August 28

Race relations in 1863
The Koncow Trail of Tears began. All Koncow Maidu were forced from their homeland, rounded up at Bidwell Ranch, near today’s Chico, then lead away to Round Valley Reservation in Mendocino County. Any Indians remaining in the area were to be shot. 461 Maidu began the Trail of Tears, 277 survived.

Flight in 1883
John Montgomery made the first manned, controlled flight in the U.S.  His glider, inspired by watching birds, weighed 38 pounds and flew at 15 feet for at least 300 feet at Otay Mesa near San Diego.

Sports in 1982 
The first Gay Olympic Games were held in San Francisco. The games were open to all to participate, without regard to sexual orientation. Competitors came from many countries, including those where homosexuality was illegal.

Turner in 1986 
Tina Turner’s star was unveiled in Hollywood. She was one the world’s most popular entertainers of the 1960s – 90s. She’s been called the “Queen of Rock ‘n Roll.” She won eight Grammys and sold more concert tickets than any other solo performer in history.

Sports in 1993 
Long Beach defeated Panama in the Little League World Series. The team included future major leaguer Sean Burroughs, who scored in the bottom of the sixth to edge Panama, 3-2 and win the world championship. 

Government in 1995
Governor Pete Wilson formally entered the GOP presidential race.

Crime in 2003
Two pipe bombs exploded at Chiron Corporation. a biotechnology firm in Emeryville. Revolutionary Cells, animal rights radicals took responsibility for the attack.

Benedict in 2006
Ed Benedict, legendary Hollywood animator, died in Auburn. He drew Hanna-Barbera Studios cartoon characters like Fred Flintstone, Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear.

MacCready in 2007
Paul MacCready, designer of the Gossamer Albatross, died in Pasadena at age 81. His bicycle powered plane crossed the English Channel in 1979. He founded AeroVironment to monitor air pollution (1971).

Fire in 2009
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles and Monterey counties due to fires.

Crime in 2010 
A drug task force found 47,800 marijuana plants in an 8-acre cornfield in Atwater. Two men were arrested.

August 29

Ishi in 1911 
Ishi, the last Yahi Indian, walked out of the wilderness into the modern world near Oroville. He was befriended by U.C. Berkeley anthropologists who studied and hired him as a research assistant. Ishi lived for five years in San Francisco. Ishi Wilderness Area in northeastern California, his tribe’s ancestral grounds, is named in his memory.

Television in 1953
KHSL TV channel 12 in Chico began broadcasting. It dominates the airwaves in the Central Valley north of Sacramento.

Movies in 1964
Walt Disney released “Mary Poppins” to widespread praise. It received 13 Academy Award nominations and won 5, a record for Walt Disney Studios. It is considered one of the greatest films of all time but P.L. Travers did not like it.

Music in 1965
The Beatles gave a press conference at the Capitol Tower at Hollywood and Vine and were presented them with gold discs for sales of Help!. Afterwards an armored truck drove them to perform at the Hollywood Bowl. 18,000 people attended. One fan gave birth in the car park outside the venue.

Music in 1966
The Beatles played their final public concert in San Francisco. Ringo Starr remembered, “There was a big talk at Candlestick Park that this had got to end. At that San Francisco gig it seemed that this could possibly be the last time, but I never felt 100% certain till we got back to London. John wanted to give up more than the others. He said that he’d had enough.”

Salazar in 1970
Ruben Salazar, a 42-year-old Latino journalist for KMEX, was killed by a tear gas canister fired by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy during the National Chicano Moratorium March against the Vietnam War. No evidence established he was killed deliberately. A U.S. postage stamp was issued in his honor (2008).

Crime in 1971
Gunmen burst into the Ingleside Police Station and fired through a hole in a bullet-proof glass window, killing Sergeant John Young and wounding a civilian clerk. In 2007 police charged nine former members of the Black Liberation Army with waging a campaign of “chaos and terror” that left at least three officers dead from 1968-1973.

