Our first houseguests, Casey and Linda, arrived from Tahoe yesterday afternoon. They are here for several days playing tourists. The weather and events planned couldn't be more perfect.

I feel the best introduction to any city is its history museum. Temecula has a great one so we stopped there for some back up information before venturing further. The rock we are photographed in front of is called They Passed This Way. In 1969, two local historians, Tom Hudson and Sam Hicks, wanted to memorialize some of the pioneers who had either passed through or helped shape the community. Fifty-six names were selected for inclusion, with Walter Vail being the most recent Temecula arrival to be recognized.  The name of Aguanga pioneer Jacob Bergman was inadvertently left off and was later carved in with a hammer and chisel on this 150-ton block of local granite.

Here is proof that we have been supporting this community for quite some time.
So a little Temecula history. The area was inhabited by the Luiseños (native Americans named after the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia) who were here way before the Spanish missionaries. The Pechanga Band of Luiseño believe their ancestors have lived in the Temecula area for more than 10,000 years. In Pechanga mythology, life on earth began in the Temecula Valley. They call it, Exva Temeeku, the place of the union of Sky-father, and Earth-mother.
The first recorded Spanish visit occurred in October 1797, with a Franciscan padre, Father Juan Norberto de Santiago, and Captain Pedro Lisalde. Father Santiago kept a journal in which he noted seeing "Temecula ...an Indian village". The trip included the Lake Elsinore area and the Temecula Valley. There will be more about the Mission when we visit Oceanside on Thursday.
After the ranching period ended, the Cilurzo family were the first to plant commercial vineyards. This is the 50th anniversary of wine growing in Temecula. We are celebrating!
We had fun in the Touch Museum.

We were given a private history lesson by curator Dave when we were in the Erle Stanley Gardner exhibit. This prolific author lived in Temecula, on his beloved Rancho del Paisano from 1937 until 1970.  Gardner, famous for his Perry Mason mysteries, wrote 151 books that sold 325 million copies.  His best selling works, the 82 Perry Mason mysteries, were adapted first for radio then became a popular TV series resulting in 271 episodes running from 1957 until 1966. The Temecula Valley Museum owns over 6,000 of his photographs and a vast collection of memorabilia. The permanent display features a reproduction of the Temecula office, a video, and select memorabilia.
This framed newspaper is pretty dang cool because of its publisher, Perry Mason & Co. Yes, that is where Mr. Gardner got the name for his most famous character. Cool right? Early issues of The Youth's Companion were centered on religion, having been created, to encourage "virtue and piety, and ... warn against the ways of transgression". By the time young Erle was reading it, its content was re-centered on entertainment, and it began to target adults as well as children with pieces contributed by writers such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, Booker T. Washington, and Jack London.
This exhibit is pretty extensive. The art on the left is the original painting for the novel caretaker's cat. The illustrations were provocative, we were told, so sailors would be intrigued and grab them, not knowing the content. It was a great selling tool.
 Mr. Gardner wrote many non-fiction books as well, many dealing with his extensive travels to Baja. It was while heading to one of those Mexican adventures, that he discovered Temecula. Oh man, so much to learn.
Our timing was perfect to catch the end of the "The Art of Stan Sakai" exhibit. The colorful and dramatic exhibition examined the cultural influences and the creative process of this award-winning cartoonist
Sakai is a Japanese-born American cartoonist and comic book creator. He is best known as the creator of the comic book series Usagi Yojimbo. He began his career by lettering comic books. He later wrote and illustrated "The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper and Hermy," a comic book series with a medieval setting. One of the supporting characters in this series was a ronin rabbit named Miyamoto Usagi. The image of a rabbit with its ears tied in a topknot holding a samurai sword in a warrior stance was pleasing to Sakai. He thought he could develop this character and others into a series that would appeal to readers. His signature characters first appeared in print in 1984. Since then, his warrior rabbit has become a pop culture icon. Sakai has received numerous awards including six Eisner Awards, Harvey Award for Best Cartoonist, National Cartoonist Society's Silver Award for Best Comic Book Series and the inaugural Joe Kubert Distinguished Storyteller Award.
After learning all we could indoors, we hit the streets.
A peek through the windows of the Hotel Temecula (Welty Hotel 1891) revealed life as it was.
A fun stop is the historic jail. Originally built as a wine cellar with rubble granite from the Temecula Quarry, it was later known as the "jail" when used by the sheriff to hold lawbreakers. Fine quality Temecula granite was used for headstone, hitching posts and curbstones on San Francisco's Market Street.

Lunch was at the 1909 Restaurant, a historically building, too. The building was built in 1909 by Macedonia Machado, a man described by Historical Society members as a pioneer of both old and new Temecula. The store on the corner of Main and Front streets was known as the Mission Store and sold general merchandise, as well as hay and grain. The building was later purchased by the Vail Company and was used to store seed grain. Sometime in the late 1960s the building became the Long Branch Saloon. It was at that time when the local legends arose of Hell's Angels bikers, Indians, cowboys and lawmen carousing at the bar. In 1979 the Hope Lutheran Church leased the building for one year. When we moved here, it was an antique store and has been a few things since but the restaurant's name pays homage to the history and serves a unique and yummy lunch.

Wanting to have a wine experience, we headed to Longshadow Winery.

"Traditions from six generations have brought these fine wines to your table. The now all but lost art of working the land with draft horses and machinery from days gone by is still carried on by our family. Bottled with pride, these wines are a reflection of our heritage. We hope you enjoy them as much as we have loved bringing them to you, and we invite you to come out and visit us here at the ranch."




Fall colors were in full force as we meandered through the vineyards. Wow.