In 1940, the Treasury Department holds a contest to choose an artist to paint a series of murals for the lobby of the Rincon Annex…
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Stories about the arts in California
Phyllis Diller, 37, mother of five, former San Leandro News-Observer shopping columnist, gets her first stand-up comedy gig at San Francisco’s Purple Onion on March…
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Her Indian name, or at least one of her Indian names, the only one any of us know, is Tsupu. She is my great-great-grandfather’s mother, or…
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Inspiration comes to Malvina Reynolds as she drives through a Daly City housing development in 1962. Her song, “Little Boxes,” a satire on conformity, becomes…
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California writers have created a rich tradition of social protest novels, beginning with John Rollin Ridge’s The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Muiretta: The Celebrated…
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For nearly 90 years, as a city and a world have change utterly around it, the famed hotel Chateau Marmont, perched above a famous road…
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The lands of the Pomo spread across modern-day Sonoma, Mendocino, and Lake counties. The Pomo lack access to clay for pottery and so baskets are…
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Alexander and Abby Clifton Fisher come to San Francisco in 1877. In 1879, Abby Fisher is presented the highest award at the State Fair in…
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John Rollin Ridge’s Cherokee name is Cheesquatalawny or “Yellow Bird.” He is considered the first Native American novelist. John is born in 1827 in New…
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In 1908, Sacramento becomes the first public library in the state to offer free access to all county residents. This is the beginning of California’s…
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