The California that Charles Hillinger writes about is not the stereotypical land of movie stars, sensational trials, or tourist snapshots. Instead, he reveals a patchwork of incredible variety and uniqueness in the out-of-the-way places and everyday people found throughout this remarkable state. As a Los Angeles Times columnist who wrote thousands of human-interest stories during forty-six years of traveling the world, Charles Hillinger hones in on what makes each of California's counties different from the others. Listeners learn about the man who flew an airplane long before the Wright Brothers did, the church with stained-glass windows commemorating preachers who were murdered or accidentally killed, and the museum with the largest collection of mummies on the West Coast. The stories are down-to-earth without excessive sentiment or philosophy.