Sports in 1972
Jim Barr, San Francisco Giants pitcher, retired the first 20 batters he faced, which added to the 21 he retired 6 days earlier for a record 41 in-a-row.

Labor in 1996
Exotic dancers at Lusty Lady Club, a San Francisco North Beach club, joined the Service Employees International Union.

Crime in 2006
Anthony Quintero, 24-year-old Brink’s guard, was killed during a robbery by his partner Clifton Wherry Jr. and Dwight Campbell in East Oakland. Campbell shot Quintero. They were arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Slow Food in 2008 
The first Slow Food Nation, a 4-day event, opened in San Francisco, attracting over 50,000 people. They envisioned a world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who produce it and good for the planet.

Business in 2011
Adult film productions in Los Angeles stopped after a performer tested HIV-positive. A retest by the end of the week indicated no virus and film production continued.

Crime in 2013
California border patrol agents found nearly 18,500 pounds of marijuana, estimated at $14.7 million, in a tractor-trailer at a San Clemente checkpoint.

August 30

Overland Journeys in 1846
The Donner Party reached Redlum Spring. That was the last place for water before crossing the dry Great Salt Lake Desert. They would run out of water in 3 days. They didn’t know it would take 5 days to cross the desert.

Bronson in 2003
Charles Bronson, film and television actor, died in Los Angeles at age 81. Most famous as a tough-guy, he was in some 60 films including the “Death Wish” series (1974-1994).

Government in 2006       
California passed the most sweeping controls on carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. That made California a leader in curbing man-made causes of climate change.

Ford in 2006
Glenn Ford, legendary film actor, died at his home in Beverly Hills at age 91. He played strong, thoughtful leading men in films like in “Gilda” (1946), “The Big Heat” (1953) and “The Blackboard Jungle” (1955).

Crime in 2010
Hewlett-Packard Co., in Palo Alto, agreed to pay $55 million to settle a Justice Department investigation of a kickback scheme.

Yosemite in 2012     
Yosemite National Park closed Curry Village tent cabins following additional cases of hantavirus. Six people were infected, two died. Cabins were infested with deer mice that carry the disease.

August 31

Transportation in 1851    
Flying Cloud, a Yankee clipper ship, set a record for sailing from New York around South America to San Francisco in 89 days.

Crime in 1881
Charles Earl Bowles, English born gentleman bandit known as Black Bart, left poems at the scene of his crimes. He held up Wells Fargo stage coaches 28 times. The 16th was near Yreka in Siskiyou County.

 

 

Saroyan in 1908  
William Saroyan, Armenian-American writer, was born near Fresno. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1940) and an Academy Award for Best Short Story (1943) for the film of his novel The Human Comedy.

Sports in 1959 
Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, broke Dizzy Dean’s National League record of 18 strikeouts in one game.

Sports in 1964 
Ground was broken for Anaheim Stadium, home of the Angels, nicknamed The Big A. It opened in 1966. Today it is the fourth-oldest Major League Baseball stadium after Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and Dodger Stadium.

Muir in 1964
John Muir’s home in Martinez, where the Sierra Club founder lived, became a National Historic Site. Along with the house, 325 acres of native oak woodlands and grasslands nearby, owned by the Muir family, were preserved.

Music in 1965
The Beatles returned to the Cow Palace in San Francisco for their second concert, the 10th and final stop of their 1965 North American tour.

Ford in 1973     
John Ford, legendary film director, died in Palm Desert at age 79. He directed some 140  films, many classic Westerns and literary movies.

Crime in 1978
Emily and William Harris, Symbionese Liberation Army founders, pleaded guilty to kidnapping newspaper heiress, Patty Hearst (1974).

Crime in 1985 
Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker serial killer, was arrested in East L.A. Elderly Mexican women recognized his face on the covers of newspapers. He was captured by local residents.

Accidents in 1986  
Aeroméxico Flight 498, approaching Los Angeles, collided with a light plane and crashed in Cerritos. Eighty-two people died, passengers in both planes and people on the ground.

