2023 COASTWALK SCHEDULE
Honoring Lucy Kortum
August 8, 1928 - November 30, 2022
Lucy Kortum, a historian who championed the importance of local and statewide architectural preservation, died on November 30, 2022, at her home in Petaluma. She was born on August 8, 1928, in Coronado, California, where her father was stationed as a Naval aviator. She had vivid memories from the years before and during World War II, when her mother, driving alone, took her and her brother on numerous cross-country journeys between naval bases to catch up with her father's frequent redeployments.
She attended Pomona College after the war and then moved to San Francisco with some of her college classmates. After working in San Francisco for a few years, she married Bill Kortum in 1953. In the ensuing years Bill and Lucy became effective advocates for environmental protection on issues such as the battle to save Bodega Head from a nuclear power plant in the early 1960s and the prolonged effort (beginning in the late 1960s) to preserve access to the California coastline and to save it from overdevelopment. More
Coastal Podcasts
Learn more about the history of the California Coast through stories and a recent interview with the late Peter Douglas with our Stories of the Coast Podcasts.
Coastal Trail Videos
Watch videos on various segments of the the California Coastal Trail produced by KCET with support provided by the California Coastal Commission
Imagine a ribbon of protection...
stretching along the coastline from Oregon to Mexico, that is the California Coastal Trail. The coastal trail would not exist without the support of individuals like you, who care about coastal preservation and access.