Palm Springs, long a desert hideaway for celebrities, has a history as unique and varied as its residents. From the original Cahuilla inhabitants of the area, to the settlers who were drawn to the therapeutic waters of the original hot springs, you will get to know the people and stories that made Palm Springs famous.

The author of Baja Fever shares his extensive knowledge of the peninsula, its colorful past and booming present, in this fascinating reference book. History, lore, and amazing stories make it a "must-have" for Bajaphiles as well as armchair travelers.

Against a dramatic background of desert mountains, the sparkling green fairways of the Coachella Valley have attracted world-class golf tournaments, athletes and dignitaries for decades. In the 1920s, enterprising oil tycoon Tom O'Donnell built one of the first nine-hole courses in Palm Springs, and the area was a hangout for Hollywood's elite by the 1940s and '50s. Bob Hope's namesake PGA Tour event became a mainstay, while Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore, the Marx Brothers, Marilyn Monroe and more frequented over the years. Today, the valley is a renowned perennial golf destination boasting over 120 courses and exceptional resorts. Follow award-winning local golf columnist Larry Bohannan as he recounts the storied history of the game under the desert palms.

"Consistently rated the best guides to the regions covered... Readable, tasteful, appealingly designed. Strong on dining, lodging, culture and history."—National Geographic Traveler This book leaves no stone unturned. A complete guide that includes many wonderful sights not included in other travel books. The long history of celebrity association in Palm Springs is regaled in detail (including some juicy gossip)! Distinctive for their accuracy, simplicity, and conversational tone, the diverse travel guides in our Explorer's Great Destinations series meet the conflicting demands of the modern traveler. They're packed full of up-to-date information to help plan the perfect gateway. And they're compact and light enough to come along for the ride. A tool you'll turn to before, during, and after your trip, these guides include these helpful features: chapters on lodging, dining, transportation, history, shopping, recreation and more; a section packed with practical information, such as lists of banks, hospitals, post offices, laundromats, numbers for police, fire, and rescue, and other relevant information; and maps of regions and locales.

The first book-length biography of a theater icon South Pacific. The Sound of Music. Peter Pan. As the star of these classic Broadway musicals, Mary Martin captivated theater audiences with her impish persona and magnificent voice. Now Ronald L. Davis fills a major gap in theater history, moving beyond Martin’s own 1976 memoir to provide a complete picture of her life and career. Lively and engaging, Davis’s biography is the first book-length portrait of the theater icon, spanning her lifetime to reveal facts about her childhood, marriages, and friendships—as well as artistic collaborations that included the likes of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, and Elia Kazan. Born in Weatherford, Texas, and mother to the future actor Larry Hagman, Martin went to California after the failure of her first marriage. There, she auditioned for every studio without success. “Audition Mary” finally had her big break when she won a talent contest, leading to her breakthrough 1938 performance in Leave It to Me—in which she wowed audiences singing “My Heart Belongs to Daddy.” Davis traces Martin’s numerous appearances on Broadway, in touring productions, and on television, showing how—through hard work and persistent optimism—she built a career that lasted nearly fifty years and earned her the adoration and respect of fans and colleagues alike. Because Martin’s life was entwined with many luminaries of the stage, this biography offers rich insights into theater history, including accounts of how various productions were developed. No other book tells her story in such detail—it is must reading for fans and an essential resource for theater aficionados everywhere.

