Living Desert

A visit to the 31st Annual Griffith Park Sidecar Rally. It's a get-together of sidecar enthusiasts and it turns out these contraptions that hook on to motorcycles have quite a colorful history and come in all shapes and sizes.

Huell revisits the California Zephyr, a magnificent train which traveled between Chicago and Oakland from 1949 to 1970. Huell climbs aboard one of the original restored silver "Vista-Dome" cars and travels through some of the most spectacular scenery in the state, heading west from Lake Tahoe. Huell shares the ride with a group of people who worked on and rode the original Zephyr.

Completed in 1915, the Ridge Route was carved from the San Gabriel Mountains by workers using mule-drawn dirt scrapers. From ridge top to ridge top, they cleared a 20 foot-wide roadway which was the first direct route between Los Angeles and Bakersfield, uniting Northern and Southern California. Today, a 30-mile portion of the abandoned Ridge Route between Castaic and Gorman, can be found hidden in the mountains just east of Interstate 5 which long ago replaced it. Huell is joined by Harrison Scott, a retired Pacific Bell engineer, who, with the help of U.S.

Huell learns about California's early logging industry during a visit to Scotia, located 30 miles south of Eureka on Highway 101 in Humboldt County. Scotia may be the last true company town in America. It was founded as a logging camp in 1883 and is still the home of the Pacific Lumber Company.

Huell travels to the little farming community of Sloughhouse near Sacramento. Once there he meets up with George Signorotti, owner of the last family-owned hops farm in the sate, and witnesses firsthand the harvesting and bailing of hops, which was once a huge crop in California.

Skimboarding is a sport similar to surfing. The skimboarder stands about 20 feet from the ocean, with board in hand, and waits for a wave. When they see a wave, they run towards it, drop the board, and jump onto it as quickly as possible. Once on the board, the skimmer must remain stable to make the transition to the ocean. S/he then (hopefully) glides out into the ocean toward the oncoming wave, banks off of it, and rides it back into shore. Huell travels to Laguna to watch some locals show how its done.

Nestled in a small valley nearly 12 miles outside of Avalon on Catalina Island is El Rancho Escondido, "the hidden ranch." Still a working ranch, it was originally started as the Wrigley family's Arabian Horse Ranch. The facility's prizewinning horses, historic memorabilia, and entertaining exhibits make it great place to visit. Huell spends the day with members of the Wrigley family as they reminisce about life on the ranch.

The giant statue of Paul Bunyan greets visitors to this family run road-side attraction that has been open since the 1930's. Join host Huell Howser as he get a tour through some of the most amazing Redwoods in California, but its not just any old walking tour where you stare up at these impossibly tall trees; its a SkyTrail, which is basically a ski lift which gets you at tree-top level giving you an amazing new view.

For 50 years one of the most popular ways to travel up and down the mighty Mississippi River has been aboard the authentic paddlewheel steamboat Delta Queen. To ride on this boat is to step back in time -- in fact, the Delta Queen has been declared a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But true riverboat buffs will tell you that the Delta Queen was not originally built to travel on the Mississippi River. It's a California boat, built in Stockton in the late 1920's for service on the Sacramento River.

The Trona Pinnacles are one of the most unusual geological features in California. The unusual landscape consists of more than 500 tufa spires, some as high as 140 feet rising from a dry lake bed. The Pinnacles have been used as a backdrop fort hundreds of movies and TV shows.

Huell also visits Fossil Falls and Little Lake in the Owens Valley.

Huell heads to Northern California, near Redding, to visit Whiskeytown National Recreation Area and hears all about this new and improved state park. Most exciting is the recent discovery of an enormous 400 foot waterfall, which was hidden on private property until 2006. Huell talks to the ranger who made the discovery and together, they explore the freshly cut trail that has been made for everyone to enjoy this gorgeous "new" waterfall.

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is a 14,000 acre sanctuary of old growth coast redwoods, which offers hiking, nature study, wildlife viewing, beach combing, picnicking, a visitor center with exhibits and a nature store. Join Huell as he hikes to Fern Canyon, one of this state park's most enchanting locations.

Huell visits the Whitewater Preserve located just off the 10 freeway near Palm Springs. This amazing oasis contains 2,851 acres surrounded by the Bureau of Land Management San Gorgonio Wilderness and is part of the Wildlands Conservancy’s 33,000-acre Sand to Snow Preserve System. Included is and old trout farm and lodge that have been transformed into a visitor facility. There is also a picnic area, group campground, and a trailhead that is only a half-mile from the Pacific Crest Trail in the San Gorgonio Wilderness.

Huell visits Big Basin Redwoods State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Established in 1902, it's actually California's oldest State Park and is celebrating its centennial this year. Home to the largest continuous stand of Coast Redwoods south of San Francisco, as well as numerous waterfalls, abundant wildlife, and incredible scenery.

On September 28, 1542, Juan Rodr¡guez Cabrillo landed at San Diego Bay. This event marked the first time that a European expedition had set foot on what later became the west coast of the United States. Huell travels to Cabrillo National Monument, where Cabrillo's exploration is commemorated with a statue and a museum flanked by scenic views of San Diego's harbor and skyline.

Located at historic fire Station #30 on South Central Avenue in Los Angeles, the African American Firefighter Museum is a nonprofit organization dedicated to collecting, conserving and sharing the heritage of African American Firefighters.

