2010 - December 31, 2010

2010 has been a good year. A family member got sick, but he is better now. In November, the Giants won the World Series. Health care reform passed in March. In November, Jerry Brown won the gubernatorial election, saving us from another novelty governor. In general, the November elections were disappointing. The Citizens United decision has wounded our country deeply. In December, the Senate confirmed the Start 2 treaty and Congress repealed Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

This is the 300th post in this blog for the year, the 840th overall. I had an interesting year. I have enjoyed the regular monthly series. In the train stations series, I posted pictures of all the surviving stations of the Ocean Shore Railroad. In the aviators series, I found some interesting people and newspaper articles. I want to write more about Israel Ludlow and Walter Wellman. I have gotten some nice comments on the William Coulter series. In writing about the remarkable Van der Weyde (Vander Weyde, Vanderweyde) family, I found articles about Doctor Peter Henri, his wife Jeanette, their son Henry, and their grandson William M.

I wrote about the 125th anniversary of the publication of Huckleberry Finn, the 100th anniversary of Mark Twain's death, but somehow I didn't write about 175th anniversary of his birth.

In February, I contributed three articles and some cash to the For the Love of Film film preservation blogathon. We raised about $13,000, which will be used to preserve three silent films from a large cache discovered in New Zealand.

In March, I spoke to the Daughters of the American Revolution about the transcontinental railroad. Angels Flight reopened in Los Angeles. I started short monthly series on the Wax Museum and the Jejune Institute.

In June I started a series about doors.

In July, we visited Seattle (first time ever) and Disneyland. The BP Oil Spill started. Somehow, I never mentioned it here. I started a new series of magazine covers with slapstick performers.

In August, the East Bay Terminal closed. Demolition started later. It has been the source of many posts.

September was the bicentennial of El Grito de Dolores.

In October, I spoke to fifth and sixth graders at Good Shepherd school about Paul Revere. I was interviewed by Ken Bastida of KPIX Channel 5 about ferryboats. I got called a historian on television. I started a new series about Benny Bufano.

In November, Kevin Brownlow won an Oscar for his work in film preservation. I finished my series on Grauman's Chinese. The Giants won the World Series (It is worth repeating).

In December, there was the 150th anniversary of South Carolina's shameful secession from the union. Some current defenders spelled it "succession." I also had the pleasure of hosting my first guest post, a nice essay about Hitchcock's The Birds.

I wrote reviews of three DVD sets, American Slapstick II, Harry Langdon: Lost and Found and Lost Keaton. We are lucky to be living now. I have wanted to see many of the movies for many years. I've been watching a set about Gaumont, but I won't finish it till 2011.

Three last updates for 2010: The Stanford women broke UConn's record 90-game win streak last night. We watched the second half. Today San Francisco was name host of the next America's Cup races. Finally, the Giants won the World Series.

I hope we all have a happy and prosperous 2011. I hope to do some interesting things with this blog.

The image of silent and sound movie actress Mary Brian, who played Wendy in the 1924 version of Peter Pan, comes from the excellent site AceCovers: http://www.magazine-covers.net/