Napa County, California
Napa County is a county north of San Pablo Bay in the northern portion of the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 136,484; the county seat is the City of Napa. Napa County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Parts of the county's territory were given to Lake County in 1861. Napa County comprises the Napa, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, included in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area, it is one of four North Bay counties. Napa County, once the producer of many different crops, is known today for its regional wine industry, rising to the first rank of wine regions with France by local wineries Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and Chateau Montelena winning the "Judgment of Paris" in 1976. In prehistoric times, the valley was inhabited by the Patwin Native Americans, with possible habitation by Wappo tribes in the northwestern foothills. Most villages are thought to have been constructed near the floodplains of watercourses that drain the valley.
Their food consisted of wild roots, small animals, earthworms and bread made from crushed California buckeye kernels. In winter they would construct huts made of tree branches. In summer they streams. In winter months, they were half clad in wild animal skins and at other times they wore no clothing; the maximum prehistoric population is thought not to have exceeded 5000 persons. In 1776, a fort was erected by the Spanish Governor, Felipe de Neve a short distance northwest of Napa, on an elevated plateau. Russians from Sonoma County's Fort Ross grazed cattle and sheep in the Napa Valley in the early 19th century and in 1841 a survey party from the fort placed a plaque on the summit of Mount Saint Helena. Francis Castro and Father Jose Altimura were the first Europeans to explore the Napa Valley, in 1823; when the first white settlers arrived in the early 1830s, there were six tribes in the valley speaking different dialects and they were at war with each other. The Mayacomos tribe lived in the area.
The Callajomans were in the area near. Further south, the Kymus dwelt in the middle part of the valley; the Napa and Ulcus tribes occupied part of the area where the City of Napa now exists while the Soscol tribe occupied the portion that now makes up the southern end of the valley. Many of the native peoples died during a smallpox epidemic in 1838. Settlers killed several over claims of cattle theft. During the era between 1836 and 1846, when California was a province of independent Mexico, the following 13 ranchos were granted in Napa County: George C. Yount was an early settler in Napa County and is believed to be the first Anglo-Saxon resident in the county. In 1836 Yount obtained the Mexican grant Rancho Caymus where he built what is said to be the first log house in California. Soon afterward, he built a sawmill and grain mill, was the first person to plant a vineyard in the county. Following Yount's death in 1865 at age 71, the town of Yountville was named in his honor. Following his marriage to General Vallejo’s niece Maria Guadalupe Soberanes, Edward Turner Bale became a citizen of Mexico and was granted Rancho Carne Humana in the northern end of the valley.
Bale completed building the Bale Grist Mill a few miles north of St. Helena in 1846. Colonel Joseph B. Chiles a guide for one of the earliest immigrant trains to California, was granted Rancho Catacula in 1844; the Town of Napa was founded on Rancho Entre Napa by Nathan Coombs in 1847. Following the event of the Mexican–American War, Bear Flag Revolt in 1846 and the Mexican Cession in 1848, settlers were granted deeds from the original ranchos during the 1850s through 1870s. To this day, a number of streets and landmarks around the valley reflect the names of these ranchos and original grantees. Napa County was formed and became one of the original California counties when the state became part of the United States in 1850. Descendants of George Yount and Captain Edward Bale played key roles in the early development of Napa County. Yount's granddaughter Elizabeth Yount married Thomas Rutherford in 1864; the couple received as a wedding gift from George Yount, land in the area of the valley now known as Rutherford.
Rutherford established himself as a serious grower and producer of fine wines in the following years. Bale's oldest daughter Lolita married the seaman Louis Bruck; when Bale died in 1848, Bruck became the executor of the will for the family. He was elected the first mayor of Napa City when incorporated in 1872. Charles Krug, a fellow Prussian compatriot and pioneer viticulturalist at Sonoma, married Lolita's younger sister Caroline with a dowry that included land near the Bale mill. Krug moved north of St. Helena to establish the valley's first commercial winery. John Patchett opened the first commercial winery in the county in 1859; the vineyard and wine cellar were in an area now in the city limits of Napa. After working as a winemaker for Patchett, Charles Krug founded his own winery in St. Helena 1861; the county's population began to grow in the mid century as pioneers and entrepreneurs moved in and set up residence. During this period, settlers raised cattle and farmed grain and fruit crops.