When one considers traditional high school football powers in the United States, a tiny institution in Chicago is never mentioned. It has been decades since Morgan Park Military Academy last fielded a football team, yet the influence of its gridiron program cannot be disregarded. With a decorated football history dating back to 1893, the private school on Chicago’s south side completed nine undefeated seasons, sent four representatives to the College Football Hall of Fame, and often experienced difficulty scheduling games, due to the powerful teams it sent out on the field. Yet, it rarely enrolled more than 200 students in its high school curriculum! Author Joe Ziemba details the fascinating history of the Academy football program from its beginnings in 1893 through its final season as Morgan Park Military Academy in 1958. Cadets, Cannons, and Legends: The Football History of Morgan Park Military Academy focuses on individual and team stories throughout the years, taking the reader back to a time when game travel was via horse and buggy, game reports were carried by the major Chicago newspapers, and football stars were treated as local celebrities. Ziemba, whose father was the football coach at the Academy in the 1940s and 1950s, uncovered numerous “forgotten” incidents from the past, including an episode in 1900 when the students were so pleased with a football victory that they accidently burned down a campus building! The reader will also meet former Academy players (and College Football Hall of Famers) like Jesse Harper, who became the legendary coach at Notre Dame; Wallace Wade, who led Alabama to three national championships; as well as Albert Benbrook, a two-time All-American at the University of Michigan. In addition, the steady hand of University of Chicago coach Amos Alonzo Stagg, who helped guide the Academy squad in its early years, is profiled. Aside from these four Hall of Famers, the Academy football program also produced numerous collegiate head coaches at schools such as Illinois, Baylor, and Cincinnati, a Broadway playwright, an NFL official, and even a man who ascended to one of the highest political offices in the country. Along the way, Ziemba offers a glimpse at the history of the school itself (around since 1873) including student food strikes, financial challenges, one of the greatest unsolved crimes in Chicago gangland history, and the fact that over 800 graduates served in WWII, an astounding number for a prep school of this size. More than just a history of one school, Cadets, Cannons, and Legends is must reading for any lover of football. It traces the very history of the game, detailing significant rules changes that saved the sport after years of catastrophic deaths on the field (including one at the Academy). Later, it details efforts to keep this private school extant during the Great Depression, including opening the campus doors to a professional football team (the Chicago, now Arizona, Cardinals) in the summer months to generate income (and lowering the pay of its own football coach to $25 per month). Cadets, Cannons, and Legends provides new insight into the early days of high school football when game travel could be hundreds of miles rather than just against a neighborhood rival, and recognizes the forgotten pioneers of what is now America’s favorite competition. Rarely has a high school program with such an extraordinary contribution to the game of football been so thoroughly researched and resurrected from its own forgotten past. It is not merely a journey into the gridiron history of Morgan Park Military Academy, but rather, it ushers us down to a front row seat where we can closely observe the roots of football itself. "Ziemba’s… scholarly rigor is indefatigable and remarkable…For readers interested in an astute history of the game’s inception, this is a worthy option. A remarkably well-researched history of a football team that should appeal to fans of the school or the game." -Kirkus Reviews

Cursed awards, haunted estates, and deadly sets. Hollywood is supposed to be the place where dreams come true, but it's also where nightmares come to life. Spirits haunt the halls of renowned studios, legendary cafes, and lavish estates, while rumors of curses lurk in the shadows of the rich and famous. It's said that stars like James Dean, Carrie Fisher, and Prince once predicted their own deaths, while slain screenwriter Paul Bern tried in vain to warn Sharon Tate about her own fate. Ghosts reportedly linger in the corners of the El Coyote Café and the Falcon Lair boasts sightings of Rudolph Valentino long after his death. Join author and paranormal historian Brian Clune for a star-studded tour of the dark side of Hollywood.

In this prequel to Fantasy City: Pleasure and Profit in the Postmodern Metropolis (1998), his acclaimed book about the post-industrial city as a site of theming, branding and simulated spaces, sociologist John Hannigan travels back in time to the 1950s. Unfairly stereotyped as ‘the tranquillized decade’, America at mid-century hosted an escalating proliferation and conjunction of ‘spectacular’ events, spaces, and technologies. Spectacularization was collectively defined by five features. It reflected and legitimated a dramatic increase in scale from the local/regional to the national. It was mediated by the increasingly popular medium of television. It exploited middle-class tension between comfortable conformity and desire for safe adventure. It celebrated technological progress, boosterism and military power. It was orchestrated and marketed by a constellation, sometimes a coalition, of entrepreneurs and dream merchants, most prominently Walt Disney. In this wide-ranging odyssey across mid-century America, Hannigan visits leisure parks (Cypress Gardens), parades (Tournament of Roses), mega-events (Squaw Valley Olympics, Century 21 Exposition), architectural styles (desert modernism), innovations (underwater photography, circular film projection) and everyday wonders (chemistry sets). Collectively, these fashioned the ‘spectacular gaze’, a prism through which Americans in the 1950s were acculturated to and conscripted into a vision of a progressive, technology-based future. Rise of the Spectacular will appeal to architects, landscape designers, geographers, sociologists, historians, and leisure/tourism researchers, as well as non-academic readers who are by a fascinating era in history.

Over 1,500 place names in San Diego County. Each listing gives general location and specific citation of place name origin.

Although its brown vans are on every block and its delivery service reaches more than 200 countries, UPS is among the world’s most underestimated and misunderstood companies. For the first time, a UPS “lifer” tells the behind-the-scenes story of how a small messenger service became a business giant. Big Brown reveals the remarkable 100-year history of UPS and the life of its founder Jim Casey—one of the greatest unknown capitalists of the twentieth century. Casey pursued a Spartan business philosophy that emphasized military discipline, drab uniforms, and reliability over flash—a model that is still reflected in UPS culture today. Big Brown examines all the seeming paradoxes about UPS: from its traditional management style and strict policies coupled with high employee loyalty and strong labor relations; from its historical “anti-marketing” bias (why brown?) to its sterling brand loyalty and reputation for quality.