Central Valley Roots

Clovis Cole grew his wheat farming empire to 40,000 acres, but saw it all collapse amid crop failures and bad business deals.

This firebreak was a Great Depression-era project that aimed to stop wildfires, but today is largely forgotten.

Fresno owes its existence in no small part to three laws signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1861-1862.

A group of German immigrant land speculators placed a big bet on the potential of the Fresno area in the late 1860s. While most of them eventually went broke, they left a legacy that still exists today.

The building shaped like a shoe is an example of the "programmatic architecture" that once was common across Southern California.

We track down the origins of the city's "Way of Life" slogan, and learn who coined the phrase back in 1970.

Anthony Easterby's farm proved the potential of irrigated agriculture and led the Central Pacific Railroad to found the new town of Fresno nearby.

After World War II, leaders agreed Fresno State needed to move to a new campus. But where to build it proved to be a big problem.

When state leaders decided to build a new state college in Kern County, they evaluated sites all over the county.

Nestled close the Sierra foothills in Tulare County, Porterville began as a ferry crossing on the Tule River.

Dixon's landscape paintings ranged in styles from impressionism to angular modernism, all while capturing the beauty of the Southwestern landscape.

The grand hotel has been a Yosemite Valley icon since 1927, and has hosted presidents and royalty.

Barry McGuire and Terry Talbot had their own big hits during the anti-war movement, before they both moved to Fresno and shifted their careers into worship music.

Fresno-area artist Stan Bitters designed the collection of glazed ceramic reliefs starting in 1969.

Fig Garden Village was built in the "Town and County" style in the 1950s using reclaimed timbers, bricks and an eclectic design that has made it popular for close to 70 years.

This gold country town was built around a central plaza, in the Mexican tradition.

Countless pilots trained at Mefford Field during World War II, and a vintage B-17 nearby is a popular roadside attraction on Highway 99.

Patterned after LA's Original Farmer's Market, it was a Fresno landmark from the 1940s through the 1990s.

The neighborhood is much older than its namesake theater, which was built in 1939 in Fresno's first "streetcar suburb."

Look in older parts of Fresno, Bakersfield and other cities, and you're likely to find a Craftsman-style bungalow.

North American Aviation established a plant at the Fresno Air Terminal to rebuild F-86 Sabrejets returning from the Korean War for the U.S. Air Force.

The Streamline Moderne-style building was built in 1940, and once housed a giant neon Coca-Cola sign on its roof.

The historic courthouse in Snelling is the oldest in Merced County.

Fresno's Hughes Hotel was destroyed on July 10, 1953, and numerous other buildings were damaged in an arson spree that remains unsolved to this day.

Before Rose Ann Vuich was elected in 1976, the California State Senate was "male, pale and stale."