Barack Obama's California College Days

Luis Fuerte, Huell Howser’s longtime cameraman joins Val Zavala to reminisce on working with Huell and give behind-the-scenes stories of the following three episodes.

CALIFORNIA'S GOLD WITH HUELL HOWSER #909
BIG THINGS IN THE DESERT

Originally just south of the Santa Monica Pier in California, this small plot of "sand" was one of the most famous addresses in the United States from 1934 to 1959. Muscle Beach started as a WPA project in 1934 and helped spawn the modern fitness movement that lives on today. In the beginning it wasn't about muscles, it was about fitness and fun. Men and women did somersaults and handstands, built human towers and threw each other around. Huell and Luis go back to the original plot of sand to visit with some of the men and women who made Muscle Beach their playground during its heyday.

Huell gets a tour of the Santa Barbara ranch home of President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, who named it Rancho del Cielo. Huell hears stories about the historic events that took place there, as well as more personal stories from a former secret service agent assigned to President Reagan.

Visit The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace with Huell and first daughter Julie Nixon Eisenhower, as she gives a private and personal tour of the farmhouse where her dad was born and raised. During this informal tour, Julie talks about her father's memories of growing up in this simple, wooden home that used to be in the middle of a huge orange grove. It is a rare personal insight into the 37th President's early California years, and an authentic piece of California's Gold.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Obama described Occidental as "a wonderful, small liberal arts college. The professors were diverse and inspiring. I ended up making some lifelong friendships there, and those first two years really helped me grow up." Who knew that the next president of the United States had such a formative connection to California?   Join Huell as he gets the Presidential tour of Occidental College in Eagle Rock, where Barack Obama spent his Freshman and Sophomore years.

Like other states, the hierarchy of California's government begins with our Governor and weaves its way down through offices such as Secretary of State, Attorney General and Senators. What is surprising about California, is that we once had an Emperor and a President.

Huell visits Yosemite's high country for a walk through spectacular Tuolumne Meadows.

First stop is Giant Rock --considered to be the worlds largest free standing boulder, and a long time sacred site to the Native Americans. In the 1950s it became a UFO airport according to George Van Tassel who claimed to be contacted by aliens there, and was host to UFO conventions till the late 70s. One of the things George was told to do by the aliens was to build the Integratron, which is our next stop. This amazing building/machine is supposed to restore youth, although never completed--Huell will get a "sound bath." Hold onto your seats, this will be a wild ride.

Surreal, awesome, unbelievable, weird? These are just some of the words that come out of your mouth when you view the Devil's Postpile. Located in the Eastern Sierras, this formation is one of nature's true masterpieces. Towering 60 feet over the San Joaquin River the postpile looks like a huge cathedral pipe organ built entirely of stone. The postpile is actually composed of thousands of columns of fine-grained, black - colored basalt. 100,000 years ago cooling molten rock contracted, creating perfect cracks.

Join Huell as he hikes high up in the Eastern Sierra to visit the Conness Glacier in a stunning part of the National Forest.

Huell visits Lassen Volcanic National Park. Lava flows, jagged craters and steaming sulphur vents make up some of Lassen's breathtaking landscape.

Travel with Huell to Sequoia National Forest to visit historic Buck Rock Fire Lookout. Established in the early 1900s, Buck Rock Lookout was one of the first fire detection locations in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The current lookout building, constructed in 1923, is historically significant as a representation of the earliest live-in towers in California. Huell climbs 172 stairs to an elevation of 8, 500 feet to interview the woman who currently staffs the lookout through the fire season, and to learn what it's like to live perched on the edge of a cliff!

The San Jacinto Mountains are one of the most impressive natural wonders in our entire state. No other mountains on this continent rise so high so fast, in slightly less than seven horizontal miles, the peak rises from 800 to 10,804 feet above sea level! But these mountains hold another distinction as well.

Huell's off to Yosemite National Park where he walks the newly rehabilitated trails to the base of Yosemite Falls, the highest waterfall in North America.

Huell recently had the adventure of a lifetime when he climbed Yosemite's formidable Half Dome. Join him in this one-hour special documenting his 17 mile round trip trek, along with other avid hikers, to conquer this 4800-foot high landmark.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have your very own island? What about an island off the southern coast of California? Join Huell and the family that owns this special island as they return to their little slice of California. It takes three separate boat rides to get there and your feet might get wet, but it is well worth the trip.

In this muddy adventure, Huell travels to some very remote areas to take an up close and personal look at "mudpots". Mudpots only occur three places in the US and one of them is right here in California. Our first stop is the Imperial Wildlife Area. Huell and a member of the Fish and Game take a look at huge mounds of bubbling, oozing, popping and exploding mudpots. This is a public are that is open to mud lovers one and all. Next its off to some privately owned land which has some extraordinary mudpots.

