Join us for a rapid-fire visual tour of California’s Wild West boomtowns, ghost towns, and iconic movie sets, led by expert historians and architects who know these sites inside and out. From the abandoned mining towns of Death Valley to the famous film locations of Paramount Ranch and Pioneertown, this fast-paced program uncovers the rugged landscapes and storied past of the state’s frontier history and aesthetic. Get a glimpse of the towns that rose and fell with the Gold Rush, and hear expert commentary on the film sets that brought the Wild West to life on screen. These iconic locations, both ‘real’ and ‘imagined’ are quintessential California.

Presented by...

• Daniel Paul, Architectural Historian and Consultant for the Pioneertown National Register Nomination
• David Hertz, FAIA, SEA Studio
• Ben Loescher, AIA LEED AP, Loescher Meachem Architects
• Linda Greene, Retired National Park Service Historian and co-author of "A History of Mining in Death Valley National Monument - California-Nevada"

In this fascinating program, explore the rich history of two of California’s most famous water spring resorts: Byron Hot Springs and Paradise Springs. Byron Hot Springs, once a lavish resort in the late 1800s and early 1900s, attracted wealthy visitors seeking the curative powers of its mineral waters. Over time, it evolved into a military interrogation site during World War II, adding layers of intrigue to its past. Paradise Springs, tucked away in the San Gabriel Mountains, was a retreat for celebrities and elites, known for its secluded beauty and rejuvenating waters.

Learn about the natural forces that created these springs-based escapes and the unique role they played in California's history. The program also delves into the legends and lore surrounding these sites, from tales of healing and mystery to their transition into forgotten relics of a bygone era. A must-see for history enthusiasts and those curious about California’s hidden past.

Presented by...

Carol Jensen, Historian and Author of "Byron Hot Springs." East Contra Costa Historical Society. Carol A. Jensen is the author of Byron Hot Springs (CA) (Images of America). Carol has been fascinated with local history since the early 1960s. A native of eastern Contra Costa County, Carol is a history graduate of UC Santa Barbara. She delights in discovering cultural ephemera and documenting the cultural history of the area in which people lived, visited, or worked in California. The fruits of her historical search can be found at the East Contra Costa County Historical Society, Brentwood.

She is also the author of Lake of the Sky Images: The Photographs of Harold A. Parker (2017), Mystery History Postcards from the California Delta (2012), and John Marsh, Pioneer: The Life Story of a Trail-Blazer on Six Frontiers (2012) (all Byron Hot Springs Publishing); Brentwood (2008), East Contra Costa County in Postcards (2007), The California Delta (2007), and Lake Tahoe’s West Shore (2011) (all Arcadia Publishing); and Lake Tahoe Through Time (2015) (Fonthill Media).

Justin Chapman, Award-winning Journalist and Author of "The Hedonistic History Of Paradise Springs, Where Early Hollywood Went Wild." Justin is an author, journalist, travel writer, actor, poet, musician, and politician. He was the youngest elected member of the Altadena Town Council at age 19. He received a Master's in Public Diplomacy from USC in 2018 and a Bachelor's in Mass Communications/Media Studies from UC Berkeley in 2009. At USC he served as the editor-in-chief of Public Diplomacy Magazine and as a staff writer at the Daily Trojan. He has written for more than 20 print and digital publications, frequently for the Pasadena Weekly. His book about his travels through Africa, Saturnalia: Traveling from Cape Town to Kampala in Search of an African Utopia, was published by Rare Bird Books in January 2015. He is the host, producer, and editor of the show "Well Read with Justin Chapman."

He also serves on the West Pasadena Residents' Association (WPRA) Advisory Board and Pasadena City Councilmember Steve Madison's Advisory Group. He previously served as president of MEMAH, as secretary of the WPRA, as secretary of the ACLU Pasadena/Foothills Chapter, and as a member of the UN Association Pasadena Chapter's Communications Committee, LA Press Club, and LA World Affairs Council. He was appointed to serve as a commissioner on the city of Pasadena's Northwest Commission from 2015-16.

As a professional child actor, he performed in dozens of movies, commercials, TV shows, and plays.

