Mike McPhate – Medium

Mike McPhate
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…

4 min readMay 16, 2018

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A California high school where students pretty much run the show

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Mike McPhate
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…

3 min readMay 14, 2018

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Snowshoe Thompson was the Paul Bunyan of the Sierra Nevada

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Mike McPhate
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.

3 min readMay 9, 2018

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What happened to the California drive-in?

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Mike McPhate
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…

4 min readMay 8, 2018

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

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Mike McPhate
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…

2 min readMay 7, 2018

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

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Mike McPhate
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.

3 min readMay 2, 2018

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

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Mike McPhate
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…

4 min readMay 1, 2018

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

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Mike McPhate
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.

2 min readApr 30, 2018

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The Chandelier Tree is a beacon for romance in Los Angeles

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Mike McPhate
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.

3 min readApr 25, 2018

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

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Mike McPhate
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…

3 min readApr 24, 2018

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6 fascinating facts about California: Badwater and baby carrots edition

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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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