Arcata’s Honorable Residents Celebrated in New Book

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - July 9, 2013 - PRLog -- The newest addition to Arcadia Publishing’s popular Legendary Locals series is Legendary Locals of Arcata from local author Kevin L. Hoover. The book boasts more than 200 vintage images of the places and peoples that make Arcata legendary.

Perched on a hilly clearing between the Pacific Ocean and a rainforest along California’s coastal highway, Arcata occupies a special niche behind the “Redwood Curtain.” A cultural and geographic crossroads, Arcata’s story is told in the faces of its people.

The Wiyot were the first to inhabit Kori; their massacre on nearby Indian Island was boldly condemned by young Arcata (then Union) newspaper editor Bret Harte. Austin Wiley and sons carried on the newspaper tradition as pioneers Zelia Vaissade and Henrietta Moranda helped establish dairies on the Arcata Bottom. Arcata matured into a college town with Humboldt State College. Its first graduate, Susie Baker Fountain, became Humboldt County’s first historian. Working men like Warren Dowling built the town’s homes and churches, while the first woman city councilmember, Alexandra Stillman, helped usher in the modern age.

Today, killing field escapees Kimhak and Rasmey Chum make doughnuts and pizza that draw people at all hours. Arcata fairly boils as a stew of contrasting traditions, styles and icons with its artsy, eclectic, liberated citizens bringing Humboldt County’s North Coast its most vibrant tiny big city.

Highlights of Legendary Locals of Arcata:
•   Showcases the rich heritage of active citizens that have contributed their time and efforts on local, state and even national causes to make this region viable.
•   Includes information on the activists of the 1960s and 70s and how they matured into mainstream progressive leaders in ensuing decades, including psychedelic poster subjects Wes Chesbro and Dan Hauser.
•   Highlights photos and even drawings of Arcata, which have become vital parts of the town’s history, for example an 1853 Kuchel and Dresel lithograph of the town.

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

Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States.  Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America’s people and places.  Have we done a book on your town?  Visit www.arcadiapublishing.com/