Executive Summary Photos - Front/Back Row 3

This photo is a detail from the stained glass in Courtroom One of the James R. Browning U.S. Court of Appeals Building in San Francisco. Completed in 1905 as both a courthouse and a post office, the building was one of only two buildings south of Market Street to survive the 1906 earthquake and fire (the other was the 1874 U.S. Mint building). Its design was influenced by Italian-Renaissance architecture combined with Beaux Arts grandeur. The building was listed on the National Register in 1971.

(Photo from the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.)

For more information, visit U.S. Court of Appeals Building.

Operating from 1850 to 1956, the Empire Mine was California’s largest and most productive mine. Roughly 5.8 million ounces of gold was extracted from the Empire Mine’s 367 miles of underground tunnels, the most of any California mine. Empire Mine was registered as a California Historic Landmark in 1938 and placed on the National Register in 1977.

For more information, see Empire Mine State Historic Park.

Built in 1909 as the first concrete pier on the West Coast and originally used as a municipal pier to house a sewage pipe, The Santa Monica Pier became an amusement park attraction in 1915 after amusement entrepreneur Charles Looff built a new pier along the old one, thus creating The Looff Pleasure Pier. Utilized for various a ventures and activities throughout the years, The Santa Monica Pier suffered major damage in 1983 due to winter storms and a restoration effort ensued soon after. Since its completed restoration in 1990, the Santa Monica Pier has witnessed new life and is once again a premier amusement destination.

(Photo from the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.)

For more information, see Santa Monica Pier.

Chumash Painted Cave is a small sandstone cave adorned with rock art attributed to the Chumash people. The cave contains numerous drawings apparently depicting Chumash cosmology and other subjects over a long period ranging from about 200 years ago to possibly 1,000 years or more. The cave is now a state historic park and was listed on the National Register in 1972.

For more information, see Painted Cave.