October 30

Masonic Lodge.

Clubs in 1849
A Masonic lodge was formed at Benton City. Peter Lassen chartered this lodge with Saschel Woods. They met while Lassen was forming his wagon train to California.

Theaters in 1850
The Jenny Lind Theatre opened above Tom Maguire’s Parker House on San Francisco’s Portsmouth Square.

Portsmouth Square (1851).

Atherton in 1857
Gertrude Atherton, author of the memoir Adventures of a Novelist (1932), was born in San Francisco.

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

Families of Japanese ancestry awaiting a train which will take them to the Merced Assembly Center

Crime in 1966
The Zodiac killer murdered a female college student in Riverside.

Luis Alvarez.

Science in 1968
Luis Alvarez of U.C. Berkeley won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the bubble chamber, which has to do with particle acceleration.

Nolan Ryan.

Steve Allen.

Allen in 2000
Steve Allen, television entertainer, died in Encino at age 88. He created the “Tonight Show,” recorded 49 albums, wrote 53 books and appeared in numerous other television shows.

San Francisco Bay Area earthquake faults.

Accidents in 2009
The tanker Dubai Star began leaking fuel oil in San Francisco Bay after a tank overflowed during refueling. Coast Guard officials later estimated that some 400-800 gallons of toxic oil leaked, killing at least 37 birds along the Alameda coastline.

Buffalo in 2009
Norton Buffalo, harmonica virtuoso and long time member of the Steve Miller Band, died of cancer in Paradise at age 58.

October 31

Exploration in 1769
Gaspar de Portolà expedition left San Diego on July 14th, searching for Monterey Bay to establish a colony. He missed his mark and found San Francisco Bay.

Mare Island Naval Shipyard.

Ranchos in 1840
Rancho Isla de la Yegua was deeded. This rancho, now known as Mare Island, was home to a Naval Shipyard critical to victory in the Pacific during World War II.

Overland Trail in 1846
George Donner cut his hand badly while making a new front wagon axle for his wagon. His group lagged behind while the rest of the party moved on.

George Donner

Transportation in 1913
The Lincoln Highway, the first U.S. transcontinental highway, opened. It ran from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco.

Lincoln Highway.

KTMS.

Radio in 1937
Radio broadcasting began in Santa Barbara when KTMS went live on air.

Eastwood in 1953
Alice Eastwood, curator of botany at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco from 1890 to 1949, died in San Francisco at age 94. She built a collection of some 350,000 plant specimens and wrote over 310 scientific articles.

Alice Eastwood collecting plants.

Phoenix in 1993
River Phoenix, actor, musician and activist, died in Los Angeles at age 23. He was the  brother of Rain, Joaquin, Summer and Liberty Phoenix.

Parks in 1994
Mojave National Preserve was established. This 1.6 million acre preserve is among the largest in the National Park System.

Mojave National Preserve minerals.

Smith in 2000
Willow Camille Reign Smith, singer, actress and dancer, was born in Los Angeles. She is the daughter of Will and Jada and sister of Jaden and half-sister of “Trey” Smith.

Crime in 2001
Sara Jane Olson, former Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to the attempted murder of police officers in 1975. She was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

Sara Jane Olson.

“John Brown’s Body” at San Quentin Prison (2002).

Prisons in 2002
Inmates at San Quentin performed “John Brown’s Body” by Stephen Vincent Benet under the direction of Joseph De Francesca.

Halloween in 2005
Some 30,000 people gathered in San Francisco’s Castro district for the annual Halloween party.

San Francisco, Castro Street Halloween.

Halloween in 2006
Gunfire between two groups at a Halloween street party broke out in San Francisco’s Castro district, wounding at least 10 people, including innocent bystanders.

Enrico Banduccis Sidewalk Cafe.

Restaurants in 2006
Enrico’s Sidewalk Café in San Francisco’s North Beach district closed after negotiations for a new lease collapsed. Enrico Banducci opened it in 1958.

Energy in 2007
San Francisco energy officials approved a new $230 million power plant near Potrero Hill. That let the city close an older, dirtier plant nearby.

Science in 2007
U.C. Berkeley physicists announced production of the world’s smallest radio out of a single carbon nanotube 10,000 times thinner than a human hair. They had it play “Layla” by Derek and the Dominos and said it could also function as a transmitter.

November 1

Missions in 1776
Father Junipero Serra dedicated Mission San Juan Capistrano, the 7th of Alta California’s 21 missions. Today the mission is famous for its ruins from an 1812 earthquake and swallows that return every March.

Mission San Juan Capistrano. Photographed by Carlton Watkins (circa 1877) Courtesy of the Society of California Pioneers.