Sports in 2002 
The Los Angeles Sparks beat the New York Liberty to defend their Women’s National Basketball Association championship, 69-66.

Computers in 2004 
Apple, Inc., in Cupertino, introduced the iMac G4 with the computer built into the monitor.

Crime in 2006  
Tony Daniloo, former President and CEO of DreamLife Financial, of Turlock, was indicted on 122 charges of fraud and money laundering, He allegedly stole $7 million from East Bay and the Central Valley homeowners.

Government in 2007      
A federal court decided the U.S. Navy can continue underwater sonar blasts in anti-submarine warfare tests off of Southern California. The court decided military needs were more important than whales.

San Francisco in 2008 
Open Streets began in San Francisco. The city closed 4.5 miles of waterfront streets to cars and invited people to come out and play in the streets. 

Crime in 2009
Anand Jon Alexander, celebrity fashion designer, was sentenced to 59 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting aspiring models he brought to Los Angeles.

Fire in 2009  
The Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest nearly doubled in size overnight, threatening 12,000 homes. Two firefighters died a day earlier when their vehicle rolled down a mountainside amid the flames.

Business in 2009
The Walt Disney Co., in Burbank, announced plans to buy Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion. That would bring characters like Iron Man and Spider-Man into the family with Mickey Mouse and Buzz Lightyear.

Business in 2011 
Solyndra, a solar-cell maker in Fremont, announced plans to layoff 1,100 employees and file for bankruptcy. Solyndra received a $535 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.

September 1

Missions in 1772
Father Junipero Serra dedicated San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, the fifth of California’s 21 missions. Serra chose the location for natural resources, good weather and friendly Chumash, a local tribe they put to work building  the mission. Today the mission church is a parish church of the Diocese of Monterey.

Overland journeys in 1846
The Donner Party, 87 people in 23 wagons, ran out of water on their third day crossing the Great Salt Lake Desert. The Reed family oxen ran off at night and weren’t found so the Reeds had to walk.

 

Government in 1849
A Constitutional Convention to prepare for statehood met upstairs at Colton Hall in Monterey. A school was downstairs, a jail next door.

Newspapers in 1868
The Daily Dramatic Chronicle, published in San Francisco, widened its coverage and changed its name to the Morning Chronicle.

Transportation in 1873
Regular cable car service began on Clay Street in San Francisco. The line’s success made it a model for other cable car transit systems. Andrew Hallidie enforced his patents and grew rich.

Crime in 1880
Charles Earl Bowles, English born gentleman bandit known as Black Bart, left poems at the scene of his crimes. He held up Wells Fargo stage coaches 28 times. The 12th was near Last Chance Station in Shasta County.

Stevenson in 1879
Robert Louis Stevenson, 28 years old and in love with a married older woman, “Fanny” Matilda Van de Grift Osbourne, traveled by transcontinental railroad from New York to be with her. They married in San Francisco the next year and honeymooned in the Napa Valley, where he wrote The Silverado Squatters (1883).

Japanese American Internment in 1942
A federal judge in Sacramento upheld the wartime detention of Japanese-Americans as well as Japanese nationals. More than 10,000 people were forced from their homes and kept in primitive, remote camps in California and other states during World War II. 

Slatkin in 1944
Leonard Slatkin, music conductor and composer, was born in Los Angeles. Music runs through several generations of his Russian Jewish family. 

Sports in 1946
San Francisco 49ers played their first home game at Kezar Stadium before a crowd of 45,000. They beat the Chicago Rockets, 34-14.

San Francisco in 1952
Developer George Whitney bought Sutro Baths in San Francisco. He sold it to the National Parks Service in 1977.

Transportation in 1954
A terminal designed in the International and Mid-Century Modern architectural styles opened at San Francisco International Airport. It closed after 50 years then remodeled and reopened in 2011.

Sports in 1967 
The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds in 21 innings,1-0. That was the longest game in Reds history.

