News Releases

May 6, 2006  Gardens by the Bay: Exploring Public Gardens of the Greater Bay Area

May 14, 2004  Coastside: Exploring the Ocean Side of the San Francisco Peninsula

October 22, 2003  Exploring Steinbeck Country and Silicon Valley at Barnes & Noble

May 1, 2003  Silicon Valley: Exploring the Communities Behind the Digital Revolution

October 4, 2002  Steinbeck Country: Exploring the Settings for the Stories

Gardens by the Bay: Exploring the Public Gardens of the Greater Bay Area

Pictorial souvenir and guide to over 150 gardens from Monterey to Mendocino

MENLO PARK, California. May 6, 2005 - Gardens by the Bay: Exploring the Public Gardens of the Greater Bay Area, a pictorial guide to 157 gardens from Monterey to Mendocino by writer/photographer David A. Laws was published today by Windy Hill Publications. With 114 color photographs and full accompanying text, at just $9.95 the guide offers an inexpensive but attractive souvenir and planning guide for visitors to publicly-accessible gardens in the counties surrounding Monterey and San Francisco Bays.

"A beautiful quick-take to the gardens of the Bay Area.  A clever and useful resource for residents and tourists alike,” said San Francisco Chronicle Garden columnist Katherine Grace Endicott. “Highly recommended because it includes so many gardens that are unknown and it is perfect for the resident who wants to escort out of town guests to the local gardens.  Now they know where to go!"

From tiny Melita’s recreated pioneer garden at the Johnston House in Half Moon Bay to world-renowned University of California Botanical Garden in Berkley, Gardens by the Bay describes and illustrates the extraordinary range of plants and trees that thrive in the temperate Mediterranean climate of the region. Arboretums, botanical parks, and college campuses to hotels, nurseries, and wineries provide visitors and residents access to a remarkable variety of horticultural and landscape styles for garden planning, recreation, and relaxation.

Published by Windy Hill Publications of Menlo Park, California, Gardens by the Bay: Exploring the Public Gardens of the Greater Bay Area (ISBN 0-9723874-4-7) is priced at   $9.95. Other local titles in Windy Hill’s “Exploring” series of souvenir and guide publications include, Steinbeck Country: Exploring the Settings for the Stories, Silicon Valley: Exploring the Communities Behind the Digital Revolution, and Coastside: Exploring the Ocean Side of the San Francisco Peninsula. They are available from Books, Inc., Barnes and Noble, other fine bookstores and gift shops, and on-line from Amazon.com.

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Coastside: Exploring the Ocean Side of the San Francisco Peninsula

Souvenir and guide to our local “national treasure.”

MENLO PARK, California. May 14, 2004 - Coastside: Exploring the Ocean Side of the San Francisco Peninsula, a pictorial guide to the rural San Mateo coastline was published today by Windy Hill Publications. With 80 color photographs and full accompanying text, at just $9.95 the guide offers an inexpensive but attractive souvenir of this remarkable region for visitors, tourists, and residents.

The San Mateo Coast is an important local source of produce and flowers, and its mountains and beaches provide easily accessible recreation for the Bay Area’s burgeoning population. National, regional, and local conservation organizations are cooperating to preserve this unique landscape from inappropriate development and sprawl. 

According to Mary Davey, President of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, “This beautiful tribute to the Coastside celebrates the extraordinary agricultural, recreational, and natural resources that the District hopes to help preserve for future generations.”

“The San Mateo Coast is a national treasure. It is the only remaining rural accessible coastline within a major metropolitan area to be found anywhere on earth,” said Audrey Rust, President of the Peninsula Open Space Trust. “This guide beautifully illustrates the spectacular natural and recreational resources that POST is working to protect through our Saving the Endangered Coast campaign.”

Author and photographer David A. Laws has written about Western destinations for the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, and other publications. He is a member of Bay Area Travel Writers, Inc. (BATW).

Published by Windy Hill Publications of Menlo Park, California, Coastside: Exploring the Ocean Side of the San Francisco Peninsula (ISBN 0-9723874-2-0  $9.95) is available from Bay Book Company and Coastside Books both of Half Moon Bay, Books Inc. of Mountain View and Stanford, Keplers of Menlo Park, Barnes and Noble, and other fine bookstores. It can also be purchased from the Los Altos History Museum, the San Mateo County History Museum, Language Quest Travel Bookstore of Los Altos, and on-line from Amazon.com.

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Exploring Steinbeck Country and Silicon Valley at Barnes & Noble

California Regional Writer and Photographer to speak at Berkeley store

MENLO PARK, California. October 22, 2003 – California regional writer and photographer David Laws will present images and quotations from his “Exploring” series of photo-essay souvenir and travel guides to Steinbeck Country and Silicon Valley at Barnes & Noble,    2352 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA  94704 (Phone 510-644-0861) at 7:30 PM on Wednesday November 19.

