New Book Features Historic Tar Pits and Hancock Park

Nov. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- New from Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series is Los Angeles’s La Brea Tar Pits and Hancock Park by local author Cathy McNassor. The book boasts more than 200 vintage images along with a supportive narrative. A set of postcards featuring images from the book is also available for $7.99.

Ever since the first popular article on the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits was published in Sunset magazine in 1908, this amazing Ice Age fossil site has captivated the imaginations of countless people from all over the world. This “death trap of the ages” and its population of saber-toothed cats, dire wolves and other extinct animals, now displayed in the stunning George C. Page Museum, continues to be one of the most popular tourist attractions in Los Angeles.

George Allan Hancock donated the 26-acre site to the County of Los Angeles in 1924 to preserve this scientific treasure trove for research and the enjoyment of future generations. This volume draws extensively upon the photographic resources of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the George C. Page Museum.

Highlights of the book include:
•   Early Years: Prehistory and History
•   Into the 20th Century: Oils Wells and Fossil Discoveries
•   A City Comes of Age: A Museum for Los Angeles
•   After the War: A New Monument to the Ice Age
•   The Bones Come Home: The George C. Page Museum
•   Into the 21st Century: La Brea Continued

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or www.arcadiapublishing.com.

# # #

With more than 7,500 local history titles published to date, Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Widely recognized sepia books feature hundreds of vintage historical images.