Orange County formally separated from Los Angeles County in 1889, and there's been no looking back. Wilderness gave way to rich farmlands, where oranges, lemons, avocados, and walnuts made agriculture the new county's most important industry; the region was actually named for the prevalence of its citrus groves. The 20th century brought with it plenty of entrepreneurs, including Walter Knott and later Walt Disney, along with the aerospace industry, oil drilling, beach culture, and more. But the more popular "the O.C." became, the more the past began to be lost to development and sprawl. This...

The Polo Grounds is one of baseball's most sacred ballparks. Built below Coogan's Bluff in 1891, the bathtub-shaped stadium played host to iconic baseball moments, including Willie Mays's famous catch in the 1954 World Series and Bobby Thomson's "shot heard 'round the world." The era before those moments holds a history all its own, when the New York Giants, Yankees, and the football Giants shared the park. The dawn of the 20th century through the 1920s is a rarely seen chapter in Polo Grounds history, and it is presented here for the first time in all of its photographic glory.

Organized baseball in Orange County began in the late 1880s when community teams began forming among oil well workers. Around 1900, a farm boy from Kansas named Walter Johnson arrived with his family. Soon, the flame-throwing future hall-of-fame pitcher would be dominating games throughout the county as a star for Fullerton Union High School. As the popularity of baseball grew, more teams and leagues formed in Santa Ana, Anaheim, Huntington Beach, and other cities. Connie Mack brought the Philadelphia Athletics to spring train in Orange County in the 1940s. Joe DiMaggio played for his Santa...

Incorporated in 1909, Huntington Beach remained a sleepy seaside town until the city's legendary oil boom in the 1920s. Wells sprang up overnight, and in less than a month, the city's population more than doubled. As the area developed culturally through the decades, the once tiny farming community increased its size with 25 miles of annexations to become one of Southern California's major tourist destinations. Pictured here in nearly 200 vintage photographs is the evolution of this small seaside village into a classic, Southern California beach city, known as Surf City to nearly a million...

Opened to the public in June of 1923, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum can arguably be called "America's Most Historic Sports Stadium." In 1984 the Memorial Coliseum was declared a State and Federal Historic Landmark for its contributions to both the State of California and the United States. The history of this institution is captured here in over 200 vintage images.

The Memorial Coliseum's history spans eight decades, playing host to two Olympiads, two Super Bowls, one World Series, a multitude of concerts and political rallies, a Papal mass, and one of the most famous Democratic...

Tesla’s Brian Wheat lifts the lid on living the rock ’n’ roll life while struggling with anxiety, depression, and other issues seldom discussed by musicians. Brian Wheat is far from your typical rock star. As bassist for the multi-platinum band, Tesla, he’s enjoyed the spoils of success and lived the sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll lifestyle to the hilt. But it came at a cost, one that took years to repair. In this deeply honest and utterly revealing memoir, Wheat sheds light on the many challenges he faces, including bulimia, weight issues, and the crippling anxiety and...