Mineral mining played a role in the economics of the county. In 1858 the great silver rush began in Napa Valley, miners flocked to the eastern hills. While gold was being prospected in other areas of the state in the 1850s, Napa County became a center for silver and quicksilver mining. In the 1860s, mining carried on, on a large scale, with quicksilver mines operating in many areas of Napa County. In 1866 John Lawley established a toll road from Calistoga over Mount Saint Helena to Lake County. Robert Loui
San Francisco Committee of Vigilance
The San Francisco Committee of Vigilance was a vigilante group formed in 1851. The catalyst for its formation was the criminality of the Sydney Ducks, it was revived in 1856 in response to rampant crime and corruption in the municipal government of San Francisco, California. The need for extralegal intervention was apparent with the explosive population growth following the discovery of gold in 1848; the small town of about 900 individuals grew to a booming city of over 200,000 rapidly. This overwhelming growth in population made it nearly impossible for the established law enforcement to regulate any longer which resulted in the organization of vigilantes; these militias hanged forced several elected officials to resign. Each Committee of Vigilance formally relinquished power after three months; the 1851 Committee of Vigilance was inaugurated on June 9 with the promulgation of a written doctrine declaring its aims and hanged John Jenkins of Sydney, Australia on June 10 after he was convicted of stealing a safe from an office in a trial organized by the committee: grand larceny was punishable by death under California law at the time.
The June 13 Daily Alta California printed this statement: WHEREAS it has become apparent to the citizens of San Francisco, that there is no security for life and property, either under the regulations of society as it at present exists, or under the law as now administered. The carelessness or corruption of the police, or a laxity of those who pretend to administer justice, it boasted a membership of 700 and claimed to operate in parallel to, in defiance of, the duly constituted city government. Committee members used its headquarters for the interrogation and incarceration of suspects who were denied the benefits of due process; the Committee engaged in policing, investigating disreputable boarding houses and vessels, deporting immigrants, parading its militia. Four people were hanged by the Committee; the 1851 Committee of Vigilance was dissolved during the September elections, but its executive members continued to meet into 1853. A total of four were executed: John Jenkens, an Australian from Sydney accused of burglary, hanged on June 10, 1851.
The lynching of Whittaker and McKenzie occurred three days after a standoff between the Committee and the nascent police force trying to protect the prisoners. The Committee offered a $5,000 reward for the capture of anyone found guilty of arson, committee members patrolled the streets at night to watch for fires. After these actions were taken, fires in San Francisco diminished noticeably; the Committee of Vigilance was reorganized on 14 May 1856 by many of the leaders from the first one and adopted an amended version of the 1851 constitution. Unlike the earlier Committee, the vigilante tradition the 1856 Committee was concerned with not only civil crimes but politics and political corruption; the catalyst for the Committee was a murder, in the guise of a political duel in which James P. Casey shot opposition newspaper editor James King of William. King, along with many San Francisco residents, was outraged by Casey's appointment to the city board of supervisors and believed that the election had been rigged.
The motivation behind this murder came from King's publishing in the "Daily Evening Bulletin", an article accusing Casey of illegal activities. The combination of the political unrest surrounding the election and the article resulted in Casey's shooting of James King; the 1856 Committee was much larger than the Committee of 1851, claiming 6,000 in its ranks. The Committee worked closely with the formal government of San Francisco. President of the vigilance committee, William T. Coleman was a close friend of Governor J. Neely Johnson and the two men met on several occasions working towards the shared goal of stabilizing the town. Another important figure at this time who would come to make a name for himself in the Civil War is William T. Sherman. Sherman was running a bank when Governor Johnson requested he become the commander of the San Francisco branch of the state militia. Sherman accepted the position two days before the murder of King by CaseyThe 1856 Committee of Vigilance dissolved on 11 August 1856, marked the occasion with a "Grand Parade."Political power in San Francisco was transferred to a new political party established by the vigilantes, the People's Party, which ruled until 1867 and was absorbed into the Republican Party.