 

Hollywood in 1979
Debbie Boone married Gabriel Ferrer in Los Angeles. She is the daughter of singer Pat Boone and granddaughter of country music star Red Foley. He is the son of Jose Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney, brother of actors Miguel and Rafael Ferrer and cousin of George Clooney. 

 

Hollywood in 1979
A Los Angeles court ordered Clayton Moore to stop wearing his Lone Ranger mask. For years after “The Lone Ranger” (1949-1957), he made appearances wearing his costume. After the court order, he replaced the mask with similar-looking sunglasses. He counter-sued and won the right to wear his original costume. 

Chamberlain in 1984
Howland Chamberlain, film and stage actor, died in Oakland at age 73. He was involved with Southern California theater during the WPA. He debuted in “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946) which won seven Oscars.

Protest in 1987
S. Brian Wilson, a 46-year-old Vietnam veteran, had his legs sliced off when a munitions train at the Concord Naval Weapons Station ran him over during the Nuremberg Actions. He was protesting against weapons shipments to Central America.

Parks in 1995
Limekiln State Park, 716 acres on the Big Sur coast, opened. It has four lime kilns from an 1887–1890 foundry, a beach, redwood forest and 100-foot Limekiln Falls.

Government in 1998
California Legislature approved $425 million to purchase the 9,400-acre Headwaters Forest Reserve in Humboldt County. The federal government already approved $250 million.

Sports in 2001
The Los Angeles Sparks won the WNBA championship, defeating the Charlotte Sting, 82-to-54.

Government in 2002
California Legislature approved a $99 billion budget, ending a 2-month-old standoff.

Government in 2005
California Senate approved a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.

Crime in 2009
Five San Francisco Public Utilities Commission workers and two others were charged with falsely charging the city for $200,000 in goods over four years. 

Fires in 2009
The Station Fire burned 53 homes and threatened thousands more. People evacuated neighborhoods just 15 miles from downtown Los Angeles. On Sep 3 investigators said the fire was an act of arson. The 250-square-mile fire was 100% contained 52 days after it began.

Business in 2010
Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, introduced Ping as the music social network. It launched with 1 million members in 23 countries.

September 2

Exploration in 1769
Gaspar de Portolà’s camped at Oso Flaco, meaning skinny bear, Lake, north of Guadalupe. He was traveling with Father Crespí, 63 leather-jacket soldiers and a 100 mules loaded with provisions, searching for Monterey Bay to establish a Spanish colony.  now a Californa State Park

Missions in 1797
A 24-year-old woman was the first Indian baptized at Mission San Jose. They baptized her Josefa but her name was first recorded as Gilpae de los Palos Colorados. She was probably from the redwoods area around modern San Leandro.

Transportation in 1863
The first railroad and ferry link between San Francisco  and Oakland began operations.

Champion in 1919
Marge Champion, legendary dancer, choreographer and actress, was born in Los Angeles. She modeled as a child for Walt Disney animated films. Later she hosted a General Electric Theater television show series of song and dance (1956-1957).

Oakland in 1950
Children’s Fairyland opened at Oakland’s Lake Merritt. Walt Disney hired away Dorothy Manes, its first director, and, some believe, based Disneyland somewhat on Children’s Fairyland.

Sports in 1962
The Los Angeles Angels, preparing to move to Anaheim, changed their name to the California Angels and then to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The team name started in 1892 with the first Los Angeles-based sports team. 

Communication in 1969
The first Internet message was sent to UCLA from Bolt Beranek and Newman Corp. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. By 2007 some university researchers want to scrap the Internet and start over.

Crime in 1980
U.S. District Judge William Ingram found Joseph Bonanno, a Mafia boss, guilty of conspiracy to influence witnesses before a federal grand jury investigating his sons’ Santa Clara Valley business affairs.

Crime in 1986
A judge in Los Angeles sentenced Cathy Evelyn Smith to three years in prison in connection with the drug overdose death of comedian John Belushi (1982). She served 18 months.

Overland journeys in 2000
American Discovery Trail, 6,356 miles long, was was celebrated at San Francisco’s Crissy Field. The 15-state trail came from an 11-year effort by Backpacker Magazine and the American Hiking Society.

