Torrey Pines:  Landscape and Legacy

Book Review

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"This very special and private place has found its interpreter." 
-- Robert Wohl, Supervising Ranger

"Photographer-author Bill Evarts now celebrates, in this handsome and evocative book, a jewel of our state park system."
-- David R. Brower

"In his magnificent book, Bill Evarts’ lovely photographs bring this unique habitat, part of California’s irreplaceable natural heritage, to life."
 -- Peter H. Raven

Hal G. Evarts, my paternal grandfather, was a well-known novelist and outdoor writer in the 1920's and 1930's. Many of his works were serialized in the Saturday Evening Post and he became the magazine's voice on environmental issues. He wrote the screen play for John Wayne’s first movie, The Big Trail. William S. Hart also made movies from his books.

     I'm proud to come from a long line of storytellers and professional wordsmiths, including the eminent authors' editor, Maxwell Evarts Perkins, whose clients included F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Wolfe.  Most of the literary genes of my generation, however, fell to my siblings.  My sister, Ginger, is an award-winning writer of numerous children's books, many of which cover nature and biographies of important naturalists.  My brother, John, a fine photographer, writer, and editor, started Cachuma Press, which published wonderful books on nature, travel, and gardening.  Once while perusing a museum bookstore, I could see a book by each of us from a single location.  Pretty cool.

My father, Hal G. Evarts, Jr., wrote numerous novels and short stories based on Western American history. Dressed in my best cowboy garb, I tried to divine from him the mystery of a typed manuscript. I never acquired his skill or discipline, but I fondly still use his desk.

My grandfather, Clinton Abbott, @ 1905 on his Indian Motor Bike out to photograph birds with his view camera. This image is from a hand painted glass lantern slide.