Exploration in 1793
Captain George Vancouver, on a 4 1/2 year voyage of exploration and diplomacy around the world, anchored in Monterey Bay. He had sailed as far north as Vancouver Island and west to Hawaii, then called the Sandwich Islands.

Jose Cardero, Presidio of Monterey (1791) Courtesy of Monterey County Historical Society

Sacramento embarcadero in 1850

Sacramento in 1848
John Sutter, Jr. announced plans for a new town, Sacramento City, where the American River joins the Sacramento River.

Visalia in 1852
Nearly half of the original settlers of Visalia, a San Joaquin Valley community, were school age children.

Main Street, Visalia (1863)

Lucy Field Wanzer

Public Health in 1876
Lucy Field Wanzer became the first female medical school graduate west of the Rocky Mountains when she graduated from U.C. Medical School. She and 10 other women established Children’s Hospital in San Francisco (1875).

Libraries in 1880
Miss Sara Plummer established Santa Barbara’s first library then sold it to the Odd Fellows after she married. Today’s Santa Barbara Public Library building, designed in 1924, is part of the heart of the city.

Friends of the Santa Barbara Public Library.

Byrds at the Fillmore West (1967).

Music in 1965
Bill Graham produced his first concert at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium, which became a legendary venue. It was a benefit for the San Francisco Mime Troupe, featuring music and poetry from the local art scene and subculture.

Sports in 1966
Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, became the first 3-time Cy Young Award winner.

Los Angeles Clippers.

November 2

Santa Barbara Presidio by Russell A. Ruiz. Courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum.

Presidios in 1787
At the Santa Barbara Presidio, there was one lieutenant, three sergeants, two corporals and 50 privates, plus 124 horses and 109 mules for transportation.

Overland journeys in 1846
The Donner Party was stopped by deep snow while crossing the Sierra Nevada and trapped until February. Nearly half the 87 people died from disease and starvation.

Nero, a Donner Party dog.

Col. John C. Fremont, Republican candidate for the President of the United States by Baker & Godwin

Fremont in 1847
General Kearny charged Lieutenant Colonel John Frémont with mutiny in a conflict over authority during the Mexican American War in California. Frémont later became the first presidential candidate of the new Republican Party (1856).

Parks in 1895
The Chutes amusement park opened on Haight Street in San Francisco, featuring a shoot-the-chutes water slide. It relocated in 1902 and was the only amusement park that survived the 1906 earthquake.

The Chutes postcard, San Francisco.

Government in 1927
Federal agents raided an illegal brewery in San Francisco with nearly 2,000 gallons of beer brewing in four 500-gallon vats.

San Francisco, Western Addition (1927).

Business in 1934 
A fight for control of the beer market expanded after Prohibition. San Francisco brewers matched the prices of Humboldt Brewery; $1 for 24 pints of beer.

Flight in 1947
Howard Hughes, brilliant aircraft pilot and designer, flew the Spruce Goose over Cabrillo Beach, on its one-and-only flight. It was the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built.

Spruce Goose (1947).

Laurel and Hardy.

Roach in 1992
Legendary movie producer Hal Roach died in Los Angeles at age 100. He is best known for producing the “Laurel and Hardy” and “Our Gang,” later known as “The Little Rascals,” films  in the 1920s and ’30s.

Fires in 1993
Fires in Southern California pushed through areas of Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties, burning 35,000 acres and 200 homes.

Fires in Southern California (1993).

Crime in 2000
Four Oakland police officers, known as “The Riders,” were charged with 48 felonies, including beating suspects and planting evidence. They were acquitted of misconduct charges in 2003, retried in 2004  but that trial ended in a mistrial in 2005.

November 3

Charles Bowles, also known as Black Bart.

Crime in 1883
Charles Earl Bowles, English gentleman bandit known as Black Bart who left poems at the scenes of his crime and held up Wells Fargo Stagecoaches 28 times, was wounded at Funk Hill in Calaveras County during this last attempt.

Business in 1930 
The Bank of Italy, in San Francisco, became the Bank of America. Today it is a multinational financial services corporation headquartered in North Carolina and the third biggest company in the world.

Bank of Italy (1907).

Sports in 1962 
Wilt Chamberlain, San Francisco Warriors, scored 72 points against the Los Angeles Lakers. The 7-foot 1-inch Chamberlain, who later played for the Lakers, was one of most dominant players in NBA history.

Sports in 1965
Sandy Koufax won the Cy Young Award unanimously. He won also in 1963 and 1966, making Kofax the greatest pitcher of his time.

Sandy Koufax. Topps Baseball Card (1964).

Genie.

Crime in 1970  
Genie, a 13-year-old child was rescued in Los Angeles, after being locked in her bedroom for most of her life.