The vigilantes had thus succeeded in their objective of usurping power from the Democratic Party machine that hitherto dominated civic politics in the city. Notable people included William Tell Coleman, Martin J. Burke, San Francisco mayor Henry F. Teschemacher, San
San Francisco
San Francisco the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural and financial center of Northern California. San Francisco is the 13th-most populous city in the United States, the fourth-most populous in California, with 884,363 residents as of 2017, it covers an area of about 46.89 square miles at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, making it the second-most densely populated large US city, the fifth-most densely populated U. S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. San Francisco is part of the fifth-most populous primary statistical area in the United States, the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area; as of 2017, it was the seventh-highest income county in the United States, with a per capita personal income of $119,868. As of 2015, San Francisco proper had a GDP of $154.2 billion, a GDP per capita of $177,968. The San Francisco CSA was the country's third-largest urban economy as of 2017, with a GDP of $907 billion.
Of the 500+ primary statistical areas in the US, the San Francisco CSA had among the highest GDP per capita in 2017, at $93,938. San Francisco was ranked 14th in the world and third in the United States on the Global Financial Centres Index as of September 2018. San Francisco was founded on June 29, 1776, when colonists from Spain established Presidio of San Francisco at the Golden Gate and Mission San Francisco de Asís a few miles away, all named for St. Francis of Assisi; the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856. San Francisco's status as the West Coast's largest city peaked between 1870 and 1900, when around 25% of California's population resided in the city proper. After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a major port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater.
It became the birthplace of the United Nations in 1945. After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, significant immigration, liberalizing attitudes, along with the rise of the "hippie" counterculture, the Sexual Revolution, the Peace Movement growing from opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a center of liberal activism in the United States. Politically, the city votes along liberal Democratic Party lines. A popular tourist destination, San Francisco is known for its cool summers, steep rolling hills, eclectic mix of architecture, landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, the former Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, Fisherman's Wharf, its Chinatown district. San Francisco is the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Gap Inc. Fitbit, Salesforce.com, Reddit, Inc. Dolby, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Pinterest, Uber, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation and Weather Underground.
It is home to a number of educational and cultural institutions, such as the University of San Francisco, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco State University, the De Young Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the California Academy of Sciences. As of 2019, San Francisco is the highest rated American city on world liveability rankings; the earliest archaeological evidence of human habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. The Yelamu group of the Ohlone people resided in a few small villages when an overland Spanish exploration party, led by Don Gaspar de Portolà, arrived on November 2, 1769, the first documented European visit to San Francisco Bay. Seven years on March 28, 1776, the Spanish established the Presidio of San Francisco, followed by a mission, Mission San Francisco de Asís, established by the Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the area became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the mission system ended, its lands became privatized.
In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, near a boat anchorage around what is today Portsmouth Square. Together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7, 1846, during the Mexican–American War, Captain John B. Montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, Mexico ceded the territory to the United States at the end of the war. Despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography; the California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers. With their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849; the promise of great wealth was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor.
Some of these 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships and hotels.
Lake County, California
Lake County is a county located in the north central portion of the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 64,665; the county seat is Lakeport. The county takes its name from Clear Lake, the dominant geographic feature in the county and the largest natural lake wholly within California. Lake County forms CA Micropolitan Statistical Area, it is directly north of the San Francisco Bay Area. Lake County is part of California's Wine Country, which includes Napa and Mendocino counties, it includes over 35 wineries. Lake County was formed in 1861 from parts of Napa and Mendocino counties, but the area had European-American settlers from at least the 1840s. Lake County has long been known as a farming community; the 1911 California Blue Book lists the major crops as Bartlett beans. Other crops include grain, hay, peaches, apples and walnuts. Stockraising included goats, hogs and dairying; some vineyards were planted in the 1870s by European Americans but the first in the state were established in the 18th century by Spanish missionaries.
