Author Archives: Roger D. McGrath

A Man Called Tubesteak

Farewell to the legendary Kahuna who christened Gidget

Haitian-Building

From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Port-au-Prince

These Colors Run

At the 1908 London Olympics, the Irish American Athletic Club

Motorcycle Diaries

Learning to ride—and to fall—in 1950s California.

You Go West, Girl!

Pioneers in petticoats would disdain today’s oppression studies.

California Dreamin’

Coast of Dreams: California on the Edge, 1990-2003, Kevin Starr, Alfred A. Knopf, 765 pages

End of the Rainbow

South Central Los Angeles ushers in a new era of racial tension—this time between blacks and Hispanics.

America’s Glorious Cause

1776, David McCullough, Simon & Schuster, 386 pages

In Search of Rawhide Heroes

Hollywood can’t stomach the kind of men who won the West.

Intern(ment) Scandal

A PC “Day of Remembrance” forgets key facts.

California’s Burning Again

The Golden State has known fires before. The latest won’t be the last

South Gate: Mexico Comes to California

How an all-American town became a barrio.

The Great Somali Welfare Hunt

The Refugee Act of 1980 has turned thousands of Somali Bantu into American dependents. Millions more “refugees” may be eligible for resettlement in your neighborhood.