Hadley Meares
Hadley Meares is a writer, historian, and singer who traded one Southland (her home state of North Carolina) for another. She is a frequent contributor to Curbed and Atlas Obscura, and leads historical tours all around Los Angeles for Obscura Society LA. Her debut novel, "Absolutely," is now available on Amazon.
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A collection documents how local magazines, ad inserts, zines, and trade brochures, all brightly colored and striking, advertised 1950s-'80s California.
For 30 years, arrivals to this Pacific gateway to the American Dream were subject to invasive medical exams and intense interrogations.
The first Sambo’s Pancake House opened on June 17, 1957 in downtown Santa Barbara. However, no matter how hard they worked to foster a welcoming atmosphere, there was a large portion of the population who would never feel “at home” at the restaurant.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, so are the stories behind how this massive collection came to be.
As a hungover college student, vacation-goer, or long-haul trucker, who among us hasn’t eaten at Denny’s? But many people don’t realize that Denny’s was founded right here in Southern California, by a man whose dreams changed the food industry forever.
The story of Wahoo’s Fish Taco is as California as it gets. If SoCal surfers had an official restaurant, it’s an easy bet that it would be this fast-casual mecca founded in the heart of the perennially hip O.C.
For the innovative, restless Glen Bell, the opening of the first Taco Bell was simply the idea that finally caught fire, after a decade of working to bring a Mexican-inspired menu to the masses.
Designed to connect San Francisco and Santa Cruz, the incomplete Ocean Shore Railroad offered one of the most scenic rides in California. But it did not last long.
Unimpressed by his first sight of the Bay in 1769, Spanish expedition leader Gaspar de Portolá had unknowingly stumbled upon one of the greatest natural harbors in the world.
The origins of surfing in North America can be traced back to three young Hawaiian princes who introduced the sport in Santa Cruz, California in 1885.
In 1940, the McDonald brothers opened their first fast food restaurant in dusty, suburban San Bernardino and developed a “speedee service system” that soon changed the course of food service around the globe.
The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk emerged as the dream of a magnetic, brash young showman who wanted to turn the seaside town into the next great tourist destination.