By the early 20th century, the area was earning a reputation for producing some of the world's greatest wines. However, in 1920, national Prohibition ended Lake County's wine production. With authorized cultivation limited to sacramental purposes, most of the vineyards were ripped out and replanted with walnut and pear orchards. A re-emergence of Lake County's wine industry began in the 1960s when a few growers rediscovered the area's grape-growing potential and began planting vineyards. Several Lake County American Viticultural Areas, such as High Valley AVA and Red Hills Lake County AVA, have been recognized as having distinct character; the area has increased vineyard acreage from fewer than 100 acres in 1965 to more than 9,455 acres of vineyard in 2015. Lake County's grape prices, at $1,634 per ton overall reached an all-time high in 2015. In 2014, Lake County surpassed Mendocino County in price paid per ton of grapes in the North Coast premium market; the number of wineries continues to grow, with over 35 wineries now located in Lake County.
Lake County has been ranked by the American Lung Association as having the cleanest air in the nation, including in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Lake County has been ranked twenty-four times as having the cleanest air in California; the American Lung Association's website gives Lake County air a "C" grade for high ozone days and an "A" grade for particle pollution. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,329 square miles, of which 1,256 square miles is land and 73 square miles is water. Two main watercourses drain the county: Cache Creek, the outlet of Clear Lake. Both of these flow to the Sacramento River; the main streams which flow into Clear Lake are Forbes Creek, Scotts Creek, Middle Creek and Kelsey Creek. At the extreme north of the county Lake Pillsbury and the Van Arsdale Reservoir dam the Eel River, providing water and power to Ukiah in Mendocino County. Clear Lake is believed to be the oldest warmwater lake in North America, due to a geological fluke; the lake sits on a huge block of stone which tilts in the northern direction at the same rate as the lake fills in with sediment, thus keeping the water at the same depth.
The geology of the county is chaotic, being based on Franciscan Assemblage hills. Numerous small faults are present in the south end of the lake as well as many old volcanoes, the largest being Cobb Mountain; the geologic history of the county shows events of great violence, such as the eruption of Mount Konocti and Mount St. Helena and the collapse of Cow Mountain, which created the hills around the county seat of Lakeport. Blue Lakes, Lake Pillsbury, Indian Valley Reservoir are the county's other major bodies of water. Lake County has habitats for a variety of species of concern including the uncommon herb, Legenere limosa, the rare Eryngium constancei, the tule elk. Waterfowl and other wildlife abound in the Clear Lake basin. Due to its surrounding hilly terrain, Lake is the only one of California's 58 counties never to have been served by a railroad line. Glenn County - northeast Colusa County - east Yolo County - southeast Napa County - southeast Sonoma County - southwest Mendocino County - west Mendocino National Forest Cow Mountain Recreation Area Cache Creek Wilderness and Cache Creek Wildlife AreaIn 2015 President Barack Obama created the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, incorporating these and other areas.
Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest Anderson Marsh State Historic Park Loch Lomond Vernal Pool Ecological Reserve Boggs Lake Ecological Reserve Clear Lake State Park Rodman Slough Preserve In the late 19th century, the worldwide popularity of mineral water for the relief of myriad physical ailments resulted in the development of mineral resorts around Clear Lake. Greene Bartlett discovered Bartlett hot springs in 1870; the springs were developed by 1900 included a mineral water bottling plant. The resort burned down in 1934. Harbin Hot Springs was developed by settlers in the 1860s. Harbin burned to the ground in the Valley Fire of 2015. Highland Springs opened in 1891, was destroyed by fire in 1945. During its time, Highland had a spacious hotel. Saratoga Springs Resort was opened by J. J. Liebert in 1873 with several cabins, within two decades had room for 350 guests. Witter Springs Resort opened in 1873 with a hotel and gue
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with symbol Au and atomic number 79, making it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. In its purest form, it is a bright reddish yellow, soft and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a group 11 element, it is solid under standard conditions. Gold occurs in free elemental form, as nuggets or grains, in rocks, in veins, in alluvial deposits, it occurs in a solid solution series with the native element silver and naturally alloyed with copper and palladium. Less it occurs in minerals as gold compounds with tellurium. Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia, a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, which forms a soluble tetrachloroaurate anion. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which dissolves silver and base metals, a property that has long been used to refine gold and to confirm the presence of gold in metallic objects, giving rise to the term acid test. Gold dissolves in alkaline solutions of cyanide, which are used in mining and electroplating.
Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys. A rare element, gold is a precious metal, used for coinage and other arts throughout recorded history. In the past, a gold standard was implemented as a monetary policy, but gold coins ceased to be minted as a circulating currency in the 1930s, the world gold standard was abandoned for a fiat currency system after 1971. A total of 186,700 tonnes of gold exists above ground, as of 2015; the world consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments, 10% in industry. Gold's high malleability, resistance to corrosion and most other chemical reactions, conductivity of electricity have led to its continued use in corrosion resistant electrical connectors in all types of computerized devices. Gold is used in infrared shielding, colored-glass production, gold leafing, tooth restoration. Certain gold salts are still used as anti-inflammatories in medicine; as of 2017, the world's largest gold producer by far was China with 440 tonnes per year.
Gold is the most malleable of all metals. It can be drawn into a monoatomic wire, stretched about twice before it breaks; such nanowires distort via formation and migration of dislocations and crystal twins without noticeable hardening. A single gram of gold can be beaten into a sheet of 1 square meter, an avoirdupois ounce into 300 square feet. Gold leaf can be beaten thin enough to become semi-transparent; the transmitted light appears greenish blue, because gold reflects yellow and red. Such semi-transparent sheets strongly reflect infrared light, making them useful as infrared shields in visors of heat-resistant suits, in sun-visors for spacesuits. Gold is a good conductor of electricity. Gold has a density of 19.3 g/cm3 identical to that of tungsten at 19.25 g/cm3. By comparison, the density of lead is 11.34 g/cm3, that of the densest element, osmium, is 22.588±0.015 g/cm3. Whereas most metals are gray or silvery white, gold is reddish-yellow; this color is determined by the frequency of plasma oscillations among the metal's valence electrons, in the ultraviolet range for most metals but in the visible range for gold due to relativistic effects affecting the orbitals around gold atoms.
Similar effects impart a golden hue to metallic caesium. Common colored gold alloys include the distinctive eighteen-karat rose gold created by the addition of copper. Alloys containing palladium or nickel are important in commercial jewelry as these produce white gold alloys. Fourteen-karat gold-copper alloy is nearly identical in color to certain bronze alloys, both may be used to produce police and other badges. White gold alloys can be made with nickel. Fourteen- and eighteen-karat gold alloys with silver alone appear greenish-yellow and are referred to as green gold. Blue gold can be made by alloying with iron, purple gold can be made by alloying with aluminium. Less addition of manganese, aluminium and other elements can produce more unusual colors of gold for various applications. Colloidal gold, used by electron-microscopists, is red. Gold has only one stable isotope, 197Au, its only occurring isotope, so gold is both a mononuclidic and monoisotopic element. Thirty-six radioisotopes have been synthesized, ranging in atomic mass from 169 to 205.
The most stable of these is 195Au with a half-life of 186.1 days. The least stable is 171Au. Most of gold's radioisotopes with atomic masses below 197 decay by some combination of proton emission, α decay, β+ decay; the exceptions are 195Au, which decays by electron capture, 196Au, which decays most by electron capture with a minor β− decay path. All of gold's radioisotopes with atomic masses above 197 decay by β− decay. At least 32 nuclear isomers have been characterized, ranging in atomic mass from 170 to 200. Within that range, only 178Au, 180Au, 181Au, 182Au, 188Au do not have isomers. Gold's most stable isomer is 198m2Au with a half-life of 2.27 days. Gold's least stable isomer is 177m2Au with a half-life of only 7 ns. 184m1Au has three decay paths: β+ decay, isomeric
Tubbs Fire
The Tubbs Fire was a destructive wildfire occurring in Northern California during the month of October in 2017. It was, at the time, the most destructive wildfire in California history, burning parts of Napa and Lake counties, inflicting its greatest losses on the Sonoma County city of Santa Rosa, it is viewed as the second-most destructive California wildfire, after the Camp Fire of 2018. The Tubbs Fire was one of more than a dozen large fires which broke out in early October, 2017 and were burning in eight Northern California counties, in what was called the "Northern California firestorm." By the time of its containment on October 31, the fire was estimated to have burned 36,810 acres. The fire started near Tubbs Lane in Napa County, it incinerated more than 5,643 structures. Santa Rosa's damage from the Tubbs Fire was estimated at $1.2 billion, with five percent of the city's housing stock destroyed. The Tubbs Fire incurred an additional $100 million in fire suppression costs. After an investigation lasting over a year, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection determined that the Tubbs Fire was "caused by a private electrical system adjacent to a residential structure" and that there had been no violations of the state's Public Resources Code.
