Lost Bay Area Stories

An Exploration into Obscure Bay Area History

Cupertino's Avenue of Royal Palms

The San Jose Mercury had a nice travelogue of a day trip from San Francisco all the way to Stevens Creek Canyon and the sights along the...

The Lost Lake in Downtown San Jose

Around 1912 - 1916, San Jose constructed an artificial lake where the Guadalupe River and Los Gatos creek converge downtown.

Lost Railroad on the West Side (Part 1)

I'm fascinated by abandoned or defunct railroads and their histories, especially if they were in my neighborhood. Here's the story of...

When Hollywood came to Saratoga

Frank Capra's movie "It's a wonderful life" is one of my all time favorites and it's incredible to me that the little village of...

San Josean's bike pump invention

In 1908, H.C Brooks, a native of San Jose, invented a new way of integrating a bike pump into the frame. Pretty clever idea although the...

When Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb came to San Jose

About 100 years ago, legendary baseball players such as Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb came to San Jose to play at Soldality Park. Here are some...

Noah's Ark by the Bay

Alphonse Trinqual was an eccentric hermit that lived in Mayfield, CA and built an ark in order to survive a second biblical flood.