Religion in 2002
Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles was dedicated. The $195 million building was designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo.

Crime in 2004
A military jury at Camp Pendleton, in San Diego County, convicted Marine Sergeant Gary Pittman of dereliction of duty and abuse of prisoners at a makeshift detention camp in Iraq.

Mathias in 2006
Bob Mathias, born in Tulare, died in Fresno at age 75. He was a 2-time Olympic decathalon champion (1948, 1952), starred as himself in the film “The Bob Mathias Story” (1954) and served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1967-1976).

Music in 2007
A free concert in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love. It featured veteran musicians of the era. 

Business in 2008
Google, in Mountain View, announced Chrome, a new Web browser was available for download.

Crime in 2008
Mark Guardado, 45-year-old president of the San Francisco Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, was killed during a fight in the Mission District. Christopher Ablett, age 37, a member of the Mongols Motorcycle Club, was later named as a suspect in the killing.

Crime in 2011
Kinde Durkee, Democratic campaign manager in Burbank, was arrested for mail fraud. She stole some $670,000 from state Assemblyman Jose Solorio. She was sentenced to eight years in prison for the largest embezzlement of political funds in California history.

Crime in 2012
Audrie Pott, age 15, went to a house party in Saratoga, where she drank and passed out. Teenage boys took advantage of her, took pictures then posted them on Facebook. Eight days later, Pott hanged herself in shame. On April 11, 2013, police arrested 3 boys in connection with her death.

Transportation in 2013
The widest bridge in the world, the eastern span of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, opened to traffic. It replaced an unsafe section of the bridge from Yerba Buena Island to Emeryville. Construction took 11 years.

September 3

Overland journeys in 1846
After a 5-day desert trek across the Great Salt Lake Desert, the Donner Party lost 36 head of cattle, half were the Reed’s. They abandoned four wagons then spent the next week at the foot of Pilot Peak resting, hunting for their cattle and hiding possessions to return for later.

Transportation in 1913
The Oakland, Antioch and Eastern Railway began operating an electric train from Oakland to Sacramento; the Comet in the morning and Meteor in the afternoon.

Music in 1940
Artie Shaw and his Gramercy Five recorded “Summit Ridge Drive” and “Special Delivery Stomp” in Hollywood for RCA Victor. Shaw named his band after his home telephone exchange. “Summit Ridge Drive,” sold a million single copies.

Sports in 1965
Los Angeles Angels changed their name to California Angels in advance of the team’s move to the new Anaheim stadium. 

 

 

Parks in 1972
Playland-at-the-Beach in San Francisco was bulldozed. Some 40 Fascination tables, invented by John Gibbs of Los Angeles, went to a Market Street arcade. Fascination combined bowling with Bingo. Laughing Sal’s head was stolen but recovered in 2004.

Environment in 1980
Professor W. Jackson Davis of UC Santa Cruz uncovered a report indicating government officials knew for almost 20 years that nuclear waste containers, dumped off the California coast, were leaking.

Government in 1981
Governor Jerry Brown signed a law making Martin Luther King’s birthday a state holiday. The legislation was the result of four years of efforts by Oakland Tech High School students.

Sports in 1988
Dennis Eckersley, Oakland A’s, set a record with his 37th of 45 saves that season. Over five years he saved 220 games, never posting an ERA higher than 2.96. He gave up five earned runs in 1990 season, a  0.61 ERA.

Capra in 1991
Frank Capra, legendary film director, producer and writer, died in La Quinta at age 94. Among his best known films is the Christmas story, “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946).

Business in 1995 
Ebay, originally called AuctionWeb, was founded in San Jose. Today, headquartered in San Jose, it’s a multibillion dollar business in over 30 countries.

Environment in 2000
A 5.2 earthquake centered in Napa injured over 40 people.

Business in 2001
Hewlett-Packard, in Palo Alto, purchased Compaq Computer in a $25 billion stock swap. 15,000 people expected to lose their job.

