June 13, 2013

May and June are bear season on the Monterey Peninsula. And I’m not just talking about the Seaside Police Department’s early morning bear shoot last week. May and June are the months when black bears seem most prone to wandering out of the Santa Lucia mountains and into the streets of town.
For instance … Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment |
History, Santa Lucias | Tagged: black bear |
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Posted by xasauan
July 17, 2012

Kiss it goodbye, kids
Nothing sums up the changing attitudes toward safety and security in this country better than the decline and fall of Monterey’s Dennis the Menace Park. Read the rest of this entry »
12 Comments |
History, Politics |
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Posted by xasauan
November 30, 2011
We found some old 4X5 negatives in an envelope at the bottom of a drawer and ran them through the scanner …

This view of the Carmel River Lagoon with a “Carmel Meadows” free bluff in the background has “Laidlaw Williams 7 Sep. ’47” sketched in tiny print along its margin. Read the rest of this entry »
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Carmel River, Coastal Development/Erosion, History |
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Posted by xasauan
October 12, 2011

Trail under coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia) on Big Sur’s East Molera Ridge. Quercus is derived from the Celtic quer cuez, meaning “fine tree.” Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments |
Big Sur, Fungus, History, Plants, Santa Lucias | Tagged: acorn, black oak, blue oak, coast live oak, lithocarpus, phytophthora ramorum, quercus, Sargenta-ruc, SOD, sudden oak death, tanbark oak, tanoak, valley oak, whispering oaks |
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Posted by xasauan
August 7, 2011
Last year we posted some photos from the set of Zandy’s Bride – filmed at Andrew Molera State Park in 1974. The picture, starring Gene Hackman and Liv Ullman, was based on the book The Stranger in Big Sur, by Lillian Bos Ross. The set was constructed on the coastal terrace near the mouth of the Big Sur River.
As there’s been quite a bit of interest in the first batch of photos, we’ve now ventured deeper into the archives and uncovered some additional images …

View down Main St. Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments |
Big Sur, Coastal Development/Erosion, History, Santa Lucias | Tagged: Andrew Molera State Park, Big Sur, Gene Hackman, Lillian Bos Ross, Liv Ullman, The Stranger, Zandy's Bride |
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Posted by xasauan
May 16, 2011

Soberanes Point as drawn by Rosa Laura Soberanes about 1888. Rosa was one of the twelve Soberanes children who grew up on the ranch that now comprises much of Garrapata State Park.
With Garrapata State Park on the closure list, we thought we’d post some photos of the wildflowers in the popular Soberanes Creek/Rocky Ridge portion of the park. We didn’t take these today (most of them were taken last Spring), but a lot of the same things – and a lot of things not pictured here – are currently in bloom. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment |
Big Sur, History, On Foot, Plants, Santa Lucias, Wildflowers |
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Posted by xasauan