The Tubbs Fire started near Tubbs Lane in Calistoga, around 9:43 p.m. on Sunday, October 8. As it and other North Bay fires began to spread, Sonoma County emergency dispatchers sent fire crews to at least 10 reports of downed power lines and exploding transformers. In northern Santa Rosa, the peak wind gusts at 9:29 p.m. hit 30 mph. Pushed by strong winds from the northeast, the front of the fire moved more than twelve miles in its first three hours; the Mark West Springs area, north of Santa Rosa in unincorporated Sonoma County, was directly in the path of the fire. Notably, over a thousand animals at the renowned Safari West Wildlife Preserve remained unharmed, saved by owner Peter Lang, who, at age of 76, single-handedly fought back the flames for more than 10 hours, using only garden hoses. Sonoma County officials could have sent out an emergency alert to every cellphone in the region on Sunday night as the fire grew, but chose not to, saying such a widespread alarm would have hampered emergency efforts.
Instead, Everbridge Nixle SMS and email alerts were broadcast — the first of these text messages going out at 10:51 p.m. using a system called SoCo Alerts to notify people via cellphone. Officials used a reverse 911 system that called landlines in certain areas. At 11:58 p.m. firefighters called for an evacuation order encompassing the area between the cities of Calistoga and Santa Rosa. By 1 a.m. on Monday, the fire, spreading to the south and west, had reached the Santa Rosa city limits. The advancing flames entered the city from the north, moving into the Fountaingrove area moving down ravines between Mark West Springs Road and Fountaingrove Parkway. At about 1:30 a.m. Sonoma County officials began to evacuate neighborhoods in and around Santa Rosa. In all, tens of thousands of people were evacuated with little notice. By about 2 a.m. the fire, carried by near hurricane-level winds, had spread further to the west, crossing Highway 101. By 4:30 a.m. the winds had reached their peak speed of more than 60 miles per hour.
The fire devastated the Coffey Park neighborhood, where an estimated 1,300 structures detached homes, were leveled. Meanwhile, east of the highway, the Fountaingrove Inn, the historic Fountaingrove Round Barn nearby, a large Hilton hotel were destroyed. Other damage along several streets bordering Highway 101 included a Kmart store and numerous restaurants that burned to the ground. By noon on Monday, two medical centers in Santa Rosa, Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health, had been evacuated; some Kaiser employees used their personal vehicles to evacuate some of the 130 patients at that hospital. The destruction on Monday included the complete loss of a senior living complex, Oakmont of Villa Capri; the Cardinal Newman High School campus was badly damaged, as was one end of the Luther Burbank Center for the Performing Arts. Redwood Adventist Academy was destroyed in the fire. Another large concentration of incinerated homes was in the Larkfield-Wikiup area, about a mile north of the city, where about 500 buildings were destroyed.
Of the 2,900 homes destroyed in Santa Rosa, over 200 of them belonged to doctors associated with the area's hospitals, including Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Hospital's Santa Rosa Center, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Additionally, the fire destroyed Santa Rosa Community Health's Vista Campus, the largest in its system, which served 24,000 people annually. Pacific Gas and Electric Company cut off natural gas to 31,000 customers in the Santa Rosa and Windsor areas as a precaution. Wind direction turned clockwise from northeasterly to southerly. At a town hall meeting on the evening of October 10 in Santa Rosa, Cal Fire representatives reported that there could be as many as 3,000 structures lost to the Tubbs and Atlas fires. On Wednesday, October 11, the entire town of Calistoga was evacuated; the escape for some was along roads walled by flames. The Lake County Sheriff’
Bedtime Stories (film)
Bedtime Stories is a 2008 American fantasy comedy film directed by Adam Shankman and written by Matt Lopez and Tim Herlihy. It stars Adam Sandler in his first appearance in a family-oriented film alongside Keri Russell, Jonathan Morgan Heit, Laura Ann Kesling, Guy Pearce, Aisha Tyler, Russell Brand, Richard Griffiths, Teresa Palmer, Lucy Lawless and Courteney Cox. Sandler's production company Happy Madison and Andrew Gunn's company Gunn Films co-produced the film with Walt Disney Pictures; the film was theatrically released on December 2008 by Walt Disney Pictures. Despite receiving negative reviews from critics, it was a box office success after earning $212.9 million against an $80 million budget. Skeeter Bronson is a hotel maintenance man, promised as a child by his father Marty to be the manager of the family hotel, but it is bought by hotel chain Nottingham Hotels. 25 years the new manager Barry Nottingham plans to build a new hotel and appoints another man, the snotty Kendall Duncan to become the manager because he is dating his daughter, Violet.