Fires in 2007
Fire east of Morgan Hill burned 47,760 acres in and near Henry W. Coe State Park. Margaret Pavese accidentally started it when burning trash near her cabin.

Fires in 2007
The Moonlight Fire in Lassen County burned a total of 65,000 acres over 2 weeks and involved 2,300 firefighters to extinguish it. Its cause has been never fully established.

Environment in 2007
Temperatures throughout the state reached above 100. The heat wave led to blackouts leaving thousands without power.

Transportation in 2009
San Francisco Bay Bridge was shut down to replace a 300-foot section, part of replacing the entire eastern span by 2013. It was expected to remain closed for five days. The original estimated cost of $132 million passed $527 million.

Business in 2011
Oakland hosted its first International Cannabis & Hemp Expo. It had an area for people with a medical cannabis card to ingest, smoke or vaporize marijuana.

Government in 2013
Siskiyou County supervisors voted 4-1 to secede from the rest of the sate. They hoped to revitalize the 1941 regional independence movement to form the new state of Jefferson.

September 4

Exploration in 1769
Gaspar de Portolà, traveling with Father Crespí, 63 leather-jacket soldiers and a 100 mules loaded with provisions, searching for Monterey Bay to establish a Spanish colony, camped at Pismo Beach on the San Luis Obispo coast. The name comes from the Chumash language word for tar, Pismu’.

Los Angeles in 1781
Felipe de Neve, Mexican Provincial Governor, 44 settlers and soldiers and two padres at San Gabriel Mission founded El Pueblo de la Reyna de los Angeles, known as Los Angeles. Twenty-six of the settlers were of African ancestry.

Inventions in 1877
Margaret Petrie, of Vallejo, patented an improvement in mosquito bars. “My invention relates to that class of mosquito-bars constructed so as to be attached to the head-board of a bed, childs crib, or cradle, and so arranged as to be expanded or folded down vertically against the standard or support when desired.”

Japanese American Internment in 1942
Tulare Detention Camp closed. This camp was part of the mass incarceration of some 110,000 Californians of Japanese ancestry during World War II.

Television in 1951
President Harry Truman made the first transcontinental television speech, broadcast from a conference in San Francisco. He formally accepted the treaty ended America’s post-World War II occupation of Japan.

Government in 1969
Governor Ronald Reagan signed the first no-fault divorce package into law.

Crime in 1977
At the Golden Dragon restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown, five members of the Joe Boys, a Chinese youth gang, shot at members of the Wah Ching, a rival Chinatown gang. They killed 5 people and injured 11 others. None of the victims were gang members.

Business in 1998
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Stanford University students, incorporated Google and deposited their first investor’s check for $100,000. In 2014 the company was valued at around $400 billion. 

Labor in 2001
BART reached a tentative agreement with its two largest unions to avoid a strike. Today BART averages some 422,500 passengers on a weekday.

Environment in 2002
The Phytophthora ramorum microbe, responsible for sudden oak death, had reportedly infected California’s coastal redwood saplings.

Fires in 2006
The Day Fire in in the Los Padres National Forest in Ventura County was the sixth largest wildfire in California history. It burned for 9 days, consumed over 162,700 acres and involved 4,600 firefighters.

Business in 2007
Mattel Inc., in El Segundo, the world’s largest toy maker, announced a third recall in little more than a month. Chinese-made toys had unhealthy amounts of lead paint.

Crime in 2012
CHP Officer Kenyon Youngstrom, age 37, was shot by Christopher Boone Lacy, age 36, during a traffic stop near Alamo. He died the next day. Another officer shot and killed Lacy.

September 5

Accidents in 1864 
Boilers on the paddle wheel steamer Washoe exploded on its way from San Francisco to Sacramento. Mark Twain reported in the San Francisco Daily Morning Call that as many as 100 people were killed and 75 wounded.

 

 

Transportation in 1876
Charles Crocker, railroad owner, hammered a golden spike at the Lang Station in Soledad Canyon to celebrate completing the Southern Pacific Railroad in California.

