Jon Grilli
Jon Grilli is a Cultural Historian and writer examining the stories which shape society. His research focuses on culture as a tool of conquest and resistance from Rome to Reseda. As a former professional jouster and swordfighter, he possesses a variety of skills rendered obsolete centuries ago.
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The tireless work of Minerva Hamilton Hoyt, who was dedicated to the often-misunderstood delicate desert landscape, was critical in establishing Joshua Tree as a national monument. She paved the way for its continued preservation today.
Early Hollywood film production pioneer Carl Laemmle dreamed up a city that’s now become the billion-dollar empire known as Universal Studios. Once doubted as “Laemmle's Folly,” its famous behind-the-scenes studio tours still operate today.
In the early 1960s, Walt Disney proposed a Polynesian-themed restaurant featuring a musical floor show with trained birds. With technology purchased from the nuclear weapons program, mechanical performers would make his vision a reality.
The New Deal and a surge in arts funding led to the creation of public works of art throughout the country. In Southern California, muralist Edward Biberman offered an evocative interpretation of Venice with "Abbot Kinney and the Story of Venice."
Former insurance salesman turned radio evangelist Curtis Howe Springer successfully transformed a seemingly barren patch of desert now known as Zzyzx into a bustling business, selling snake oil and salvation. It was his success that led to his downfall.
“The Endless Summer” grew from a simple idea into a cultural product, a lifestyle available to anyone with the means for a ticket. Filmmaker Bruce Brown set out to sell a documentary film about surfing and, in doing so, he inadvertently sold a dream.
For decades, visitors to Yosemite witnessed the Firefall, a shimmering curtain of glowing embers and hot coals cascading to the valley floor. The tradition highlights the competition that existed between the state’s earliest entrepreneurs.