The creation of a large park in San Francisco was first proposed in the 1860s. In 1865, landscape architect
Frederick Law Olmsted proposed a park designed with species native to San Francisco. The plan was rejected for a
Central Park-style park designed by engineer
William Hammond Hall. The park was built atop sand and shore dunes in an unincorporated area known as the
Outside Lands. Construction centered on planting trees and non-native grasses to stabilize the dunes that covered three-quarters of the park. The park opened in 1870. (Full article...)
Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (/ˈbroʊdɪs/; born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. His initial fame dates back to 1992 following his guest appearance on
Dr. Dre's debut solo single, "
Deep Cover", and later on Dre's debut album, The Chronic that same year. Broadus has since sold over 23 million albums in the United States, and 35 million albums worldwide.
His accolades include an
American Music Award, a
Primetime Emmy Award, and 17
Grammy Award nominations.
Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is known for her influence on modern
pop music and her
camp style, being dubbed the "
Queen of Camp" by
Vogue and Rolling Stone. At 16, Perry released a
gospel record titled Katy Hudson (2001) under
Red Hill Records, which was commercially unsuccessful. She moved to Los Angeles at 17 to venture into
secular music, and later adopted the stage name "Katy Perry" from her mother's maiden name. She recorded an album while signed to
Columbia Records, but was dropped before signing to
Capitol Records.
Perry rose to fame with One of the Boys (2008), a
pop rock record containing her debut single "
I Kissed a Girl" and follow-up single "
Hot n Cold", which reached number one and three on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100 respectively. The
disco-influenced pop album Teenage Dream (2010) spawned five U.S. number one singles—"
California Gurls", "
Teenage Dream", "
Firework", "
E.T.", and "
Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"— the only album by a female singer to do so. A reissue of the album titled Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection (2012) subsequently produced the U.S. number one single "
Part of Me". Her empowerment-themed album Prism (2013) had two U.S. number one singles, "
Roar" and "
Dark Horse". Both their respective music videos made Perry the first artist to have multiple videos reach one billion views on
Vevo and
YouTube. The
electropop album Witness (2017) featured themes of feminism and a political subtext, while Smile (2020) was influenced by motherhood and her mental health journey. Afterwards, she embarked on her Las Vegas
concert residency titled
Play (2021–2023), receiving critical acclaim and commercial success. (Full article...)
Reagan was born in New York City. After her parents separated, she lived in
Maryland with an aunt and uncle for six years. When her mother remarried in 1929, she moved to Chicago and later was adopted by her mother's second husband. As Nancy Davis, she was a Hollywood actress in the 1940s and 1950s, starring in films such as The Next Voice You Hear..., Night into Morning, and Donovan's Brain. In 1952, she married Ronald Reagan, who was then president of the
Screen Actors Guild. He had two children from his previous marriage to
Jane Wyman and he and Nancy had two children together. Nancy Reagan was the first lady of California when her husband was
governor from 1967 to 1975, and she began to work with the
Foster Grandparents Program. (Full article...)
Image 4
James Robert Baker (October 18, 1947 – November 5, 1997) was an
American author of sharply satirical, predominantly gay-themed
transgressional fiction. A native Californian, his work is set almost entirely in
Southern California. After graduating from
UCLA, he began his career as a screenwriter, but became disillusioned and started writing novels instead. Though he garnered fame for his books Fuel-Injected Dreams and Boy Wonder, after the controversy surrounding publication of his novel, Tim and Pete, he faced increasing difficulty having his work published. According to his
life partner, this was a contributing factor in his suicide.
Baker's work has achieved cult status in the years since his death, and two additional novels have been posthumously published. First-edition copies of his earlier works have become collector's items. His novel Testosterone was adapted to a
film of the same name, though it was not a financial success. Two other books have been optioned for films, but they have not been produced. (Full article...)
Picture of Stafford from the New York Sunday News, September 21, 1947
Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917 – July 16, 2008) was an American
traditional pop singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classical training to become an
opera singer before following a career in popular music, and by 1955 had achieved more worldwide record sales than any other female artist. Her 1952 song "
You Belong to Me" topped the charts in the United States and United Kingdom, becoming the second single to top the
UK Singles Chart, and the first by a female artist to do so.
Born in remote oil-rich
Coalinga, California, near Fresno in the
San Joaquin Valley, Stafford made her first musical appearance at age 12. While still at high school, she joined her two older sisters to form a vocal trio named the Stafford Sisters, who found moderate success on radio and in film. In 1938, while the sisters were part of the cast of
Twentieth Century Fox's production of Alexander's Ragtime Band, Stafford met the future members of
the Pied Pipers and became the group's lead singer. Bandleader
Tommy Dorsey hired them in 1939 to perform vocals with his orchestra. From 1940 to 1942, the group often performed with Dorsey's new male singer, Frank Sinatra. (Full article...)
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in a total of 12 foster homes and an orphanage before marrying
James Dougherty at age sixteen. She was working in a factory during
World War II when she met a photographer from the
First Motion Picture Unit and began a successful
pin-up modeling career, which led to short-lived film contracts with
20th Century Fox and
Columbia Pictures. After a series of minor film roles, she signed a new contract with Fox in late 1950. Over the next two years, she became a popular actress with roles in several comedies, including As Young as You Feel and Monkey Business, and in the dramas Clash by Night and Don't Bother to Knock. Monroe faced a scandal when it was revealed that she had posed for nude photographs prior to becoming a star, but the story did not damage her career and instead resulted in increased interest in her films. (Full article...)
Sharon Marie Tate Polanski (January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969) was an American actress and model. During the 1960s, she appeared in advertisements and small television roles before appearing in films as well as working as a model. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic and dramatic acting performances, Tate was hailed as one of Hollywood's most promising newcomers, being compared favorably with the late
Marilyn Monroe.
She made her film debut in 1961 as an extra in Barabbas with
Anthony Quinn. She next appeared in the British mystery horror film Eye of the Devil (1966). Her first major role was as Jennifer North in the 1967 American drama film Valley of the Dolls, which earned her a
Golden Globe Award nomination. The role would help her to become a rising
sex symbol of Hollywood, appearing in a
Playboy photoshoot where she would be shot by filmmaker
Roman Polanski, Tate's future husband. That year, she also performed in the comedy horror film The Fearless Vampire Killers, directed by Roman Polanski. Tate's last completed film, 12+1, was released posthumously in 1969. (Full article...)
The Sierra Nevada (
Spanish for "Snowy Range") is a
mountain range located in the
U.S. state of
California. In a few places, it overlaps into neighboring
Nevada. The range is also known informally as the Sierra,the High Sierra, and the Sierras.
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