"A Legacy Of The Pacific" contains numerous themes which might not stand out on the surface as you discover the world of Nereidia. Here are a few, for the sake of acclimation (cue OMD!):

Princess Lile's favorite band, Buncrana, are a composite of performers I've been a fan of for many years, including U2, Ultravox, Thin Lizzy, Three Dog Night, Cheap Trick, Billy Bragg, Tom Robinson and Adam Ant, to name very few. (Have fun speculating which fellow is which)...! The band's name comes from the Irish hometown of Three Dog Night singer Danny Hutton. His bandmate, Cory Wells, is honored in Chapter One (in reference to an oceanside park). Cory once graciously answered the call of two young ladies in the Santa Monica area who asked him to help publicize their cleanup of garbage left on the beach on a bright Sunday afternoon. His generous appearance there brought great attention to what is, sadly, still a major problem on our beaches some forty years later.

There are references to several Black American pioneers, people the general public have likely never heard of but who made major contributions to our society:

Paul R Williams was a superb architect who designed many of Los Angeles' most iconic structures, including the Theme Building at LAX, the Beverly Hills Hotel, the LA County Superior Courthouse and Hall Of Administration, Saks Fifth Avenue and The Shrine Auditorium. He also designed the La Concha Motel in Las Vegas, in addition to numerous celebrity homes of the 1920s-1960s.

Long before Amelia Earhart and Pancho Barnes became famous female pilots, Bessie Coleman was both the first Black female pilot and the first person of African American descent to hold an international pilot's license. As with many Black performers of her era, "Queen Bess" (as she became known) was forced to go to Europe in 1920 to follow her dreams of sailing the skies. Trained in France and in Germany by the Fokker Corporation, she became an expert at her craft, performing amazing stunts as a barnstorming flier in air shows across the US. A room at FAA headquarters in Washington DC is named for her.

In the 1920s, Dr. Roger Arliner Young was the first African American woman to receive a doctorate degree in zoology; she excelled in the fields of zoology, biology, and marine biology. Dr. Young taught these sciences at several prestigious universities and was a key member of the research team at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Princess Ciona's beloved seahorses, Josephine and Micheaux are named for film legends Josephine Baker and Oscar Micheaux:

Josephine Baker was a legend in her youth, continuing her astounding stage career more than four decades beyond the invention of her celebrated 'banana dance.' As with Bessie Coleman, she left the US for France when racism prevented her from fulfilling her pursuit of a career in show business. She became the toast of Europe and an international sensation, wowing audiences from the 1920s through the early 1970s. Her heroic efforts during World War II garnered her the French military honor Le Croix De Guerre, the Rosette De La Resistance. Charles de Gualle named her a Chevalier De Ordre National De La Legion D'Honneur.

Oscar Micheaux was a talented film producer and director; he founded the Micheaux Film And Book Company in 1918. The creator of forty-four silent films beginning with 'The Homesteader' in 1919, Micheaux detailed the racial inadequacies of the time. His films depicted the suffering of African-Americans and their efforts to achieve higher education and better living conditions during the Jim Crow era.

Of course, there are many references in the novel to locations, signs and buildings which were quintessentially part of Los Angeles history. If you've been around long enough, you will remember the Helm's coaches which brought yummy treats to our door every day, the many vernacular structures which were once common here, such as The Pup, Toed Inn, the Van De Kamp windmills, the Brown Derby and A&W Root Beer restaurants, the Sphinx Realty, the Babylonian palace of Samson Tire And Rubber Company (now called The Citadel) and the signs in San Pedro for Guggi's Lobster Pot and Utro's Crest Cafe. It's hard for me to believe that they are almost all gone, save The Citadel, a giant coffee pot in Long Beach and a lighthouse-shaped church in South Central. As with "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," the novel is an homage to a Los Angeles which seemed a lot more interesting when gas stations looked like something out of the Arabian Knights, Central Avenue was a nice place to shop and gather and the sound of a whistle outside your home meant that you were about to eat the best cream puff you'd ever have!