Steinbeck Country: Exploring the Settings for the Stories takes the reader on a tour of the Monterey County locations that inspired the ideas and set the stage for the powerful regional novels by America’s “Bard of the People.”  Images from the book were featured on Oprah’s Book Club East of Eden website.  June Sawyers, the Chicago Tribune’s Resourceful Traveler says “This is a marvelous and entertaining resource for anyone interested in the life and work of the California-born writer.”

Silicon Valley: Exploring the Communities Behind the Digital Revolution is a guide to the communities and landscape where engineers and scientists learned how to turn sand (silicon) into gold (computer chips).  Michael S. Malone, TV journalist and author of numerous books on Silicon Valley said “I don't know of a better introduction for a visitor to the Valley . . . nor a more compelling reminder to us locals of the remarkable community in which we live."

David A. Laws’s articles and photographs have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, and other regional publications.  He has contributed to Steinbeck Studies, the Steinbeck Yearbook, and John Steinbeck: A Centennial Tribute and presented at the Steinbeck Centennial Conference in New York and the Annual Steinbeck Festival in Salinas.  He worked for Silicon Valley semiconductor companies for more than 30 years. 

Steinbeck Country: Exploring the Settings for the Stories (ISBN#: 0-9723874-0-4) and Silicon Valley: Exploring the Communities Behind the Digital Revolution (ISBN 0-9723874-1-2) are published by Windy Hill Publications of Menlo Park, California at $9.95.  They are available from Barnes & Noble stores and online at www.bn.com.

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Silicon Valley: Exploring the Communities Behind the Digital Revolution

New guide to the places that gave birth to the silicon microchip

MENLO PARK, California. May 1, 2003 - Silicon Valley: Exploring the Communities Behind the Digital Revolution, a photo essay and souvenir guide to the landscape and communities where engineers and scientists learned how to turn sand (silicon) into gold (computer chips) priced at $9.95 with 124 color photographs and full accompanying text, was published today by Windy Hill.

"Silicon Valley's 100-plus year history of delivering innovative technology to the widest possible audience has enriched the lives of people throughout the world.  David's images of the Valley today capture the essence of the communities that made it happen,” said W. J. Sanders III, Chairman, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

According to Leonard J. Shustek, Chairman, The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, "Colorful images of Silicon Valley showcase both the history and excitement of this extraordinary region at the center of the world for computer technology."

Michael S. Malone, author of numerous books on Silicon Valley, including The Valley of Heart's Delight: A Silicon Valley Notebook 1963-2001, commented "Finally! An up-to-date guide to both Silicon Valley and the Santa Clara Valley that lies beneath it. Concise and colorful, David Laws's book is also astonishingly complete.  I don't know of a better introduction for a visitor to the Valley . . . nor a more compelling reminder to us locals of the remarkable community in which we live."

Travel writer/photographer David A. Laws worked for Silicon Valley semiconductor companies for more than 30 years.  His articles have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, the Oregonian, and other regional publications.

Published by Windy Hill Publications of Menlo Park, California, Silicon Valley: Exploring the Communities Behind the Digital Revolution (ISBN 0-9723874-1-2  $9.95) is available from The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose; Borders Books; Books, Inc.; Keplers, Menlo Park; and other fine bookstores. It can also be purchased on-line from www.amazon.com or via mail order from the publisher (see www.windyhillpress.com).

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Steinbeck Country: Exploring the Settings for the Stories

New guide to the places featured in Steinbeck’s California fiction

MENLO PARK, California. October 4, 2002 - Steinbeck Country: Exploring the Settings for the Stories, a guide to the landscape featured in the novels of America’s “Bard of the People,” was published today by Windy Hill. With 125 color photographs and full accompanying text, the book is the first in a series of inexpensive, but fully illustrated regional souvenir and travel guides.

Cannery Row, East of Eden, Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony and other classic tales by Nobel Prize-winning writer John Steinbeck are set in the agricultural and ocean-front communities of the Salinas Valley and Monterey Peninsula. “The 2002 Steinbeck centennial celebrations have stimulated new interest in his work and their Monterey County settings,” according to Kim Greer, CEO of the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas. “This book is an excellent resource for visitors who wish to explore the many sides of Steinbeck Country.” The National Steinbeck Center Museum is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm and is an interactive museum for all ages celebrating John Steinbeck's life and works.

“Beautiful photographs and a well researched text bring Steinbeck Country to life for tourists as well as readers unable to visit California,” said Dr. Susan Shillinglaw, Director of the Martha Cox Heasley Center for Steinbeck Studies. On the campus of San Jose State University, the Center’s collection of books, papers, photographs, and memorabilia is open to the public. (www.sjsu.edu/depts/steinbec/srchome.html, Phone: 408-924-4588)

Author David A. Laws is a travel writer and photographer based in Portola Valley, California. His work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, San Jose Mercury News, The Oregonian, and other publications.

Steinbeck Country: Exploring the Settings for the Stories (ISBN 0-9723874-0-4 $9.95) published by Windy Hill Publications of Menlo Park, California, is available from book stores or via mail order or on-line from the National Steinbeck Center bookstore at www.steinbeck.org and click on "Museum Store" tab. (Phone: 831-775-4721, Fax: 831-796-3828).

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