recreation

The First Campgrounds Took the City to the Wilderness

by Martin Hogue

The growing popularity of the Model T put wilderness excursions within reach of ordinary city dwellers, bringing trash, fire, and pollution with them. The solution, mass campgrounds, made camping more accessible at the cost of rendering the experience more orderly, rule-bound, and urban. 

How one WWII Division Set the Stage for Modern Skiing

McKay Jenkins of the University of Delaware's new book tells the story of the US Army's 10th Mountain Division, how they fought on the slopes of Italy, and helped develop the modern sport of skiing. 

A Historic Seaside Community: Recovering Santa Monica's "Inkwell" Beach

by Brian Dunlap

"Memorial Day 1920. A young African American chauffeur, Arthur Valentine, settled on “Whites Only” Topanga Beach. With friends and family, he stepped from his truck. Three sheriff’s deputies demanded that they leave."

What Manhattan Beach’s Racist Land Grab Really Meant

by Alison Rose Jefferson

Debates over  the redress of past racial injustice must acknowledge that some past actions have harmed communities in ways that can't be repaired, including the loss of space for communal leisure or equal access to everyday pleasures. 

Manhattan Beach to Present Bruce's Beach History, Community Awaits Historians' Voices

Alison Rose Jefferson had been scheduled to brief the Manhattan Beach City Council about how to commemorate a stretch of beach historically used by Black Californians barred from other parts of the coastline. Her participation ended under disuputed circumstances.