Technology in 1994
The first conference focused exclusively on the commercial potential of the World Wide Web opened in San Francisco.

Affirmative action demonstration.

Government in 1997 
California law ended affirmative-action. That stopped programs to overcome discrimination by assigning quotas of jobs and resources for minorities and women.

November 4

Trinidad coastline

Exploration in 1595
Sebastián Rodríguez Cermeño, Portugese explorer appointed by the Spanish king to find a safe harbor for ships returning to Mexico from the Philippines, landed somewhere between Point St. George and Trinidad Head in California.

Indians in 1775
Kumeyaay warriors attacked Mission San Diego, killed Father Luís Jayme and burned the mission. It was the first of a dozen revolts during the Mission Period.

Kumeyaay rebellion

Overland Journey in 1841
The Bartleson Bidwell Party, the first overland wagon train to California, reached John Marsh’s rancho at the foot of Mt. Diablo. They traveled over 2,000 miles, averaging about 15 miles a day for roughly 5 months.

Bartleson Bidwell trail

San Francisco in 1867
Ninety kegs of powder were used to blast rock from Telegraph Hill for a seawall.

Inventions in 1873
John Beers, a San Francisco dentist, patented an improved gold crown device to restore broken or decayed teeth.

John Beers, dentist, patented an improved gold crown for teeth (1873).

Sports in 1924 
The California legalized professional boxing, which had been against the law since 1914.

Morris twins boxing at Neptune Beach, Alameda (1924).

Portsmouth Square, San Francisco.

Protests in 1959 
A protest at Portsmouth Square in San Francisco opposed plans for an 800-car garage at a cost of $3.2 million. Later, 100-foot-tall trees in the plaza were cut down for the underground garage. Portsmouth Square was the center of Gold Rush San Francisco. Today it is the center of Chinatown.

November 5

Caithbridge Perry Rodgers

Flight in 1911
Calbraith Perry Rodgers finished the first transcontinental flight. He took off from Sheepshead Bay, New York (09-17-11) and landed in Pasadena 52 days later with many intentional and accidental stops.

Los Angeles in 1913
The Los Angeles Aqueduct opened. To get water from the Owens River took 223 miles of pipe, 120 miles of railroad track, two hydroelectric plants, 170 miles of power lines, 240 miles of telephone line, a cement plant and 500 miles of roads.

Los Angeles Lakers.

Sports in 1971 
The Los Angeles Lakers started a 33 game winning streak.

 

Transportation in 1973
BART began regular train shuttle service between San Francisco and Daly City.

BART map.

Google.

Business in 2007
Google, in Mountain View, unveiled the Android mobile operating system.

November 6

Exploration in 1595
Sebastián Rodríguez Cermeño, Portugese explorer appointed by the Spanish king, anchored at Drakes Bay. He was searching for a safe harbor for Spanish trading ships returning from the Philippines. His ship sank weeks later but the crew of nearly 80 managed to return to Mexico.

Drake’s Bay

Exploration  in 1794
Captain George Vancouver, English explorer, anchored in Monterey Bay. During his 4 1/2 year journey around the world, he visited the capital of Alta California for the third and last time.

Jose Cardero, Presidio of Monterey (1791) Courtesy of Monterey County Historical Society

Exploration in 1826
Frederick William Beechey, English naval officer and geographer, drew the first charts of San Francisco Bay. He was on a journey to the Bering Strait.

Beechey chart of San Francisco Bay

Transcontinental telegraph

Communication in 1862
The transcontinental telegraph linked New York to San Francisco.

 

Protests in 1968 
Students at San Francisco State went on strike, led by Black Students Union and Third World Liberation Front members. Police responded after students marched on the Administration Building.

Sports in 1974
Mike Marshall, Los Angeles Dodgers, was the first relief pitcher to win the Cy Young Award.

Sports in 1981
Fernando Valenzuela, Los Angeles Dodgers, became the first rookie to win a Cy Young Award.

Flight in 1983 
Space Shuttle Discovery was transported overland from Palmdale, where it was built, to Vandenberg Air Force Base. It first flew on August 30, 1984.

Space Shuttle Enterprise passes through a hillside cut to clear its wingspan, at Vandenberg AFB (1985).

Flight in 1985 
Space Shuttle Challenger landed at Edwards Air Force Base after a flight of 7 days, 00 hours, 44 minutes, 51 seconds.

Hollywood in 1990
Arsenio Hall got a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

Universal Studios fire (1990).

Fires in 1990 
Fire destroyed 20% of the standing sets at Universal Studios. Total damage was estimated at some $50 million. It was started by a security guard with a cigarette lighter in a Brownstone Street alley.

Crime in 2012
Three people were killed in a shooting at Apple Valley Farms, a poultry processing plant in Fresno.