Handbook for Californiacs by Gertrude Mott. Hardcover. Circa 1926.
Let’s hear it for California and pay tribute to our DEEP Hispanic/ Latino roots and the place names that are found throughout the state.
“These beautiful names are one of California’s most distinctive historical and cultural treasures. Unfortunately, many of these musical words are badly mangled in the lips of our residents and of visitors to our state, and their rich significance is lost to them throughout ignorance of their historic or symbolic import…Mrs. Mott has prepared this guide to the correct pronunciation and the meaning of California geographical and place names of Spanish origin…. She has also included a few names bequeathed to us by the oldest Californians, the Indians.”