California History

California's amazing diversity--more than 60 languages are spoken here--has its roots deep in the state's history. Native American tribes developed communities many hundreds of years ago, well before Spanish missionaries set up California's famous missions. Mexican rancheros, Gold Rush 49ers, Chinese immigrants and Dust Bowl refugees all made their contributions to the mix over time. Want a quick way to get to these great sites?

More than half a billion dollars in political cash is likely to be spent in California by Tuesday, a staggering amount in a year when the presidential candidates are barely present and voters appear tepid about much of the state ballot. This election will rank among the top in California history for campaign spending -- without the governor's office or most other top posts in play. The money infused into ballot-measure campaigns, congressional races and bids for state legislative seats is a reminder that California is an election powerhouse in its own right.

On Aug. 5, 1769, a short, pale Franciscan missionary named Juan Crespi looked northward from about where Mulholland Drive now spans the San Diego Freeway, across the San Fernando Valley, then a trackless bowl of wild grass dotted here and there with oak and sycamore trees.

"Mother About to Wash Her Sleepy Child" by Mary Cassatt is a hallmark of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's collection. Warm and fuzzily familiar yet strikingly modern, the 1880 painting has been admired by critics and the public alike since its arrival in Los Angeles 50 years ago - when the museum was still part of a multi-purpose institution in Exposition Park. And where, you might wonder, did the artwork come from? Cassatt was an American Impressionist who spent much of her life in France, so it's not surprising to learn that the painting belonged to collectors in both countries before going on the market at a New York gallery in 1945.

California history is much easier to grasp when you can use a time machine and interview Father Junipero Serra himself, according to the fourth-graders in Carol Singer's class at Mariners Elementary School. Under the leadership of parent volunteer Barry Hovis, the students portrayed figures from state history, such as Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and Serra--who was played, appropriately, by a student named Sara.

Since it was written in 1769, the journal in which Juan Crespi jotted down his impressions of unexplored California has seemed condemned to obscurity. Although Crespi is famous for keeping a diary detailing the first European expedition through California, little of what he wrote on his 2,600-mile trek is known.

The 29 years that Russia had a colony in California are relived almost every Thursday and Friday by children dressed in Russian costumes at this historic fort perched on a remote Northern California headland. Thirty elementary school boys and girls from throughout the state each week spend two days and a night inside the 15-foot high redwood walls, turning back the clock to the years 1812 to 1841.

Except for California's becoming the 31st state, the 50-year marriage between the pioneer soldier John C. Fremont and Jessie Benton may have been the most consequential union in California history. In any event, a careful observer of the 19th century couple's long and dramatic life together probably would want to revise the old maxim to read: Behind this great man was an even greater woman.

They love to mock us, those critics to the East. Californians, they sniff, are a shallow breed, a people obsessed with their triceps, their tans and their nonfat double lattes. California is belittled as an adolescent among states, a region awash in copycat tract homes, a place with no shared traditions, no history. Today, California will issue a loud retort, christening a museum dedicated to defining the union's 31st state and the diverse multitudes who call it home.

Texas' battle of the bulb Re "House acts against light bulb rules," July 16 Once again, the great state of Texas is stepping forward to preserve our nation's freedoms. Why should I be forced to buy an energy-efficient light bulb? After all, there is still plenty of oil in Texas, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. All Americans have the God-given right to consume as much energy as humanly possible. Of course, even Texas does have some concerns about energy efficiency. It leads the nation in executions; the state long ago adopted the lethal-injection method to replace electrocution.

Next week Clovis, one day Rio de Janeiro? Jonathan Cabral's 2016 Olympic dreams didn't seem like much of a leap after the Agoura High hurdler's dazzling performance Friday at the Southern Section Masters Meet. Cabral ran the 110-meter hurdles at Cerritos College in a wind-aided 13.27 seconds, the fastest time in California history under any conditions and the eighth-fastest performance by a high schooler under any conditions. "That's been my life goal — since sophomore year," Cabral said of running a time faster than the 21-year-old state record of 13.30.

Anyone following the making of the region-wide, six-month-long 2011 visual arts extravaganza "Pacific Standard Time" knows it as a museum initiative, having grown out of an oral history project by the Getty Research Institute designed to document the birth of the L.A. art scene. And it will culminate with museums, as nearly 50 local institutions are staging exhibitions exploring one big theme: the history of art in Southern California from 1945 to 1980. Now, some of the city's leading commercial galleries are getting in the spirit, organizing their own shows that shine a light on the early days of the L.A. art scene.

Democrats completed a clean sweep of California's statewide offices Wednesday as Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley conceded the race for attorney general, ending weeks of uncertainty in one of the closest statewide elections in California history. With the number of uncounted ballots dwindling and his rival's lead at more than 50,000 votes, Cooley telephoned San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris early Wednesday to congratulate the Democratic victor. Cooley's loss delivered yet another blow to state Republicans reeling from their failure to capture the governor's mansion or a U.S. Senate seat.

We are baseball. We are Jackie Robinson sprinting through an overgrown sandlot in Pasadena. We are Walter Johnson stalking through a dreary oil field in Olinda. We are Eddie Murray and Ozzie Smith fighting through the clutter to discover greatness in south Los Angeles. At the same high school. On the same team. We are Don Drysdale and Robin Yount playing in San Fernando Valley towns separated by 11 miles, Bob Lemon and Tony Gwynn playing for Long Beach high schools separated by five minutes.

Frank and Jamie McCourt's divorce could become one of the costliest splits in California history, with attorneys and accountants commanding as much as $19 million in fees — more than the Dodgers will spend on their starting infield this season. Frank McCourt has estimated his "divorce-related expenses" at $5 million to $10 million, according to court filings. Jamie McCourt has estimated her expenses at $9 million — and asked that her estranged husband be ordered to pay them.

Music has played an important role in U.S. history by inspiring some to fight wars and others to demand peace, for slaves to escape to freedom and workers to organize. Whether it's "Yankee Doodle" or "Blowin' in the Wind," discover how Americans making music have made history through these direct links on The Times' Launch Point Web site: http://www.latimes.com/launchpoint/ Level 1 Drinking Gourd Song: The Drinking Gourd refers to the North Star.

A walking tour of a two-block area of downtown San Juan Capistrano offers visitors a primer in California history and a variety of family activities throughout the holidays. At the center of the city is the 220-year-old Mission San Juan Capistrano, where parents and children learn about the old West, Native Americans and the people who came to the mission and settled in south Orange County. It includes a museum, exhibits and tours led by mission docents. The mission will be open from 9 a.m.

John Stevenson, who in 50 seasons at El Segundo High compiled more victories than any other high school baseball coach in California history, died Monday night. He was 76. Stevenson suffered an apparent heart attack while driving in the Marina del Rey area, said Craig Cousins, his longtime assistant coach. He was able to pull his vehicle over but was dead when paramedics arrived. Stevenson leaves a legacy of success unrivaled in the state, with 1,059 victories and seven Southern Section titles.

Thomas Starr King was not a big man, standing just 5 feet 2 and weighing about 120 pounds. But his admirers say the 19th-century Unitarian minister and California transplant left an outsize legacy in his adopted state. King, whose eloquent oratory is often credited with having helped keep California in the Union during the Civil War, was later honored in bronze as one of the state's two representatives in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall. The state's other representative there is Father Junipero Serra, the founder of California's missions.