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| La Honda civics lesson By Stacy Trevenon--[ stacy@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 3:22 PM PDT Once home to the peaceful Ohlone Indians and myriad wildlife, La Honda morphed into a quirky and scenic mountain hamlet. That journey comes alive in "Images of America: La Honda," released Monday (Arcadia Publishing, 126 pages paperback, $19.99). The book was written by 15-year La Honda resident Bob Dougherty, a 48-year-old aerospace engineer who holds multiple master's degrees. He is currently La Honda Guild president. "The town's early history appears as a microcosm of the mythologized Wild West," he said in an Arcadia Publishing publicity statement. "Understanding our past can teach us about ourselves in the present within the continuum of history," he said. He says he wrote the book with La Honda Elementary School students in mind. He plans to give nearly 100 copies of his book to the school. Arcadia, launched in New Hampshire in 1993 as a small publisher of local history books, is known for its "Images of America" sepia-toned paperbacks. In this one, Dougherty romps through La Honda's early families, prototypical shacks, local lore, commerce, transportation, and Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters. The pages are filled with black-and-white photos Dougherty culled from archives, San Mateo County records and "generous" residents. "To me, La Honda is a very special place," said Dougherty. The San Francisco native "had no clue" La Honda existed until, house-hunting 15 years ago, he stumbled on a listing there. He bought the circa-1934 cabin, which needed refurbishing since it was teetering on a steep hill. "I either saw potential or was a little crazy," he admitted. He knows his way around words. He edited and published the newsy La Honda Voice community paper. Over 22 years with Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale, where he works with mission design, he wrote a satirical column called "Bob's Babble." It lampooned government bureaucracy, which "gave me a lot of fodder for humor." His background was not literary. He holds four master's degrees: in electrical engineering from Santa Clara University (1991), in business administration Santa Clara (1999), in aerospace engineering from San Jose State University and in software engineering from Carnegie Mellon, both 2004. The degrees "all relate to my job. I enjoy learning ... I'm not a beach person. I go to museums." That love of learning drove his writing. "There are two sides to the brain and I think it's important to express both of them," he said. "Today, people are so specialized, but I like to see the big picture." Realizing that no recent La Honda histories existed, he tracked down historian Bud Foss, who had published a pre-1941 town history. Foss eventually gave his old notes to Dougherty. Dougherty approached Arcadia a year ago. "I tend to take on different projects, and this was a fun one," he said. He posted his name on the town's message board, called friends and prowled through Redwood City Library archives, seeking stories and photos. "Without the people in the town to help, it couldn't be done," he said "La Honda was small enough that I could get almost everything out there. It was easily accessible." He unearthed tales of the "Bandit-Built Hotel," supposedly built partially by members of the Jesse James and Younger brothers outlaw gangs. "Some things I knew weren't true," he said. "I tried to cross-reference everything I could." He chronicled modern-day outlaws of a different kind: Ken Kesey's hipster Merry Pranksters. He included a photo of rocker Neil Young, another famous La Honda-area resident. He declined to spotlight friends simply because he knew them. "The focus was on history, not about who's in it," he said. He found the town once boasted a "bear pit" where battles between a bull and a bear entertained townsfolk. He learned that town elders moved the town three-quarters of a mile east in the 1870s. Combing county death records from 1880 to 1915, he found that because of falling trees, gunshot wounds and train accidents, it was typical for La Hondans to die violently. "If things are romanticized in the past, people should take a look," he said. "We enjoy the natural beauty (now) with longer lifespans and not so many problems." He dedicates the book to Foss, "historian and friend," says his next project may be a novel, and hopes younger generations can learn from the past. "If they can feel like they're part of history, it can be more interesting," he said. Through the book, he added, "they can see that people are different, but not necessarily in a bad way. Through time and space." |