How quickly the memories fade of local and favorite hangouts that once helped define Long Beach. In this collection, Tim Grobaty remembers growing up in the fast-growing new neighborhoods of East Long Beach, the beloved places downtown that were part of the city's mid-twentieth-century fabric and a few obscure spots in the margins. Long Beach's memory lane includes the dearly departed restaurants the Golden Lantern in Los Altos and Rusty's in the Wrigley District, the Circle and Los Altos Drive-Ins, great concerts of the 1970s in the arena and auditorium and the shoppers' paradises of Uncle Al's Toy Korral in the Plaza and Buffum's downtown. Join "Press-Telegram" columnist Tim Grobaty as he records Long Beach residents' recollections and taps his own boomer-years memories.

Incorporated in 1888, Long Beach was the nation's fastest-growing city for much of the early twentieth century. Tim Grobaty, columnist for two decades for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, looks back at the major events and compelling personalities that shaped the city's formative years. Early settlers such as William Willmore, Charles Rivers Drake and the Bixby family are brought into sharp focus as Grobaty recounts the city's defining moments. From the naming of city streets to early local newspaper wars, and culminating with the devastating earthquake of 1933, Long Beach Chronicles presents a fascinating collection of tales from the city's provocative past.

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • An inspiring and intimate self-portrait of the champion of equality that encompasses her brilliant tennis career, unwavering activism, and an ongoing commitment to fairness and social justice. “A story about the personal strength, immense growth, and undeniable greatness of one woman who fearlessly stood up to a culture trying to break her down.”—Serena Williams In this spirited account, Billie Jean King details her life's journey to find her true self. She recounts her groundbreaking tennis career—six years as the top-ranked woman in the world, twenty Wimbledon championships, thirty-nine grand-slam titles, and her watershed defeat of Bobby Riggs in the famous "Battle of the Sexes." She poignantly recalls the cultural backdrop of those years and the profound impact on her worldview from the women's movement, the assassinations and anti-war protests of the 1960s, the civil rights movement, and, eventually, the LGBTQ+ rights movement. She describes the myriad challenges she's hurdled—entrenched sexism, an eating disorder, near financial peril after being outed—on her path to publicly and unequivocally acknowledging her sexual identity at the age of fifty-one. She talks about how her life today remains one of indefatigable service. She offers insights and advice on leadership, business, activism, sports, politics, marriage equality, parenting, sexuality, and love. And she shows how living honestly and openly has had a transformative effect on her relationships and happiness. Hers is the story of a pathbreaking feminist, a world-class athlete, and an indomitable spirit whose impact has transcended even her spectacular achievements in sports.

Few other cities can boast of the natural assets, the people, and the events that shaped the first 50 years of their history, as can the city of Long Beach, California. First inhabited by the Tongva people, the land was taken away by the Spanish, then granted to "friends of the King," who in turn sold parcels to real estate speculators working with the railroads. It was called many names before Belle Lowe suggested in 1884 that the townsite be known for its eight miles of long beaches. Its oceanfront provided a resort area, a landing strip for early aviators, a fishing industry, a port for shipbuilding and trade, and a location for the US Navy to anchor its "battle fleet" in 1919. However, discovery of oil in 1921 transformed the city, bringing incredible wealth and an explosive growth in population. By 1938, the city's population was 200,000 and would be a major factor in the Southern California war effort.

La Colonia is half a square mile of land separated from the rest of Oxnard by the railroad tracks and home to the people who keep an agricultural empire running. In decades past, milpas of corn and squash grew in tiny front yards, kids played in the alleys and neighbors ran tortillerias out of their homes. Back then, it was the place to get the best raspadas on Earth. It was a home to Cesar Chavez and a campaign stop for presidential candidate Robert Kennedy. As one Colonia native put it, "We may not have had what the other kids had, but we were just as rich." Through the voices of the people, the authors share the challenges and triumphs of growing up in this treasured place.

A magic nostalgia ride awaits. Life in Fairfield in the decades after World War II was an unparalleled experience. From cruising down Texas Street on weekends to catching a carnival in the Wonder World parking lot, fond memories of long-lost times haven't been forgotten. People flocked to vintage eateries like Joe's Buffet and Smorga Bob's, and played on the rocket ship slide at Allan Witt Park. Roller Rinks like the M&M Skateway hosted not just skaters, but dances featuring Fats Domino and Roy Orbison. Commuters hopped aboard the FART bus to save on gas, and frequenting Dave's Giant Hamburgers was a rite of passage. Longtime Daily Republic journalist and accidental historian Tony Wade takes a deep dive into the Fairfield of yesteryear.

Claudine Burnett, author of popular Murderous Intent and Strange Sea Tales Along the Southern California Coast, has at last revised and updated the long out of print Haunted Long Beach. New stories and updates have come her way since the original Haunted Long Beach was published in 1996. Now readers can rediscover the "ghostly" side of one of America's finest cities----haunted houses, phantom airplanes, cemetery apparitions, and ghosts of the Queen Mary come alive in these true stories of eerie happenings in Long Beach, California. Gathered from historical files and personal experiences, Ms. Burnett has researched these stories extensively to try to find historical evidence as to their cause. All in all, these ghostly tales are sure to entertain both visitors and residents alike.

True crime, memoir, and ghost story, Mean is the bold and hilarious tale of Myriam Gurba’s coming of age as a queer, mixed-race Chicana. Blending radical formal fluidity and caustic humor, Gurba takes on sexual violence, small towns, and race, turning what might be tragic into piercing, revealing comedy. This is a confident, intoxicating, brassy book that takes the cost of sexual assault, racism, misogyny, and homophobia deadly seriously. We act mean to defend ourselves from boredom and from those who would cut off our breasts. We act mean to defend our clubs and institutions. We act mean because we like to laugh. Being mean to boys is fun and a second-wave feminist duty. Being mean to men who deserve it is a holy mission. Sisterhood is powerful, but being mean is more exhilarating. Being mean isn't for everybody. Being mean is best practiced by those who understand it as an art form. These virtuosos live closer to the divine than the rest of humanity. They're queers. Myriam Gurba is a queer spoken-word performer, visual artist, and writer from Santa Maria, California. She's the author of Dahlia Season (2007, Manic D) which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, Wish You Were Me (2011, Future Tense Books), and Painting Their Portraits in Winter (2015, Manic D). She has toured with Sister Spit and her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach. She lives in Long Beach, where she teaches social studies to eighth-graders.