Following his departure from the presidency in 1974, Richard Nixon struggled to rebuild his reputation. Nixon initially retired to San Clemente, Calif., and focused on writing his memoirs. After the publication and positive reception of his memoirs, Nixon and his wife Pat moved to New York City before relocating to Saddle River, N.J. He maintained an active public speaking schedule and wrote nine more books besides his memoirs. Following his wife Pat’s death from emphysema and lung cancer in 1993, Nixon suffered a stroke in April 1994 at his New Jersey home. After a brief hospitalization that saw him enter a coma, he died on April 22, 1994, in New…
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Richard Nixon Birthplace in Yorba Linda, Calif.
On family ranchland in Yorba Linda, Calif., Francis and Hannah Nixon welcomed their second son, Richard Milhous Nixon, on Jan. 9, 1913. Richard was born in the bedroom of the Craftsman-style bungalow that his father assembled from a kit the previous year. The lived in the house until 1922 when they moved to nearby Whittier, and Francis sold off portions of the land to the local school district. In 1968, the Yorba Linda School District deeded the house and surrounding property to the non-profit library organization Richard established after winning the presidency. The house was preserved and incorporated into the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace, which opened in 1990. Bedroom…
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Ronald Reagan Burial Place in Simi Valley, Calif.
After battling Alzheimer’s disease for a decade, Ronald Reagan died from pneumonia complicated by Alzheimer’s at his Bel Air home on June 5, 2004. Following his death, Reagan laid in repose at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum from June 7 to 9. Reagan’s body was transported to Washington, D.C., where a state funeral was conducted at Washington National Cathedral. He was later buried at his presidential library.
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Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Calif.
On land previously owned by his family, the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace was dedicated on July 19, 1990. Nixon’s resignation following the Watergate scandal led to complications about ownership of the president’s papers. Therefore funding for the construction and operation of the Nixon Library came solely from private donations. The facility was initially operated by the Richard Nixon Foundation, but on July 11, 2007, it became the twelfth federally-operated presidential library. The museum was overhauled in 2016; my photos reflect the facility’s appearance in 2013. A decorated U.S. Navy officer, Nixon was recruited by the Committee of 100 to run for a U.S. House seat in California in 1946.…
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Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was originally planned to be built at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., but plans were scrapped in 1987. A year later construction began on the free-standing site in Simi Valley, which was not far from the home in Bel Air that Ronald and Nancy Reagan had purchased after his departure from the presidency. On Nov. 4, 1991, the facility was dedicated with five U.S. presidents (Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush) attending the ceremony. At the time of its completion the building was the largest presidential library in the country at 153,000 square-feet. It was surpassed in size when the William J. Clinton Presidential Library…
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My night with the Los Angeles Angels – April 11, 2013
No matter how much planning goes into attending a baseball game, things often go awry. That is a great way to describe my first opportunity to watch the Los Angeles Angels at home. I was initially excited about attending a conference in Los Angeles because I hoped to attend a Dodgers game, but that flew out the window because they were out of town. So I had to “settle” to seeing an Angels game, which isn’t really settling with my goal of see a baseball game at all thirty Major League Baseball stadiums. I ultimately made peace with attending an Angels game, and looked forward to seeing a new ballpark. …
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My night with the Lake Elsinore Storm – April 13, 2013
When you have a friend whose last name is Storm and you have the chance to watch a team called Lake Elsinore Storm, it’s a requirement to attend a game with him. Lake Elsinore is about 90 minutes south of downtown Los Angeles, where we were staying for our conference. So on Saturday afternoon we headed out to help my friend accomplish the goal of seeing the Storm play. After exploring a bit of the town, we arrived at the ballpark a bit before gates opened. So after parking the car and heading toward the main gate, we had to wait in line as a crowd was already waiting in…
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My night with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes – April 9, 2013
It’s spring time, which means two things in my life: the start of baseball season and the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting. This year I got to combine the two for my trip to Los Angeles, Calif. After booking my flight to arrive the day before the conference so I could visit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, I decided to attend a Rancho Cucamonga Quakes game. Three recreational softball fields flank LoanMart Field, which had been The Epicenter until just a few days before the Quakes’ season opener. With the stadium changing names just before the start of the season there was not a lot of signage with the…
