1850s
Ella Sterling Mighels (05 may 1853 – 10 dec 1934 | Mormon Island CA – San Francisco CA) author, California pioneer, literary historian, pen name: Aurora Esmerelda
Emma Wixom Palmer Nevada (07 feb 1859 – 20 jun 1940 | Alpha CA – Liverpool UK) operatic coloratura soprano
1860s
Frances Saville (06 jan 1862 – 08 nov 1935 | San Francisco CA – Belmont CA) operatic lyric soprano
Pauline Schindler O’Neill (13 jan 1865 – 12 jan 1961 | San Francisco CA – Los Angeles CA) suffragist, legislator, suffrage leader
Louise Howland King Cox (23 jun 1865 – 11 dec 1945 | San Francisco CA – Windham CT) woodcarver, photographer, stained glass artist, children’s portrait painter
Agnes Gertrude Regan (26 mar 1869 – 30 sep 1943 | San Francisco CA – Washington DC) lay leader, women’s activist, federal housing advocate, Latin American female exchange student activist, executive secretary of National Council of Catholic Women
Mary Williams (27 jun 1869 – 11 feb 1961 | Oakland CA – Monterey CA) artist, painter, newspaper caricaturist, aka Kate Carew, The Only Woman Caricaturist
1870s
Maud Younger (10 jan 1870 – 25 jun 1936 | San Francisco CA – Los Gatos CA) suffragist, labor reformer / organizer
Julia Morgan (20 jan 1872 – 02 feb 1957 | San Francisco CA – San Francisco CA) architect, Arts and Crafts Movement supporter, first female AIA Gold Medalist (posthumous award)
Laura Adams Armer (12 jan 1874 – 16 mar 1963 | Sacramento CA – Yolo CA) artist, writer, photographer
Ellen Gertrude Emmet Rand (04 mar 1875 – 18 dec 1941 | San Francisco CA – New York NY) portrait painter
Aurelia Henry Reinhardt (01 apr 1877 – 28 jan 1948 | San Francisco CA – Palo Alto CA) Unitarian, moderator, college president
Alice B. Toklas (30 apr 1877 – 07 mar 1967 | San Francisco CA – Paris, France) writer, memoirist, cookbook author, literary figure / companion
Isadora Duncan (27 may 1877 – 14 sep 1927 | San Francisco CA – Nice, France) dancer, dance innovator, choreographer, aka Mother of Modern Dance
Gertrude Farquharson Boyle Kanno (26 jan 1878 – 14 aug 1937 | San Francisco CA – San Francisco CA) editor, sculptor
Maud J. Fay Symington (18 mar 1878 – 07 oct 1964 | San Francisco CA – San Francisco CA) operatic soprano, autobiographical author
Lillian Evelyn Moller Gilbreth (24 may 1878 – 02 jan 1972 | Oakland CA – Phoenix AZ) author, engineer, biographer, memoirist, psychologist, inventor / innovator
Mary Wilhelmine Williams (14 may 1878 – 10 mar 1944 | Stanislaus County CA – Palo Alto CA) author, feminist, pacifist, historian
1880s
Lizzie Edith Irvine (07 jan 1884 – 14 aug 1949 | Sheep Ranch CA – Mokelumne Hill CA) teacher, photographer, famous for photos of San Francisco earthquake
Euphemia Charlton Fortune (15 jan 1885 – 15 may 1969 | Sausalito CA – Carmel CA) liturgical designer, Impressionist painter
Alice Leslie [Mopsie] Walker Kosmopoulos (26 jun 1885 – 25 jun 1954 – San Francisco CA – Santa Barbara CA) author, multi-linguist, archaeologist, leading expert of Neolithic Period in Southern Greece
Corinne Anita Loos (26 apr 1888 – 18 aug 1981 | Sisson CA – New York NY) author, playwright, screenwriter, comic novelist
Lilian Jeannette Rice (12 jun 1889 – 22 dec 1938 | National City CA – Rancho Santa Fe CA) pioneering female eco-conscious architect
1890s
Helen Katharine Forbes (03 feb 1891 – 27 may 1945 | San Francisco CA – San Francisco CA) arts educator, etcher, muralist, portrait / still life / landscape painter, Work Progress Administration (WPA) artist
Clara Mortensen Beyer (13 apr 1892 – 25 sep 1990 | Middleton CA – Washington DC) author, labor lawyer, political activist, anti-child labor / pro-minimum wage advocate
Beatrice Wood (03 mar 1893 – 12 mar 1998 | San Francisco CA – Ojai CA) artist, potter, aka The Mama of Dada