California and China have had a long and storied connection, the most well known is the Chinese laborers who helped build the California railroads. But on this adventure, Huell finds a few lesser-known examples of California's and China's Gold. A brief stop at the Golden State Bonsai Collection-North in Oakland introduces us to the Bonsai tree given to Chinese Envoy Anson Burlingame of the Lincoln Presidency. Burlingame opened China to the U.S. in the 1860s, and this souvenir from his tenure has been in the U.S. ever since.

Huell spends the day with biologists who live on the Farallon Islands — known as California's Galapagos — found 27 miles off the coast of San Francisco. These wild and remote islands are rich with not only flora and fauna, but human history as well.

As we all know, California has some spectacular scenery and our great variety of trees makes up a large part of it. In this adventure, Huell visits three "big" trees that are a great example of California's Gold. First Huell travels to Santa Barbara to see the Moreton Bay Fig Tree. Given to a little girl as a gift from an Australian seaman, the sapling was planted in 1876. That little sapling is now the largest Moreton Bay Fig in the continental U.S. The tree is 42 feet around its base, 80 feet tall and has a branch spread of 176 feet.

Huell travels to the Eastern Sierra's in search of a good place to have a soak. Hot Creek Geological Site is nestled in the Inyo National Forest close to the town of Mammoth Lakes. We take a ride out to the site with Debbie Nelson who is a Recreation Specialist for the forest. Huell gets a first hand look at this beautiful spot with water boiling up from the ground which mixes with the cool water of Hot Creek and makes for some very nice swimming. We'll even meet some die-hard soakers who come from all over California to enjoy the therapeutic water.

A 1916 brochure called the town of Petaluma "The largest poultry center in the world" and up until the sixties, Petaluma was a major player in the world of chickens. In 1915, Petaluma shipped 11,681,134 dozen eggs. Huell travels to Petaluma to attend the annual Butter and Egg Days celebration, which ran from 1916 to 1928 and was brought back in the early eighties. Petaluma pulls out all the stops in this wonderful small town gathering.

The program opens on the Blossom Trail in Fresno County, our state's agricultural heartland. Walk through the quaint and historic farming community of Reedley to the Mennonite Quilt Center and watch volunteers make beautiful quilts. Huell also savor the Armenian delicacy, keyma, one of the specialties of Uncle Harry's Restaurant, a local landmark. And deal yourself in on the world's longest running pinochle game going on daily at the Camden Cafe.

San Francisco is a city of many distinctions, but few are as intriguing as the history of its cemeteries. As the 19th century came to a close in San Francisco, a movement some say a real estate scheme began to remove all buried remains from within the city. After many ordinances, acts and decrees, cemeteries were carefully relocated to nearby towns, while headstones were recycled as breakwaters and paving material. Only three cemeteries and their inhabitants were left within the boundaries of San Francisco.

Originally built as a reservoir to feed the citrus groves of San Bernardino through a series of flumes and tunnels, this engineering marvel eventually fell apart. For legal reasons, the project never worked and the reservoir became a recreational area. What most people don't know is that there is a whole world under the lake. Huell takes a hundred-foot ride down in an elevator that was built in the late 1800s to explore this underwater marvel.

Watch the Bok Kai Parade, California's oldest parade, with its colorful lion dancers, brilliant dragon and noisy firecrackers. Huell marvels at the world's largest blossoming plant, the Sierra Madre Wistaria Vine; and celebrate the memory of Abraham Lincoln with a march to the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands, the only shrine west of the Mississippi dedicated to Honest Abe.

Clear Lake is located at the base of fabled Mt. Konocti and is California's largest natural lake. Much of the terrain around the 4,200 foot Mt. Konocti was formed by lava flows and folding of the earth's crust. The lake has a rich history; evidence of human habitation dates back at least ten thousand years. More than 120,000 visitors each year enjoy picnicking, boating, camping and nature walks.

Have you ever wondered what 100,000 Monarch Butterflies look like? Well here's your chance. Huell travels to Pismo State Beach to visit the largest overwintering site for Monarch butterflies in the U.S. More people visit this site than any another butterfly site in the world. Last year they had 50,000 visitors!

A look at some beloved buildings such as the Bayliss Branch Library in Glenn County, the only functioning Carnegie Library that is completely rural; the Twenty-nine Palms Old Schoolhouse, the oldest building in the Morongo Valley; and visit the Apple Pan in West Los Angeles, a venerable diner that has been serving hickory burgers-and a slice of tradition-since 1947.

Join Huell on this ancient adventure as he explores The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose. Architecturally inspired by the Temple of Amon at Karnak, it houses the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts on exhibit in the western United States -- including objects from pre-dynastic times through Egypt's early Christian era. Fascinated by the ancient culture, Dr. H. Spencer Lewis, began collecting Egyptian, Assyrian, and Babylonian artifacts over 65 years ago.

