The Other California Podcast
Host Alice Daniel takes you to places that aren’t typically what people imagine when they think about the Golden State — small rural towns in the San Joaquin Valley, rich with stories and unique histories. Places that play a role in shaping not only The Other California, but the entire state.
In the town of Woodlake, we visit a 13-acre botanical garden where kids learn agriculture skills. There’s team roping and barrel racing in Chowchilla where we meet an 87-year-old rodeo star who was a stunt woman for Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton. In Huron, Mayor Rey León focuses on improving the lives of farm workers. A high school culinary teacher in the oil-drilling town of Taft helps students understand each other through local recipes. A city-run boxing gym in Avenal gives kids a place to go after school. And in Livingston, 97-year-old Sherman Kishi looks back on an early Japanese farming community called Yamato Colony.
The Other California podcast was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
In this last episode of The Other California, we return to the town where we started, Woodlake. Here, Olga and Manuel Jimenez talk about the legacy of the Bravo Lake Botanical Garden and why listening to the stories of those we see as “the other” matter.
