Author: Charles Epting
Grade Level: 4-8
Presentations:
I’m comfortable speaking to any size group,
and would be happy to do whatever the school would like.
Group size: I’m flexible; whatever works for you.
Equipment needed: For large audiences I need a microphone.
Email: dinokid1@Gmail.com
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/UniversityParkHistory
Other Info: We can talk about whatever works best for you.
From the Author:
I’ve been fascinated by history from a very young age, but it wasn’t until very recently that I
actually considered writing a book. Being on USC’s campus 24/7 for my undergraduate
studies provided me the perfect opportunity to find a historical niche I was interested in and
that was accessible to me. After realizing that there had never been a mass-market guide to
the history of USC —which is over 130 years old—I started to seriously think about being the
person to write that book. The fact that I was 19 at the time didn’t deter me in the least bit—if
anything, it pushed me to become a better author and write a better book.
In my presentation, I explain the entire process I went through—from conceptualization to
writing to publishing—and I help kids to understand that, if you set your mind to it and work
hard enough, anyone can become an author. It just takes finding something you’re passionate
about and that you want to convey to other people.
All in all, the process of writing my first book has been an incredible experience, and I’m
already hard at work on my fifth book. I think it is important for kids to see someone who is
only a few years older than them, but who is living out his dream of becoming an author.
Books:
Victorian Los Angeles
New in 2015!
Before the oil boom and rise of Hollywood brought today's renowned landmarks
to downtown Los Angeles, an entirely different and often forgotten high
Victorian city existed. Prior to Union Station, there was the impressive
Romanesque Arcade Station of the Southern Pacific line in the 1880s. Before
UCLA, the Gothic Revival State Normal School stood in place of today's Los
Angeles Public Library. Elsewhere the city held Victorian pleasure gardens,
amusement piers and even an ostrich farm, all lost to time and the rapid
modernization of a new century. Local author Charles Epting reveals Los
Angeles's unknown past at the turn of the twentieth century through the
prominent citizens, events and major architectural styles that propelled the
growth of a nascent city.
Click on the book cover to view some inside pages
Review:
Reader Reviews on Amazon.com
Very well written and well-researched! I enjoyed this book very much and will definitely invest in some
of this author's other books!
Orange County Pioneers
Oral Histories from the Works Progress Administration
Orange County's pioneer history is filled with harrowing tales every bit as
entertaining as a western novel. These stories, culled from oral histories
recorded by old-timers in the 1930s as part of the Works Progress
Administration, offer a rarely seen look into Orange County's frontier days.
From bear hunts and bullfights to social gatherings at the home of the most
famous Shakespearean actress of the day, these tales are a window into the
earliest days of every corner of the county. Join Editor Charles Epting for
these wonderfully evocative portraits of the past recounted in the words of
the eyewitnesses.
Click on the book cover to view some inside pages
The New Deal in Orange County, California
Unpredictably harsh elements wreaked havoc in Orange County during the
Great Depression. The 1933 Long Beach earthquake claimed 115 lives,
shattering lands eastward across the Los Angeles County line into the
Orange County cities. Then 60 people perished in the devastating 1938
Santa Ana River flood, which washed out roads and buildings and much of
the county's namesake citrus industry. Orange County's 130,000 people
received a greater density of federal public aid than LA County's 2.2 million
and San Diego County's 210,000. Join Charles Epting on this tour of the
buildings, bridges, harbors, trails, libraries, highways and other
infrastructure gains--many still in use--that were revitalized by the Works
Progress Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps and other agencies of
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal.
Click on the book cover to view some inside pages
University Park, Los Angeles: A Brief History
University Park is one of Los Angeles’s most diverse and historic neighborhoods.
Beginning with the founding of the University of Southern California in 1880,
the area has hosted two Olympic Games and numerous presidents and been
featured as a backdrop for dozens of movies, along with countless other events
of cultural and historical significance. Few areas in Southern California boast
such a wide variety of historic buildings, residential, educational and
commercial dating to LAs earliest days. With USC as its anchor, University Park
thrives as a microcosm of LAs culture, architecture and development from an
outpost accumulating settlers into one of the world’s great cosmopolitan
metropolises. Join author Charles Epting on this historical inventory of
University Park’s significant moments and lasting legacy.
Click on the book cover to view some inside pages
Reviews:
Reader Reviews on Amazon.com
Yesterday I received my copy of Mr. Epting's book "University Park, Los Angeles: A Brief History." It may be
brief but it is long on weaving a wonderful history, photos and clever writing into a great book. It captured, in
a very special way, how University Park and USC are intricately woven into the fabric of Los Angeles. I could
not put the book down...and finished the book wanting even more. It is hard to believe that Mr. Epting is first
time author and current USC student. USC and University Park own a special place in my heart. My
grandfather received his law degree from USC in the late 1920's, my father-in-law taught Mechanical
Engineering for over 35 years and my wife received her degrees from USC. I also was a graduate student at
USC. Visiting USC and University Park remain a cherished tradition for me and my children. Mr. Epting book
provided rich insights into a neighborhood that I thought I knew, but really did not. Opening his pages opened
my eyes. The book was fascinating, informative, creative and well written. This is a must read for anyone who
wants to understand how USC and University Park helped shape the city of Los Angeles and contributed to the
history of California, the US and the world.