They've been a part of the California landscape for hundreds of years, helping to build our canals and highways and railroads, hauling our freight, our silver bullion and, of course, playing a major role during the gold rush era. However, many people are under the false impression that they're stubborn, while others tend to overlook them in favor of the more glamorous horse.

Leave it to our own Huell Howser to think he could go kayaking in Death Valley! But it turns out that's exactly what he does as he travels to normally parched Death Valley National Park to kayak on the huge salt lake created by this year's heavy rains. Ancient Lake Manly at Badwater only reappears about every 100 years, so he figured he better go for it.

In addition to the lake, Huell also captures the bounty of endless fields of wildflowers, which covered Death Valley this spring.

They come in all shapes and sizes and many date back to the early part of this century. All have been lovingly restored by their owners and are meticulously maintained. In short, they're some of the most beautiful wooden boats ever made.

Host Huell Howser gets a close look at these boats as he attends the 24th annual Concours d' Elegance dedicated to the preservation and celebration of the wooden vessels that have graced Lake Tahoe since the 1920s. He not only talks with the owners about the rich history of their boats, but joins them for a ride on the historic lake.

Anacapa Island, one of California's Channel Islands, is located 14 miles off the coast from Ventura. From the ocean, Huell finds that ocean waves have eroded the perimeter of the island, creating steep sea cliffs towering hundreds of feet in height and exposing the volcanic origins of air pockets, lava tubes, and sea caves. Once on land, he learns that the largest breeding colony of the endangered California brown pelican is located on West Anacapa.

Huell travels to the high sierras on horseback to see how trout are dropped from an airplane into High Sierra Mountain lakes -- a spectacular sight.

In the premiere episode of California's Golden Coast, Huell learns about an inspiring success story. Located at the Presidio in San Francisco, once a U.S. Army outpost and cornerstone of military operations on the West Coast, Crissy Field became the most significant site of aviation development in the western United States in the early part of the 20th Century.

On May 10, 1869, the Last Spike of the Transcontinental Railroad was ceremonially driven into a polished California Laurel railroad tie at Promontory, Utah. Huell learns about its mysterious disappearance and re-discovery and also gets a special sneak preview of this rare artifact on a visit to the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University and the California State Railroad Museum.

The Warnors Theatre, a Fresno landmark that opened in 1928, houses a pipe organ that is the only one of its kind in the world still performing inside its original theatre.

After years of neglect, the future of the theatre was in jeopardy until Frank Caglia bought it in 1973 and returned it to its former luster. Huell hears the Caglia’s family story, which intersects with the story of the Warnor's Theatre at its opening and is as much a jewel as the theatre itself .

In this one-hour special, Huell retraces the route of the old Stagecoach line in and around Santa Barbara. Join him for a ride through history.

Huell visits the family run Gills Onions, which is not only the largest onion processing plant in California but its also the greenest. Each day they convert over 150 tons of onion peel and juice waste to power fuel cells on site that provide enough power to run the lights and refrigeration.

Huell meets Joe Rinaudo whose passion is a 1926 Fotoplayer, which uses music rolls like those for player pianos to provide music and sound effects to silent films. Joe spent thousands of hours restoring his Fotoplayer and although the "talkies" made them obsolete in the late 1920s, Huell discovers there is still no better way to enjoy a silent movie than with Joe, his hand cranked projector and his Fotoplayer.

Huell visits the International Printing Museum in Carson, which takes one of the world's most significant collections of antique printing machinery and brings it to life through working demonstrations and theater presentations.

Huell heads south to the small town of Heber to visit Ormat Technologies geothermal plant. From the earliest native peoples to the mud loving “spa" enthusiasts, this area has a rich history in harnessing the “heat” bubbling up from the ground. We’ll get an education in how Ormat is harnessing this energy and using it to power our lives.

Huell travels to the Tehachapi Mountains to visit The Cesar Chavez Foundation. Set on 187 acres, the buildings where once home to a tuberculosis hospital and then it's where Cesar lived and labored during his last quarter century as he fought for better rights for migrant workers. Now the Center is a carrying on Cesar's dream and welcomes visitors to learn about this important chapter in our state's history. Huell gets a very special and personal tour of the Center from Cesar's son Paul.

In 1937, an amazing three-day event took place to celebrate the opening of a new road from Lone Pine to Death Valley. A gourd was filled with water from the highest lake in the U.S. on the side of Mt. Whitney. A trip commenced using all modes of important California transportation--Native American runner, Pony Express, miner and burro, 20-mule team, stagecoach, train, car and plane. With many famous participants, the water finally arrived at the lowest lake in the U.S, Bad Water Death Valley, and was poured in, thus consummating the Wedding of the Waters.

During the years of the detainment in Manzanar War Relocation Center, one of ten camps at which Japanese American citizens were interned during World War II, music provided a rare solace for the internees. Huell visits with Mary Kageyama Nomura known as the "Songbird of Manzanar" who performed there as a teenager.

In this never-before-seen "lost" episode, Huell visits the home of Los Angeles icon Charles Fletcher Lummis in Highland Park. Lummis, who died in 1928, was the founder of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, an editor of the Los Angeles Times, and a collector and preservationist of Southwestern culture. The Lummis House, today a historic museum, was built by Lummis in the late nineteenth century.

Huell's off to Amador county and the town of Volcano. It was once a thriving, gold mining town in the 1850s and 1860s, but Huell has set off to discover the mysterious cave in this mountain community which served as a Masonic lodge.