 |
Eureka!: California HistoryJoin Sunshine Sierra on a fascinating road trip through California history. Author: Sunshine Sierra
A fascinating road trip through California history with your host, Sunshine Sierra. Language: en-us Genres: History, Society & Culture Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
Listen Now...
California State Bear Flag- Ep 1
Saturday, 16 July, 2016
Welcome to the very first episode of Eureka! (I'm so excited! Brace yourselves for WAY too many exclamation points!) I wanted to start us off with a topic that was perfectly, inarguably, quintessentially "California"... and there's nothing more "California" than our iconic state bear flag! When I started researching this topic, I honestly figured it would be a 5-minute introductory episode to get me warmed up in the podcasting game. Who knew that the history of the bear flag involved a kidnapping-turned-wine-tasting, a bet with William Randolph Hearst, and a relative of President Lincoln? As promised, I have a few visuals to go along with the episode! Behold, friends... {cue dream sequence}... First off, the Todd flag, designed by William L. Todd, cousin of future first lady Mary Todd Lincoln- widely considered to be the very first version of our California state bear flag! Tell me I'm not crazy. Does W. Todd's "grizzly bear" not bear striking resemblance (sorry, pun intended) to a Rodent of Unusual Size from The Princess Bride movie? My husband thinks it looks like a capybara. I can't argue with that. Since we're having fun being catty about flags (something I never thought I'd write), how about The Pico Flag? Apologies for the picture quality, but OMG. I friggin' love that Pico flag. I also really love Monarch the grizzly bear, although I wish he could've lived out the rest of his majestic bear life in the wild. Oh, Monarch, you magnificent beast. RIP, Big Fella. And a bonus gift! Allen Kelley's book "Bears I Have Met," where he describes his relationship with Monarch. (The title alone, you guys.) THIS. I want our Christmas card this year to have an "Allen Kelly 'Bearhunter'" motif. And finally, now that you're all hopped up on California state pride, I've got a whole bunch of my most favorite bear flag themed goodies pinned on our Pinterest page (@eurekacahistory). Hoodies and coasters and car decals, oh my! Here are a few to whet your proverbial appetite. (I don't get any kickbacks from these links... I just love the items!) Like this wall art made out of an old wine barrel, from eWoodArtCarvings on etsy. Or this perfectly adorable grocery tote, from LesFugitives on etsy. The coolest hand-painted welcome mat, from NickelDesignsShop on etsy. And Baby Leggings! For a baby shower gift that doesn't suck, from BabalusByLucy on etsy. That's it, gang. Join me next time for another chapter of California history (and ooooh, it's a GOOD one! I'm bursting at the seams to tell!). Keep learning, and have a sunshiney day! Transcript of Episode 1: California State Bear Flag Hello, hello, gang, and thank you so much for joining me on this inaugural Episode #1: California State Bear Flag. Obviously, we’re starting off the Eureka podcast with a little vexillology… aka the study of flags. More than any other state flag, California’s bear flag is truly a symbol of the state itself. Full disclosure here: I lived in New York for several years, and there’s absolutely no way that I could point the New York state flag out of a line-up. California’s state flag is ubiquitous. Everybody knows it. It’s come to represent the California lifestyle as a sort of pop culture icon. In shops all over the country, I’ve seen t-shirts, car decals, welcome mats, even cufflinks featuring the artwork of our state flag. Californians love their flag! I figured something this emblematic merited its own episode in our California history podcast. So- as is always the case with history- let’s start at the beginning. The very beginning. As in 1542, when the flag of the Spanish Empire was planted in California soil (San Diego to be exact) by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who’d been hoping to discover the mythical Strait of Anian- a water route across North America. Instead, he found California, and our future state had its very first flag.
