California Preservation Foundation

08/21/2026

The secret is out: A new hiking destination along the Sonoma Coast allows visitors to walk down to a beautiful beach that was all but off-limits to the public for more than a century.

Perched on the grassy hills of Bodega Bay overlooking the ocean, the Estero Americano Coast Preserve opened to daily visitors earlier this year. A wave of media attention celebrating the site’s fresh hiking trails and access to a wide sun-soaked beach ensued, and the resulting spike in sightseers caught nearby neighbors off-guard.

The preserve’s entrance is located along a narrow street at the edge of a quiet subdivision. There is no parking area on the preserve land — and at certain times during the first weeks after the preserve fully opened, cars jammed up side streets around the site’s sole trailhead.

Uproar from local homeowners, coupled with concerns from the local fire district about emergency access, prompted a quick vote from the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to red-zone curbs along the residential sides of the main roads to the preserve. Dozens of no-parking posts were installed.

County leaders, residents and the conservancy agree that more preparations needs to be made to temper the impacts of peak visitor days.

Read more in the San Francisco Chronicle: https://www.sfchronicle.com/outdoors/article/estero-americano-coast-bodega-bay-21336434.php

Photos by Gregory Thomas / S.F. Chronicle

08/20/2026

For those joining us for Doors Open California (DOCA), CPF has partnered with Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide to offer discounts up to 30% off best available rates at participating hotels. There are a number of historic hotels in cities with this year's DOCA sites.

Historic Hotels of America is the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation® for recognizing and celebrating the finest Historic Hotels.

They promote heritage and cultural travel by featuring a prestigious collection of historic treasures, including historic hotels, castles, chateaus, palaces, academies, haciendas, villas, monasteries, and other historical lodging properties spanning 12 centuries.

Book through www.HistoricHotels.org with coupon code NHP for 30% off participating hotels.

Learn more at: https://www.historichotels.org/us/

08/19/2026

Architect Wallace Neff's iconic Airform "bubble house" has returned to the market in Los Angeles County for the first time since undergoing an elegant restoration that breathed new life into the pioneering midcentury modern design.

Known as the Wallace Neff Shell House, the two-bedroom, one-bathroom Pasadena dwelling is the last surviving example of the architect's Airform homes, which were conceived in the 1940s in a bid to combat the housing crisis.

To build a structure in as cost-effective a manner as possible, Neff—who was best known for designing homes for a host of A-listers, including Judy Garland and Groucho Marx—came up with a "radical" new design technique that effectively drew on the basics of papier-mâché to create a dome-shaped dwelling.

Read more and see photos at realtor.com: https://bit.ly/NeffBubble

Photo by Cameron Carothers / realtor.com

08/18/2026

A group of Pacifica surfers is proposing the construction of an artificial reef to mitigate the erosion left by powerful waves pounding the shore.

The Bay Area city’s fragile coast is battered by relentless waves for much of the year, one of the hardest-hit stretches being the iconic Beach Boulevard, just north of the city’s pier. That city landmark cracked this month after decades of natural impacts — and is now closed indefinitely.

An artificial reef on the ocean floor that could slow the waves, which contribute to the estimated 2 feet of annual coastal erosion, collect sand as any natural reef would, create habitat for fish and restore the nonexistent beach.

Pacifica leaders and San Mateo County officials are on board with the idea and have applied for state funding to flesh out the concept with possible help from researchers at UC Santa Cruz and Stanford University. They hope that a successful pilot could serve as a model for other vulnerable coastal communities.

Read more at KQED: https://www.kqed.org/science/2001357/as-waves-pound-pacifica-surfers-pitch-a-reef-to-defend-the-shore

Photo by Beth LaBerge / KQED

08/17/2026

For nearly 60 years, Section 106 has helped protect California’s—and our nation’s—historic places. That protection is now at risk.

Time and time again, Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act has stood between a federal decision and an irreversible loss. Every bridge, every housing project, every Main Street rebuilt with federal dollars has had to pass through one basic test: stop, look, and consider what’s about to be affected before it’s gone for good.

That test is now being dismantled.

If it disappears, a federal agency could fund a road project that alters a historic downtown without ever having to ask first. A pipeline or transmission line could pass through a site a Tribal Nation considers sacred, with no obligation to even acknowledge it’s there. A neighborhood that took generations to build its character could be changed by a federally funded decision, with no hearing, no consultation, and no chance to weigh in until it’s already done.