Join us for a captivating journey into the golden age of San Francisco’s grand department stores, featuring historian and author Anne Evers Hitz. In this program, Hitz will share fascinating stories from her books, Lost Department Stores of San Francisco and Emporium Department Store, detailing how iconic stores like City of Paris, I. Magnin, and The White House once shaped the city’s identity and retail culture.

We will also dive into the architectural innovations and stylistic trends that made these grand stores the jewels of urban landscapes. Together, they’ll uncover the rise, transformation, and lasting legacy of these retail palaces that defined 20th-century America.

This program uncovers the rise and fall of these commercial giants, delving into their social and architectural significance while celebrating their lasting legacy. Perfect for anyone interested in architecture, retail history, or the cultural fabric of San Francisco.

Presented by...

Jeff Hardwick, Director of the Division of Public Programs, National Endowment for the Humanities. Author of Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream. Jeff Hardwick's academic background is in American Studies, with a doctorate from Yale University, a master’s from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture at the University of Delaware, and an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2003, he published a biography of the émigré architect Victor Gruen, Mall Maker, with the University of Pennsylvania Press. He has taught 20th-century American history, architectural history, and public history at numerous universities and currently teaches in the Smithsonian Institution’s History of Decorative Arts program at George Washington University. 

Anne Evers Hitz, Freelance Writer, descendant of one of the Emporium's founders, and Author of "Lost Department Stores of San Francisco." Proud to be a fifth-generation San Franciscan, author Anne Evers Hitz has had a long interest in San Francisco history, its lore, and legends. Anne’s most recent book is Lost Department Stores of San Francisco: Six Bygone Stores That Defined an Era (History Press, 2020). She is also the author of Emporium Department Store (Arcadia, 2014) and San Francisco’s Ferry Building (Arcadia, 2017). Anne is a volunteer guide at the Ferry Building for City Guides, a group of local volunteers who give free walking tours of San Francisco.

A graduate of U.C. Berkeley, Hitz is a writer, editor, and project manager who has had her own communications consulting firm in San Francisco for over 25 years. She worked as publicity director for the University of California Press and as an editorial assistant at publishers Oxford University Press and Farrar, Straus & Giroux in New York.

David J. Smiley, Associate Director and Adjunct Associate Professor, GSAPP, Columbia University. Author of Pedestrian Modern: Architecture and Shopping, 1925-1956. Trained as an architect and as an architectural and urban historian, David Smiley’s research and teaching focus on the intersections of architectural and urban theory, design and modernization. He was written about contemporary urban and suburban issues, examining large-scale urban interventions, the single-family house and multi-family housing, the re-use of shopping malls and the recent history of urban planning and urban design. Smiley is especially interested in the making of architectural and planning culture: the ways in which magazines, schools, policies, professional associations and local and regional politics continually reshape the discourse and practices of the built environment. His book, Pedestrian Modern: Architecture and Shopping, 1925-1956 (University of Minnesota Press, 2013), is a study of the ways architects interpreted shopping centers as Modernist architectural and urban projects rather than, or alongside, their role as sites of consumption.

Most recently, Smiley contributed an essay on Broadacre City to the 2017 Museum of Modern Art catalog and exhibit, Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive. He also contributed chapters to Making Suburbia: New Histories of Everyday America, edited by John Archer, Paul J. P. Sandul, Katherine Solomonson (University of Minnesota Press, 2015) and Affordable Housing in New York: The People, Places, and Policies That Transformed a City, edited by Nicholas Dagen Bloom and Matthew Gordon Lasner (Princeton University Press, 2015). Smiley has also written about architecture, cities and suburbs in Perspecta and Lotus magazines, the Urban Design Review, the Journal of Architectural Education, the Journal of Urban History, Buildings and Landscapes, and the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.

Bid on items to support CPF while winning awesome, architecture- and California-inspired auction items. Special stays and trips, event tickets, books from our book club program, rare prints, and other unique items. Don't miss it! Bidding will open Tuesday, November 26th and ends on Tuesday, December 17th at 8 PM. Keep your eyes peeled for future additions and updates!