Eerie California

Mike Marinacci is a lifelong California resident fascinated by the state’s unique history and culture, Mike Marinacci is the author of Mysterious California (Los Angeles: Panpipes, 1988), and co-author of the bestselling Weird California (New York: Sterling, 2006). Mr. Marinacci also contributed to Weird Hauntings (New York: Sterling, 2006), The Book of Sacraments: Ritual Use of Magical Plants (Berkeley: Ronin, 2015) and Explorations in Awareness (Berkeley: Ronin, 2016), and wrote the Foreword to The Shadow over Santa Susana (New York: Creation Books, 2009).

Finalist, Travel Books Category, IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award.From the book:“Deep beneath the heart of Los Angeles’ financial district, hundreds of feet below the huge edifices that house banks, corporate offices, and government agencies, lies another city remembered only in obscure Indian legends, an underground world built by a strange race that vanished five thousand years ago.“At least that’s what mining engineer W. Warren Shufelt claimed in the January 29, 1934 Los Angeles Times. According to reporter Jean Bosquet, Shufelt was ready to dig up downtown L.A. in search of this ancient civilization.“Shufelt had first heard of the city in a Hopi legend about “the Lizard People.” They were a fabled lost race who had built 13 great underground cities on the Pacific Coast after a huge holocaust swept the Southwest back around 3,000 BC….“A Hopi chief told Shufelt that the vanished race’s capital city was located under present-day downtown Los Angeles. After surveying the area, Shufelt showed up on the Banning property at North Hill Street and sank a 350-foot shaft straight down, digging for what he said was a ‘treasure room’ directly underneath. Shufelt said he had located gold in the catacombs below with the aid of his ‘radio x-ray’….“He said that the subterranean city was shaped like a giant lizard, with the tail tapering out beneath the Central Library, and the head in the vicinity of Chavez Ravine (now Dodger Stadium). The ‘key room,’ the chamber that contained the map of the city and the directory to the gold tablets, lay several hundred feet under the present site of Times-Mirror Square….”

• IntroductionI.Northern California•Berkeley: The University of California•Markleeville•Sutter Creek: The Sutter Creek Inn•Chico•Oroville: Cherokee Road•Mokelumne Hill: The Leger Hotel•Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve•Mount Diablo•Oakland Hills•Coloma: The Vineyard House•Folsom Lake•Lake Tahoe•Bluff Creek•Willow Creek•Blue Lake•Mount Tamalpais•Stinson Beach•Castle Air Force Base Museum•Clear Lake•Petroglyph Point•Bodie•Alcatraz•Bush and Octavia Street•The Golden Gate•Nob Hill•San Francisco Art Institute•Pacheco Pass•San Jose•Sunnyvale•Santa Cruz•Happy Camp•Lava Beds National Monument•Mount Shasta•Bodega•Trinity Alps Wilderness•Jamestown: The Willow HotelII.Central California•Fresno: St. John’s Cathedral•Coso Mountains•Death Valley National Monument•Lone Pine•Fort Tejon State Historic Park•Kelso Valley•Mission San Antonio de Padua•Monterey•Monterey Bay•Santa Lucia Mountains•Hollister•Adelaida Cemetery•Mission San Miguel•Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park•Las Cruces Adobe•Lompoc•Mission La Purisima Concepcion•San Miguel Island•Lindcove•Aliso Canyon•Camp Comfort County Park•Conejo Valley•Grimes Canyon•Ventura: The Olivas AdobeIII.Southern California•Salton Sea•Big Rock Canyon•Calabasas: The Leonis Adobe•Devil’s Gate Reservoir•Elizabeth Lake•Hollywood: Hollywood Forever Cemetery•Long Beach: The Queen Mary•Los Angeles•Palos Verdes Peninsula•Buena Park: Coyote Creek Flood Channel•Costa Mesa: Santa Ana River Jetty•O’Neill Regional Park: Trabuco Creek•San Juan Capistrano•Blythe: The Blythe Intaglios•Joshua Tree National Monument•Lake Elsinore•Maze Rock County Park•Calico Early Man Site•Giant Rock Airport•Santa Ana River Bridge•Anza-Borrego Desert State Park•Deadman’s Hole•San DiegoBibliographyIndex