Women in 1878
Clara Foltz passed the University of California bar exam to became the first female lawyer on the West Coast. She and Laura de Force Gordon applied to Hastings College of the Law. They were denied admission because of their gender. So Foltz and Gordon sued, argued their own case and won admission. The Criminal Courts Building in downtown Los Angeles was renamed the Clara Shortridge Folz Criminal Justice Center in 2002.

Libraries in 1912
Los Angeles County Library was founded. It opened in a room on the 10th floor of the Hall of Records in downtown Los Angeles. Its first branch was in a room at Belle Jenks’ home in Willowbrook (1913). Celia Gleason, County Librarian, opened165 branch libraries (1913-1924). Today Los Angeles County Library is the 6th largest public library system in the U.S.

Crime in 1921
Virginia Rappe, film actress, died at a  party at San Francisco’s St. Francis Hotel. Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was charged with her murder. He was acquitted but his career was ruined.

Labor in 1938 
Harry Bridges led some 85,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in San Francisco’s Labor Day parade.

Transportation in 1955
The first Sig Alert, a traffic alert system warning of freeway traffic jams, was broadcast in Los Angeles. The system was invented by Loyd Sigmon, an executive for the KMPC radio station. He wanted to raise ratings with traffic information.

Literature in 1957
Viking Press published Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. The Beatnick adventure partly set in California describes the cross-country adventures of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty. Kerouac typed the book on a long roll of paper in three weeks of 1951.

Business in 1963
President Follies, the last San Francisco “Strip Tease” parlor closed. It opened Christmas Day (1941).

Crime in 1975
Charles Manson family member Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme attempted to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford in Sacramento. Her gun failed to fire, no one was injured and Ford continued walking to the California state house.

Accidents in 1982
A San Francisco driver crashed into a taxi carrying actress Janet Gaynor, age 75, her husband Paul Gregory, actress Mary Martin and manager Ben Washer. Washer was killed. The others were injured. Gaynor never recovered and died in 1984.

Sports in 1994 
Jerry Rice, San Fransisco 49er wide receiver, broke the NFL record when he caught his 127th touchdown pass in a victory over the Los Angeles Raiders, 44-14. Rice finished his career with 208 TD passes and is among the greatest NFL players in history.

Accidents in 2003
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad derailed at Disneyland in Anaheim. One man was killed and 10 others injured, including a 9-year-old.

Literature in 2006
Michael Palmer of San Francisco won the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award. He was known for collaborating with dance and recognized for “outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry.” The award included $100,000

Transportation in 2006
The lower deck of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge reopened after some 1,000-feet was demolished and replaced during the Labor Day weekend. During the Loma Prieta earthquake (1989), a section of the upper deck fell, closing the bridge for a month.

Environment in 2007
Southern California coroners said some 28 people possibly died from heat-related causes due to an 8-day heat wave.

Art in 2008
Thom Ross, Western artist, placed 100 wooden Indians on horseback on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, just like in a photograph of Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show featuring live Indians on horseback (1902).

Protests in 2008
Four people continued a 21-month protest in a redwood while arborists began removing trees for a $124 million U.C. Berkeley athletic center. 

Transportation in 2008
A musical road opened in Lancaster. When cars drove over grooves cut into the road, vibrations sounded like William Tell’s “Overture,” better known as the “Lone Ranger” theme music. It was paved over after nearby residents complained about noise levels.

Transportation in 2009
Crews retrofitting the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge found a significant crack in the eastern span from Yerba Buena Island to Emeryville. That kept the 73-year-old bridge closed after a planned holiday weekend shutdown.

Crime in 2010
A Los Angeles police officer shot and killed Manuel Jamines, a Guatemalan immigrant. His death led to several days of violent protests. Police said Jamines was threatening people with a knife.

Prisons in 2013
California Department of Corrections said 100 inmates ended a two-month hunger strike protesting use of isolation cells. Inmate leaders said legislators agreed to hearings on state prison conditions.