Martha Baird Rockefeller (15 mar 1895 – 24 jan 1971 | Madera CA – New York NY) pianist, philanthropist, funded / established Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music
Fay Babcock (15 jun 1895 – 12 nov 1970 | San Francisco CA – Los Angeles CA) pioneering female Hollywood film set decorator
Helen Sewell (27 jun 1896 – 24 feb 1957 | Mare Island CA – New York NY) children’s book author / illustrator
Caroline Mytinger (06 mar 1897 – 03 nov 1980 | Sacramento CA – Monterey CA) painter
Margaret Booth (16 jan 1898 – 28 oct 2002 | Los Angeles CA – Los Angeles CA) film editor, producer
Suzanne Scheuer (11 feb 1898 – 20 dec 1984 | San Jose CA – Santa Cruz CA) artist, sculptor painter, house designer / builder, Works Progress Administration muralist
Ethel Hill (06 apr 1898 – 17 may 1954 | Sacramento CA – Hollywood CA) screenwriter, race horse owner
Edith Christensen Wilson (23 may 1899 – 1939 | Oakland CA – Oakland CA) pioneering women’s attorney, assistant district attorney in San Francisco
1900s
Kathryn Cavarly Hulme (06 jan 1900 – 25 aug 1981 | San Francisco CA – Kauai HI) author, memoirist
Dorothy McCullough Lee (01 apr 1901 – 19 feb 1981 | Oakland CA – Portland OR) attorney, politician, first female Mayor of Portland OR, US Parole Commission member
Cecelia Ager (23 jan 1902 – 02 apr 1981 | Green Valley CA – Los Angeles CA) reporter, film critic, first female reporter for Variety, one of the best-dressed women in America
Dorr Hodgson Bothwell (03 may 1902 – 24 sep 2000 | San Francisco CA – Fort Bragg CA) painter, printmaker
Esther Bum Born (31 may 1902 – 02 may 1987 | Palo Alto CA – San Diego CA) author, architect, architectural photographer
Edith Ann Hamlin (23 jun 1902 – 18 feb 1992 | Oakland CA – San Francisco CA) artist, author, muralist, landscape / portrait painter
Viña Delmar (29 jan 1903 – 19 jan 1990 | New York NY – Los Angeles CA) née Alvina Croter, Jewish-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter
Louise Leung Larson (16 feb 1905 – 01 oct 1988 | California US – Los Angeles CA) memoirist, journalist, first Chinese-American / first Asian-American reporter in mainstream US daily paper [1926]
Evelyn [Bobbi] Trout (07 jan 1906 – 24 jan 2003 | Greenup IL – San Diego CA) aviator, author, pioneering female pilot, first woman to win non-refueling endurance record for women [1929]
Mabel McKay (12 jan 1907 – 31 may 1993 | Nice CA – Sonoma CA) Native American, basketweaver, last Cache Pomo Dreamer
Nadine Conner (20 feb 1907 – 01 mar 2003 | Compton CA – Los Angeles CA) operatic soprano, radio singer, music teacher, born Evelyn Nadine Henderson
Kathryn Anderson McLean (20 mar 1908 – 15 may 1966 | San Francisco CA – San Francisco CO) memoirist, aka Kathryn Forbes, radio script / short story writer
Eve Arden West (30 apr 1908 – 12 nov 1990 | Mill Valley CA – Los Angeles CA) actress, memoirist, born Eunice Quedens, known for “Our Miss Brooks” television series
Grace Richardson Clements (08 jun 1908 – 10 jan 1969 | Oakland CA – Los Angeles CA) painter, art writer, art critic, mosaicist, journalist
Peggy Dennis (01 jan 1909 – 25 sep 1993 | Los Angeles CA – San Francisco CA) Jewish-American writer, political / communist activist, autobiographical author
1910s
Betty Henninger Miles (11 jan 1910 – 09 jun 1992 | Santa Monica CA – Hughson CA) actress, equestrian, stuntwoman, drama teacher, public school educator
Marion Elizabeth Holley Hofman (17 may 1910 – 15 dec 1995 | Visalia CA – London UK) 1928 Olympic track and field participant, Bahá’í Faith leader / member / activist / lecturer
Dorothea Holt Redmond (18 may 1910 – 27 feb 2009 | Los Angeles CA – Hollywood Hills CA) architect, illustrator, production designer, first female motion picture art director / set designer
