Mike McPhate – Medium

Mike McPhate

Published in
The California Sun

A California high school where students pretty much run the show

Tucked in a grassy canyon along the Central Coast is a high school where students chop wood and tend livestock between their history and…

May 16, 2018

A California high school where students pretty much run the show

May 16, 2018

Published in
The California Sun

Snowshoe Thompson was the Paul Bunyan of the Sierra Nevada

Two centuries ago, delivering mail across the icy Sierra Nevada was virtually impossible during the winter — until the arrival of a…

May 14, 2018

Snowshoe Thompson was the Paul Bunyan of the Sierra Nevada

May 14, 2018

Published in
The California Sun

What happened to the California drive-in?

There was a time in California when pretty much everybody went to the drive-in movie theater.

May 9, 2018

What happened to the California drive-in?

May 9, 2018

Published in
The California Sun

6 fascinating facts about California: Glass Beach and gay marriage edition

San Francisco and Oakland are the nation's capitals of same-sex marriage. According to figures released in 2016, San Francisco had the…

May 8, 2018

6 fascinating facts about California: Glass Beach and gay marriage edition

May 8, 2018

Published in
The California Sun

In a state of many Humboldts, recalling a forgotten father of environmentalism

In California, a county, a bay, a university, and a state park all bear the name of Alexander von Humboldt, the Prussian naturalist whose…

May 7, 2018

In a state of many Humboldts, recalling a forgotten father of environmentalism

May 7, 2018

Published in
The California Sun

The sad saga of the bear said to be depicted on California’s state flag

Two centuries ago, an estimated 10,000 grizzly bears roamed as rulers of the California wilderness.

May 2, 2018

The sad saga of the bear said to be depicted on California’s state flag

May 2, 2018

Published in
The California Sun

6 fascinating facts about California: Clint Eastwood and credit cards edition

California's Central Valley used to be so watery that you could take a boat between San Francisco and Bakersfield. Long since vanished…

May 1, 2018

6 fascinating facts about California: Clint Eastwood and credit cards edition

May 1, 2018

Published in
The California Sun

The Chandelier Tree is a beacon for romance in Los Angeles

When Adam Tenenbaum hung a few chandeliers from a tree in the front yard of his Los Angeles home, he worried about how people would react.

Apr 30, 2018

The Chandelier Tree is a beacon for romance in Los Angeles

Apr 30, 2018

Published in
The California Sun

A century ago, a Sicilian immigrant carved a subterranean wonderland in the San Joaquin Valley

When an immigrant from the Mediterranean island of Sicily arrived in Fresno around 1905, he found the summers brutal.

Apr 25, 2018

A century ago, a Sicilian immigrant carved a subterranean wonderland in the San Joaquin Valley

Apr 25, 2018

Published in
The California Sun

6 fascinating facts about California: Badwater and baby carrots edition

California is home to the contiguous United States's highest and lowest points: Mount Whitney (14,505 feet above sea level) and Badwater…

Apr 24, 2018

6 fascinating facts about California: Badwater and baby carrots edition

Apr 24, 2018

Mike McPhate

Mike McPhate

Mike McPhate writes the California Sun newsletter. (Sign up! californiasun.co). Formerly of the New York Times and Washington Post.

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