Back in a Southern California garage in 1963 something amazing was happening. A 37 year old Bruce Meyers was building a car that would that would become an icon, the Meyers Manx... better know as the Dune Buggy. This simple car really springborded "off-road" racing into the huge sport it is today, cutting more than 5 hours of the pervious Baja 1000 record in its 1st try. This in turn caught the eye of Hollywood: Elvis, Lucy & Desi, Scooby-Doo all had to have one.

Join Huell as he takes a look at the history of this Japanese American community in downtown Los Angeles, including the annual Nisei Parade and all its festivities: traditional tea ceremony; Ikebana or flower arranging and bonsai exhibits, plus more.

From the stable to the streets, Huell spends the day with Officer Argomaniz and the LAPD Mounted Unit. Huell finishes the day with Officer Argomaniz’s family, who are all involved with the LAPD.

How does Huell tour the White House and the Oval Office without ever leaving California? He travels to Hobby City in Anaheim and The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. The Hobby City Doll and Toy Museum contains literally thousands of dolls of all eras and styles, but it's what's outside that caught Huell's attention. Join Huell when he meets the "First Lady" of this exact, half-scale replica of the White House.

Join Huell as he learns about the sometimes-controversial history of this California landmark and gets a very special tour, including a vertigo-inducing trip to the very top if the spire which is set against the San Francisco skyline...

Would you believe the Zamboni was invented right here in sunny Southern California? Huell learns about the machines that clean the ice at ice rinks and professional hockey events around the world. Huell joins up with the son of the inventor, and visits the factory where it all started. Then he tops off the day with a trip to the Anaheim Pond, home of the Mighty Ducks to see the Zamboni in action.

Join Huell Howser as he visits the McRoskey Airflex Mattress Company in San Francisco. The McRoskey family has been manufacturing mattresses since 1899 and they still make them in much the same way as they did back then - -and they are all assembled by hand. The McRoskeys have even keep a record of every mattress sold dating back to 1921.

For years Huell has been getting letters telling him he should do a show about vernal pools. Well, now he has. Just a short drive from Sacramento on an old military base, Huell meets up with a couple of experts and a bunch of school kids all eager to explore the flora and fauna that live in and around these wonderful, natural pools. As they go from pool to pool, Huell learns that even if they are only a few acres apart, they can be totally different worlds.

Huell visits renowned actress Helena Modjeska's historic house and gardens. Modjeska, who's still considered Poland's most famous actress, created the beautiful Orange County residence in 1876. Named for the grounds' resemblance to the Forest of Arden in the Shakespearean play "As You Like It," Arden is designated a National Historic Landmark. Coincidentally, Modjeska specialized in Shakespearean roles.

Visit the immaculate and lush grounds of Capitol Park in Sacramento, our state's official front and backyard and find azaleas, huckleberry, 100-year-old cedar trees and a Memorial Grove of trees transplanted from the battlefields of the Civil War to become apart of California's Gold.

It's huge, metal and reaches across the Golden Gate, but it's not a bridge. Join Huell as he visits the site of the WWII antisubmarine net built to keep Japanese subs out of San Francisco. Long before the Tiburon Sub-Net Depot was there, this small piece of land across the bay from San Francisco had many incarnations. Among them were: home to Native Americans, an original Spanish Ranchero, the largest Codfish drying plant on the west coast, a coaling station for the Navy, and it was where the cables for the Golden Gate Bridge were spun.

Huell travels to the 2002 National SPAAMFAA Winter Convention in San Bernardino. SPAAMFAA stands for "Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America." This get-together was a wonderful place to get glimpse of our state's fire-fighting history. There were all kinds of apparatus from small hand pumpers to elaborate steam driven engines from the turn of the century. The highlight of the day was Dave Hubert's lovingly restored rig, the "Reno #1," which served the city of Reno, Nevada from 1902 to 1922.

Listen to the magic of mariachi music and follow its origins from Jalisco, Mexico to its present-day sounds on the streets of Los Angeles. The world renowned Los Camperos de Nati Cano are featured, as well as the student mariachis of Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, and mariachis on Olvera Street.

The Berkeley is a 1898 steam ferryboat that operated for 60 years on the San Francisco Bay, and now has a loving home at the San Diego Maritime Museum. Likewise, the organ from the Fox Theatre has a new life entertaining audiences at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood. Join Huell Howser as he retraces the journeys of these two items from their beginnings in San Francisco.

Falconry is an ancient sport that has a small, but enthusiastic following in California. Huell learns about the sport, as well as an array of beautiful raptors from a master falconer and studio animal trainer. 

Huell travels to Little Manila in Stockton — a recent addition to the National Trust for Historic Preservations 11-Most Endangered Historic Places list — to learn about its rich Filipino heritage.

