 100,000 people attended.
Salinas Brewing and Ice Co (1938).
Sports in 1941
Cowboys’ Amateur Association of America was organized in California as part of the rodeo business.
Business in 1965
Spoony Singh Sundher, entrepreneur, opened the Hollywood Wax Museum close to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. It cost $1.50 to enter.
Tierney in 2002
Lawrence Tierney, Jr., actor, died in Los Angeles at age 82. He played in some 80 films, often as a mobster or tough guy. A New York Times critic observed, “The hulking Tierney was not so much an actor as a frightening force of nature.”
Apple Corp.
Raskin in 2005
Jef Raskin, computer pioneer, died in Pacifica at age 61. He led development of a graphical interface for Apple’s Macintosh.
Business in 2009
Virgin Megastore, a music and video retailer, announced closure of its San Francisco and New York stores. This left the company with three stores, down from 23 in 2002.
Crime in 2013
Jeremy Goulet, who ambushed Santa Cruz police detectives Loran Baker and Elizabeth Butler, was killed at the scene.
February 27
Steinbeck in 1902
John Steinbeck, author, was born in Salinas. He was famous for describing California experiences in Of Mice and Men (1937), The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and East of Eden (1952).
Public Health in 1985
Irwin Memorial Blood Bank in San Francisco said that, since 1979, 80 Bay Area residents received blood from donors who are know to have AIDS.
Embarcadero Freeway demolition (1991).
Freeways in 1991
Demolition of the Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco began. It was badly damaged in the Loma Prieta Earthquake (1989).
Hayakawa in 1992
S.I. Hayakawa died in Greenbrae at age 85. Born in Canada of Japanese ancestry, he was an academic and a politician, president of San Francisco State University before being elected to the U.S. Senate.
Apple Corp.
Business in 1998
Apple stopped development of the Newton computer.
Government in 2004
Bill Lockyer tried to block San Francisco from issuing same-sex marriage licenses and invalidate the 3,400 gay and lesbian weddings already performed. The court halted same-sex weddings the next month.
Pride Rainbow Flag.
Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta.
Environment in 2006
Experts blamed the collapse of several fish species in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Delta on water exports, pesticides, non-native species, and poisonous algae. Giant pumps near Tracy, which moved water south, also ground up many fish.
Environment in 2007
A 75-foot wide chunk of San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill slid onto Broadway following heavy rains. One hundred-twenty people were forced to leave their homes until repairs took place.
Coddington in 2008
Boyd Coddington, car-building legend, died in Whittier at age 63. His reality show “American Hot Rod” introduced the nation to the West Coast hot rod guru.
Environment in 2009
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought emergency.
California drought (2014).
Seal of San Francisco.
San Francisco in 2009
San Francisco issued pink slips to 262 city employees. Most job cuts were to departments of parks and recreation, human services, and public works.
Crime in 2011
Some 15 robbers held six employees at gunpoint at Unigen in Fremont, escaping with $37 million in computer components.
Crime in 2013
Jon Wilmot, former Contra Costa fire captain, was charged with receiving stolen property, embezzlement, possession of an assault weapon and commercial burglary.
John Wilmot.
February 28
Patty Reed
Overland Journeys in 1847
Rescuers heading down the mountain with Donner Party survivors met the second rescue group coming up. After nearly five months apart, James Reed reunited with his wife and two of their children, including Patty. But their other two children were trapped at the lake.
Gold Rush in 1849
The first steamship with gold seekers reached San Francisco. The steamship California, sailing from New York, took 4 months and 22 days to complete the trip.
Inventions in 1888
Carrie Morse, of San Francisco, patented an adjustable bedstead for a crib. “My invention relates to the application of an adjustable bed-frame to a crib bedstead, whereby two independent beds are provided on one bedstead.”
Carrie Morse of San Francisco patented adjustable crib-bedstead (1888)
Crime in 1888
The gentleman bandit known as Black Bart was seen for the last time. He left poems at the scenes of two of his 28 Wells Fargo stage coach robberies.
Fairs in 1914
Construction began on the Tower of Jewels for the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. It was covered with some 100,000 cut glass “jewels” that sparkled by day and lit by 50 spotlights at night.
Sports in 1960
The 8th Winter Olympics closed at Squaw Valley. The Soviet Union won 7 gold medals – the U.S. won 3.
Sports in 1966
Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, two of the greatest, most popular pitchers in history, refused to renew contracts with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Their 32-day holdout changed the relationship between players and owners.
Bridges in 1970
Bicycles were allowed on the Golden Gate Bridge west sidewalk.
Crime in 1997
Two bank robbers in North Hollywood and the Los Angeles Police Department fired some 2,000 rounds in a shootout. Both robbers were killed, 11 police officers and 7 civilians were injured and numerous vehicles and other property was damaged.
Antiproton.
Chamberlain in 2006
Owen Chamberlain, physicist, died in Berkeley at age 86. He and Emilio Segre shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovery of the antiproton (1959).
Education in 2008
A California court ruled that parents must send their children to full-time public or private schools or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home. The ruling made some 166,000 children possibly truant. Later a court ruled that parents have a right to educate their children at home even if they lack a teaching credential.
Education in 2008
New College of California in San Francisco received notice that its accreditation was revoked because of a lack of proper governing structure, failure to keep proper student records, and lack of oversight. The school closed later that year.
Science in 2008
Craig Venter, geneticist, mapped the genetic diversity of the oceans at the TED conference in Monterey. He described creating a life form that feeds on climate-ruining carbon dioxide to produce fuel.
Science in 2011
AeroVironment, headquartered in Monrovia, reportedly built the world’s first hummingbird spy drone. The Pentagon asked them to develop a pocket-sized aircraft for surveillance and reconnaissance that mimicked biology.
Russell in 2011
Jane Russell, legendary actress and sex symbol, died in Santa Maria at age 89. She shot to fame after starring in “The Outlaw” (1943).
International Rivers.
Environment in 2013
International Rivers, a Berkeley-based nonprofit, won a MacArthur Foundation prize worth $750,000 for its work opposing dams and helping countries and corporations around the world find alternative energy sources.
Bubble Chamber.
Glaser in 2013
Donald A. Glaser, physicist and inventor of the bubble chamber, died in Berkeley at age 87. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics (1960).