Insiders' Guide Northern California Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff - Softcover

Northern California Curiosities is your round-trip ticket to the wildest, wackiest, most outrageous people, places, and things Northern California has to offer. Humorist and veteran journalist Saul Rubin has traveled way off the beaten path for one-of-a-kind gems that make his home turf truly unique.

You'll meet the first (and most famous) Artichoke Queen of Castroville- Marilyn Monroe; a dog whose epitaph was written by Mark Twain; and the stripper whose reputation gave birth to the slogan, "What Lola wants, Lola gets."

You'll tour a city where the dead outnumber the living; a house with 10,000 windows and 2,000 doors; and a town named after a drunken mispronunciation.

You'll discover a $12,000 toad tunnel; a light bulb that's burned since 1901; and the true event that inspired Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.

Whether you were born and raised in Northern California or are a recent transplant, Saul Rubin's home-grown humor will have you laughing out loud as he introduces you to the neighbors you never knew you had and takes you to places you never knew existed-right in your own backyard.

Saul Rubin, a veteran California journalist, has covered everything from major disasters to the state's quirky culture. He has hobnobbed with celebrities while an entertainment writer for the Los Angeles Times, and chased down sports figures while writing and developing stories for a national sports magazine show on Fox Sports Net. As a staff feature writer for Copley Los Angeles Newspapers based in Santa Monica, California, he penned a weekly humor column. His books include Southern California Curiosities (Globe Pequot Press, 2004) and Offbeat Museums. He lives with his wife and daughter in the Los Angeles area, where he is a full-time journalism instructor at Santa Monica College.