Huell spends a day in Orange County for a tour of historic San Juan Capistrano. We begin at the town’s Mission for an up-close look at the largest stone structure west of the Mississippi: The Great Stone Church, as well as the building’s magnificent gardens and gold-leaf altar. Next, it’s off to Los Rios Street, the oldest residential street in California. Los Rios is a place where its people both “live and work,” and every home is on the historic register. Huell enjoys lunch with the Rios family, who have occupied a 1794 adobe house for 10 generations and counting!

Huell looks at two historic examples of water under pressure: first at the Malakoff Diggins State Park in the Sierra foothills, where for decades miners used tremendous water cannons to help dissolve mountains in search of precious metals. Today Huell visits a vast man-made valley that remains a testament to the power of this process. Next, Huell visits California's Old Faithful Geyser in Calistoga — one of only three in the world.

In the early 1900s, Corona was known for its citrus, and even dubbed " The World's Lemon Capitol." Legend has it that Corona was laid out to resemble a wagon wheel with Grand Boulevard as the rim. This circular street is still probably one of the most unusual thoroughfares in the world, and from 1913 to 1916 it was even used as a racetrack. Join Huell Howser as he steps back in time to recreate the Corona Road Races complete with vintage race cars and even an attendee from the 1916 race.

Shasta City is located six miles west of Redding. During the California gold rush it was the “Queen City” of California’s northern mining district prospering from 1850-1890. Huell Howser visits Shasta State Historic Park, a reminder of the area’s gold rush legacy with brick ruins of a once thriving gold rush shopping district and a courthouse museum filled with original artifacts from the era.   

Huell travels up and down our coast to uncover some long-standing rituals from an abalone barbecue to surfing lessons.

Huell Howser travels to the Central Coast in search of Nitt Witt Ridge, an unusual state historical landmark in Cambria Pines. Built from cement and found objects like bottle caps, toilet seats and abalone shells, this folk art home was lovingly built by self-taught artist Art Beal over a period of fifty years.

Located on the Central Coast, Huell Howser discovers Montana de Oro State Park's boundless natural beauty which includes rugged cliffs, secluded beaches, streams and canyons.

A look at L.A.'s bike history with stops at the Pasadena Museum of History, and Sunday morning ride back in time as Huell uncovers other important stops in L.A.'s bike history.

Manzanar War Relocation Center was one of ten camps at which Japanese American citizens were interned during World War II. It is located at the foot of the imposing Sierra Nevadas in the Owens Valley. Huell Howser is joined by experts and internees to learn about the camp's complex history. And although little remains of the camp itself, Huell discovers a permanent reminder of the internees' detention -- their names etched in concrete.

Huell Howser travels to Sutter's Fort State Historic Park in midtown Sacramento. The Park marks the 1839 settlement that would become our state's capital, and play a major role in California history when gold was discovered nearby in 1848.

Huell gets a tour of the largest wooden buildings in the world, the vast blimp hangars at the U.S. Marine Air Station at Tustin. He then travels to the Seabee Naval Museum at Port Hueneme and the Marine Base at Camp Pendelton, to get a firsthand look at the history of an honest-to-goodness military institution — the quonset hut.

San Diego became California's first Spanish settlement when a mission and fort were established there in 1769. Old Town San Diego State Historic Park recreates life in the Mexican and early American periods of 1821 to 1872. Stroll along with Huell Howser through original adobes, San Diego's first newspaper office, mansions and a blacksmith shop.

Huell gets a taste of history as he visits two families who have turned their crops into empires. He visits both the olive orchards in the San Joaquin Valley and processing plant of the Graber family in Ontario, where for a century workers have prepared Graber Olives in almost the same way. Huell then travels to Orange Country to learn how the world-famous Knott's Berry Farm amusement park grew out of one woman's home cooking.

Huell travels to two significant but little-known places in California. First he gets a tour of the fields of Camp Pendelton, near San Diego, where for a period in the mid-1970s thousands of Vietnamese refugees lived in a large tent city-their first stop after fleeing their war torn homeland. Next, Huell visits the Sherman Institute High School, an off-reservation boarding school for Native Americans that has educated students for almost a century.

Huell finds out how oil made Kern County great, visiting the vast Midway-Sunset Field which is the top oil-producing field in the lower 48 states and the West Kern Oil Museum in Taft, which has one of the last huge wooden derricks in existence. Huell's last stop is the site of the Lakeview Gusher, which at the turn of the century was the largest gusher in the United States.

Huell tours Folsom Prison, which for well over a century has housed some of our state's toughest characters and gets a rare look inside this landmark prison. He visits Folsom's first death row, the chapel-which contains what has to be one of the most unusual paintings of " The Last Supper," the historic "China Hill," and the seldom-seen prison graveyard, final resting place for generations of prisoners.