History & Profiles

State Park interpreter Marcos Vizcaino in the Castro/Breen Adobe. Photo by Robert Eliason.

Features

San Juan Bautista State Park prepares to mark National Museum Month

As COVID restrictions lift, tourists are returning to the city.

Old vines at the Vaché/Palmtag vineyard site. Photo by Robert Eliason

Features

Eat, Drink, Savor: The spectacular 170 year old lineage of Cienega Valley Wines

How Theophile Vaché and William Palmtag established fine winemaking in San Benito County.

About 15 volunteers helped out for two days to paint the compass rose at the Hollister Municipal Airport. Photo by John Chadwell.

Features

Compass rose at the Hollister airport gets a needed paint job

It was last painted 11 years ago.

Ascencion Solorsano on her memorial at Mission San Juan Bautista. Photo by Robert Eliason.

History & Profiles

BL Longform: The Saint of Gilroy who helped save her culture and language

Remembering Ascencion Solorsano on the anniversary of her death. Born in San Juan Bautista, she was one of the last Native speakers of the Mutsun language.

Early Hollister Fire Department Hose Company. Photo courtesy of HFD.

History & Profiles

Hollister Fire Department celebrates 145th anniversary

Local powerhouse tends to fires throughout San Benito County and the state.

Tie Sing at his cook stove. Photo courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley and provided by Sharlene Van Rooy.

History & Profiles

USGS field crews historically appreciated good cooking

Backcountry culinary skills of Tie Sing literally put his name on the map in 1899.

SBHS world history instructor Frank Perez teaching in the classroom pre-pandemic. Photo courtesy of Frank Perez.

Schools & Education

SBHS teacher contributes to genocide guidebook

Frank Perez’s approach helps other instructors explore a difficult subject.

Ann-Marie Sayers. Photo by Kirti Bassendine.

San Benito Lifestyle

BL Longform: Mutsun people dream of returning to their ancestral land

Few indigenous families still live in San Benito County.

Early photo of McKinnon Lumber Company. Photo courtesy of John Barrett.

Features

McKinnon Lumberyard dates back to early Hollister

San Benito County’s oldest retail business going strong during pandemic.

The National Hotel, site of the first case. Photo courtesy of the San Juan Historical Society

History & Profiles

BL Longform: San Juan Bautista and the great smallpox epidemic

The struggle to survive a deadly disease in 1868.

The grave of B. B. Barker, San Juan Bautista. Photo by Robert Eliason.

History & Profiles

BL Longform: Burwell Barker, William McGarvey and the missing buried gold

The conclusion of a tragic tale of Old San Juan Bautista.

B. B. Barker, date unknown. Tintype mirrored to show true orientation. Photo courtesy of Lee Chandler.

History & Profiles

BL Longform: 1866 gunfight at Kemp’s Saloon ends in death of justice of the peace

A once-forgotten tale of Old San Juan Bautista emerges from the shadows.

Artist Ruth Asawa creating a looped wire structure (circa 1957). Photo courtesy of Akira Boch.

Art & Culture

Former San Juan resident nominated for L.A. Area Emmy

Akira Boch documents WWII-era mass incarceration of Japanese Americans.

Photo taken by Emilia Gonzalez from Panoche Elementary School.

Art & Culture

Rural students learn photography amid COVID-19 shutdown

Kirti Bassendine works with Jefferson and Panoche elementary schools on composition and framing.

Junipero Serra statue at Mission San Juan Bautista. Photo by Robert Eliason

News

Mission San Juan Bautista removes Junipero Serra statue

Life-size bronze put into storage to avoid possible vandalism.

SEE MORE HISTORY & PROFILES