This is not a bureaucratic footnote. It’s the difference between a nation that considers what it builds on, and one that moves forward without looking back.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is leading the national effort to defend Section 106 and has set an ambitious goal of sending 250,000 letters to elected officials in support of preserving this essential safeguard.

See four ways you can help, including sending a letter to Congress.

https://californiapreservation.org/take-action-106/

08/15/2026

Join CPF for a deep-dive seminar focusing on the historic signage documentation, advocacy, and conservation.

Historic signs and neon installations are more than advertising: they are works of craftsmanship, character-defining features, and highly visible landmarks that shape the identity of California’s commercial districts, highways, and neighborhoods.

Yet these resources are frequently altered, converted to LED, removed during business transitions, or lost before their significance is documented.

This three-hour seminar will examine how historic signs can be identified, evaluated, protected, and restored before they become endangered.

Historians, preservation planners, advocates, and restoration specialists will explore the cultural history of neon and commercial signage; methods for surveying and documenting historic signs; strategies for building public and owner support; and approaches to incorporating signs into landmark designations, historic districts, and local preservation programs.

Thursday, August 27th | 11 AM - 2 PM Pacific
$60 Non-Members | $0 - $54 Members & Partners

See speaker lineup and register at: https://californiapreservation.org/events/saving-signs/

Historic neon and commercial signs are more than advertising—they are the art and artifacts of California’s communities and roadsides. Join us for a three-hour seminar exploring how to identify, document, evaluate, protect, and restore these increasingly threatened resources. Learn the tools to ...

08/13/2026

Oakland Heritage Alliance Historic Sites in Joaquin Miller Park Tour

Poet/author Joaquin Miller spent his last decades on his 75-acre estate, The Hights, planting about 75,000 trees, farming, entertaining, and writing.

Learn about his life with his wife Abigail and daughter Juanita. Visit the Abbey, the Follies, and monuments that still survive, more than 100 years later.

The WPA Cascades and Woodminster Theatre were Juanita’s idea, a tribute to the poets and writers of California. Hear about current restoration projects and issues at the park. A hilly walk. —Dale Risden

Saturday, August 22, 2026 | 1:30 PM 3:00 PM
3081 Joaquin Miller Rd, Oakland, CA 94602

Buy tickets at: https://www.oaklandheritage.org/events/joaquin-miller-park-2026

08/11/2026

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has given its preliminary approval for landmarking a 127-year-old Queen Anne Victorian once the residence of the late gay U.S. Ambassador James C. Hormel. It is set to become the seventh site in the city to be recognized this year for its connection to LGBTQ history, with several other such properties moving through the process.

At their July 28 meeting, the supervisors unanimously voted 10-0 with District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton absent to adopt the local landmark for 181 Buena Vista Avenue East on the corner of Duboce Avenue. Because it is an ordinance, which requires two votes by the supervisors, and the board will be on its summer recess during August, the final vote on landmarking the Hormel mansion should take place when the supervisors meet September 1.

It will then be up to Mayor Daniel Lurie to finalize landmarking the property built in 1899 by architect Nathanial Blaisdell across the street from Buena Vista Park. It initially had been the home of George de Urioste, who served as consul of the Argentine Republic from November 1901 through at least 1913, and the stately mansion survived the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fire.

The de Urioste family sold the home in 1986 to Hormel, who lived there for 26 years, according to the Citywide Historic Context Statement for LGBTQ History in San Francisco.

Read more at the Bay Area Reporter: https://www.ebar.com/story/168781

Photo: Matthew S. Bajko

08/11/2026

Join us August 26th for our next My Path to Preservation series, featuring the Executive Director of Napa County Landmarks, Christine Madrid French.

Christine is an historian and advocate for the study and preservation of American architecture.

She has worked as an historian for the National Park Service in Washington, D.C., the California Preservation Foundation, San Francisco Heritage, and directed the Modern + Recent Past Program at the National Trust for Historic Preservation in San Francisco.

Wednesday, August 26th | 12 PM - 1 PM | FREE

Register at: https://californiapreservation.org/events/mpp-chris-french/

08/08/2026

Now through September 30th — Sacramento History Museum's Old Sacramento Underground Tour

Learn how Sacramento lifted itself up out of the flood waters during the 1860s and 1870s!

Tour guides explain how the streets and buildings were “Jacked Up!” to avoid further flooding as visitors explore two spaces that were created by the city’s successful raising process.

This historical tour includes hollow sidewalks, sloped alleyways, and the Underground spaces themselves. A colorful cast of guides ensures no two tours are ever the same.

Buy tickets at: https://bit.ly/UndergroundOldSac