Skeeter's sister Wendy asks him to watch her kids and Bobbi, because the school at which she is the principal is being closed and she is looking for a job in Arizona. The first night, Skeeter tells a bedtime story taking place in medieval times, with some additions from her kids; the next day, the entire story miraculously comes true. Nottingham gives Skeeter a shot at the manager position when he says his new hotel theme was taken by Hard Rock Hotel and on his way home, it rains gumballs on top of him, all from the story; the next night, at the hotel, he tells another story set in the Old West, when he waits for it to come true, a man dressed in Indian attire steals his wallet. He gets kicked by a dwarf, he spots a Ferrari car, thought he was being offered it for free but Violet drives away with it. The night after that, out on a campfire near the hotel, he tells them about a Greek chariot-riding stuntman, he ends up falling for his sister's friend and colleague Jill. On the last night with the kids, he tells them about a space fight in which he triumphs over Kendall.
After he wins the gig of manager, he makes the discovery from Kendall that the new Nottingham Hotel will be at the location of the closing school. After being fired by Nottingham, which turned out to be the connection to the ending of the space story, he gets the hotel moved to Santa Monica, with Jill is able to avert the demolition, saving the school and his nephew and niece, while getting his wallet and money back from the same man that stole it from him earlier. Sometime he marries Jill and establishes a motel named after his late father. Kendall and his accomplice Aspen are demoted to the motel's waiting staff. Violet marries Skeeter's best friend Mickey, giving him control of the Nottingham Empire, becoming the ninth richest man alive. In the meantime, Nottingham quits hotel management to become a school nurse and newlywed Skeeter and Jill have a baby, while Bugsy the guinea pig marries too, has a bunch of babies. Director Adam Shankman describes Adam Sandler's character as "a sort of'Cinderfella' character" and adds that "'He's like Han Solo...'"
It was filmed on various locations in California, including in Thousand Oaks where Mr. Nottingham's palace is set; the score to Bedtime Stories was composed by Rupert Gregson-Williams, who recorded his score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox. The song "Don't Stop Believin'" is played during the film and during the end credits; the film was released in the United States on December 25, 2008, in Poland on January 23, 2009 and in Sweden on February 20, 2009. The film received negative reviews; as of September 28, 2011, Rotten Tomatoes reported that 25% of critics gave positive reviews based on 108 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The consensus states, "Though it may earn some chuckles from pre-teens, this kid-friendly Adam Sandler comedy is uneven, poorly paced, lacks the requisite whimsy to work." Metacritic gave the film a 33/100 approval rating based on 26 reviews. Slashfilm predicted that Bedtime Stories would open #1 during the December 25–28, 2008 Christmas weekend due to its family appeal and the box office draw of Adam Sandler, but it came at #3 grossing $38 million behind Marley & Me and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
However, during the standard 3-day weekend, it jumped ahead of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ranking #2 behind Marley & Me with $27.5 million. As of February 2009, the film had grossed $110,101,975 in the United States and Canada and $102,772,467 in other countries, totaling $212,874,442 worldwide; the film was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on April 7, 2009. The DVD was released as a two-disc edition including behind-the-scenes featurette. Commercials advertising the discs feature background music recycled from the film Back to the Future Part III; as of November 1, 2009 the DVD has sold 2,835,662 copies generating $49,409,944 in sales revenue. Australian Film Institute 2009BMI Film & TV Awards 2009Kids' Choice Awards, Australia 2009Kids' Choice Awards, USA 2009Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA 2009Young Ar
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