Reader Reviews on Amazon.com
A young man arrives for his freshman year at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and
casually inquires about the history of the area. He discovers a rich story of architecture and interactions
between the University, the neighborhood, the region and the world. Urged on by his classmates, who
share his excitement, he publishes a carefully researched and beautifully written short history of the
university and the neighborhood. Richly illustrated with historic photos, the book traces three eras of
USC development over 150 years, from the initial buildings, to expansion, and finally into the
modernization of the current campus. Epting then considers the three distinct neighborhoods adjacent to
the campus and closes with looks at USC sports, the university's relation to the film industry, and
famous visitors to USC. This book is a must for USC alums, as well as students of California architecture
and history. Epting's style results in a very readable narration and reflects his enthusiasm for the USC
story.
Newspaper Article:
Undergraduate Charles Epting Writes USC History Book
By Diane Ver Steeg Anderson
USC Student Affairs News
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
If you have a question about USC history, you can ask USC student Charles Epting or you can buy his book.
USC President C. L. Max Nikias did both.
Not long after the Epting’s book, University Park, Los Angeles: A Brief History, was published, he was sitting in
President Nikias’s office.
“He actually went online to get the e-book so he could read it before we met,” said Epting, a geology major at the
USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. “He is buying copies for the entire Board of Trustees. He wanted
to sit down with me and talk about what got me started writing the book at my young age. He was so supportive
and so proud. It was fantastic!”
A week later, Epting was signing his book at the USC Pertusati Bookstore.
Feedback from students, parents, and alumni has been “incredible,” Epting said. “Everyone who has read it has
found something they’re interested in, which was my hope for the book.”
With lifelong dreams of becoming a paleontologist, Epting had no intention of writing a book about USC when he
enrolled at the university three years ago, but the University Park Campus inspired him.
“It’s hard not to get immersed in all the history when you are surrounded by these buildings and these legends. I
start collecting fun facts, news articles, anything I could find,” said Epting, who is minoring in environmental studies
and history. “I wanted to explore every inch of campus.”
Epting decided to write the book, he said, when his historian/travel writer father prompted him to record his
findings, and his friends got tired of all the “fun facts” he continually talked about as they walked around campus.
He wrote a book proposal, pitched a publisher and the rest, as they say, is history.
“I was really shocked, surprised and happy,” he said about History Press’s purchase of his proposal. “It took about
six months to get all the writing done, collect all the photos, do all the research. It was a really incredible process
from start to finish.”
The publisher set up several book signings for Epting, including the event at the USC Bookstore, a building he
documents in his 140-page, fact-packed historical inventory published in July.
“Thinking back to when I was writing this book, it is surreal that I did a book signing on campus, where I have
spent the last year researching and writing,” said Epting, who rattled off interesting USC facts and stories at the
event that drew about 20 fans.
One of his favorite stories is how USC got the nickname “Trojans.” During his research he discovered that a Los
Angeles Times reporter in 1912 wrote that one of the school’s teams “fought like Trojans.” But, said Epting, the
writer was discussing the track and field team and not — contrary to popular belief — the football team, which had
been temporarily replaced by a rugby team.
Epting’s personal history with USC dates back to his high school days when he volunteered at the Los Angeles
Museum of Natural History’s Dinosaur Institute. It was there that head paleontologist and USC adjunct professor of
earth sciences Luis Chiappe told him about the well-known geology program at USC.
“I started looking at USC seriously. Then I took a tour of campus, and I was just bitten by the bug,” said Epting, the
first person in his family to attend USC.
At USC, Epting is a member of Theta Chi fraternity and recently started working at the USC Libraries’ Special
Collections Department, where he is re-cataloging a 1940-1990 architectural collection.
Epting currently has another book in the works for History Press. The Huntington Beach resident is returning to his
roots to write a book on the New Deal in Orange County. But his book deals have not altered his plans to pursue
paleontology professionally, which will require a PhD, and USC is definitely on his list. “We have a really good
geology graduate program. So I don’t see why I would need to move anywhere else. I want to also keep writing and
doing research. It is just so much fun to get wrapped up in this and combine science and humanities.”
So, if you like so many others, think the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was built for the 1932 Olympics, you can
read University Park, Los Angeles: A Brief History and find out when this historic landmark was actually constructed.
Biography:
Born in Santa Monica, Charles has aspired to be a paleontologist from a very young age, going
on his first dinosaur dig at the age of 5. He attended St. Bonaventure School and Mesa View
Middle School in Huntington Beach. He has been a volunteer at the Natural History Museum of
Los Angeles County’s Dinosaur Institute, where he has taken part in field work and curatorial
work on the museum’s collection. He attended Mater Dei High School, where he was a varsity
tennis player in addition to being a National Merit Scholar. Charles graduated from the
University of Southern California’s Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, & Sciences in 2015.
In addition to an interest in paleontology, Charles has a deep passion for history, which he has
expressed since a young age. His first book, University Park, Los Angeles: A Brief History is the
culmination of two years of research and writing about the University of Southern California
and the neighborhoods surrounding the school. His fascination with local history is evident in
his more recent books: The New Deal in Orange County, California; Orange County Pioneers:
Oral Histories from the Works Progress Administration and his latest title Victorian Los Angeles.
Charles lives in Huntington Beach and is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Silent Film Quarterly.
© 2015 by The Friends of the Children’s Library of Huntington Beach, CA