Soon after Alonzo Gerry Cook arrived in the Santa Ana Valley in 1874, he established a small crossroads village among the barren plains of coastal Southern California. With little more than a church, school and post office, he planted the seeds of a community that reinvented itself through times of decline and development, disaster and triumph. When the railroad arrived in 1905, the population doubled. The town flourished as an agricultural hub thanks to the bounties of oranges, walnuts, chili peppers and the crop that earned the city's nickname--the strawberry. Despite damage from the Long Beach earthquake of 1933, the postwar years witnessed booming development, and today, Garden Grove exists as a celebrated part of Orange County. Longtime resident and author Jim Tortolano tells the complete story of a resilient community and its memories, people, places and events that have stood the test of time.

Garden Grove resident, Jim Tortolano, is a veteran journalist with two degrees in journalism from Golden West College and CSULB, and additional study from UCLA. He has worked at the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Orange County Evening News and Los Angeles Times in editing and reporting jobs, and served as editor and co-owner of Garden Grove Journal for 30 years. Tortolano is currently a professor of journalism at Golden West, and was previously a military reservist and television sports broadcaster.