Jane Bissell Grabhorn (29 jun 1911 – 01 oct 1973 | San Francisco CA – San Francisco CA) artist, author, printer, illustrator, typographer, bookbinder, Jumbo Press imprint creator
Barbara Blanchard De Wolfe (14 may 1912 – 02 may 2008 | San Francisco CA – Santa Barbara CA) memoirist, ornithologist, white-crowned sparrow expert, avian life history / physiology researcher
Mary Dill Henry (19 mar 1913 – 20 may 2009 | Sonoma CA – Whidbey Island WA) geometric painter, printmaker
Margaret Wentworth Owings (29 apr 1913 – 21 jan 1999 | Berkeley CA – Big Sur CA) artist, author, environmentalist, founded Rachel Carson Council, founder / director Friends of the Sea Otter
Marion Rosen (24 jun 1914 – 18 jan 2912| Nuremberg, Germany – Berkeley CA) author, physical therapist, massage / breathing / movement technique innovator, Rosen Method of massage work creator / founder
Bella Lewitzky (13 jan 1916 – 16 jul 2004 | Los Angeles CA – Pasadena CA) Russian-American dancer, dance teacher, modern dance choreographer, founded Dance Theatre of Los Angeles, founding dance department chair at Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts, founded Bella Lewitzky Dance Company
Toyo Suyemoto (14 jan 1916 – 30 dec 2003 | Oroville CA – Columbus OH) poet, teacher, memoirist, librarian, Japanese-American WWII camp internee
Willa Kim (30 jun 1917 – 23 dec 2016 | Orange County CA – Vashon Island WA) born Wullah Mei Ok Kim, film / stage / dance costume designer
Elizabeth Harrower (28 may 1918 – 10 dec 2003| Alameda CA – Valley Village CA ) actress, screenwriter, community redevelopment activist
Katherine Westphal (02 jan 1919 – 13 mar 2018 | Los Angeles CA – Berkeley CA) author, fiber artist, textile designer, helped establish quilting as a fine art form
Pauline Kael (19 jun 1919 – 03 sep 2001 | Petaluma CA – Great Barrington MA) author, essayist, film critic for The New Yorker
1920s
Yuriko Kikuchi (02 feb 1920 – San Jose CA) dancer, choreographer
Thelma Pressman (10 apr 1921 – 10 aug 2010 | California US – Rancho Mirage CA) restaurateur, cookbook author, development consultant, first US microwave cooking school founder
Dorothy Louise Taliaferro [Del] Martin (05 may 1921 – 27 aug 2008 | San Francisco CA – San Francisco CA) lesbian activist, co-founded Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), associate member of Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP)
Dorothy Warenskjold (11 may 1921 – 27 dec 2010 | San Leandro CA – Lenaxa KS) operatic lyric soprano
Marion Enwright Cunningham (07 feb 1922 – 11 jul 2012 | Los Angeles CA – Walnut Creek CA) food writer, cookbook editor
Frances Elizabeth Dean [FrancEyE] Smith (19 mar 1922 – 02 jun 2009 | San Rafael CA – Greenbrae CA) poet
Ruth Ashton Taylor (20 apr 1922 – Long Beach CA) tv / radio newscaster, first female television newscaster in Los Angeles CA and on the West Coast
Lucille Kallen (28 may 1922 – 18 jan 1999 | Los Angeles CA – Ardsley NY) author, tv comedy writer, mystery novelist
Myrna Dell (05 mar 1924 – 11 feb 2011 | Los Angeles CA – Studio City CA) model, actress, magazine writer
Ruth Slenczynska (15 jan 1925 – Sacramento CA) Russian-American pianist, memoirist, non-fiction author, artist-in-residence
Stella Rush (30 apr 1925 – Los Angeles CA) retired journalist, LGBT rights activist, pen name Sten Russell
Ruth Aiko Asawa (24 jan 1926 – 05 aug 2013 | Norwalk CA – San Francisco CA) Japanese-American sculptor, WWII internee, aka The Fountain Lady, San Francisco School of the Arts founding force [renamed Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts 2010]
Nancy Ann Whitney Blake (18 feb 1926 – 28 sep 2002 | Los Angeles CA – Edgartown MA) actress, director, producer
Gloria Jane Kim (28 mar 1926 – feb 1987 | Los Angeles CA – California US) novelist, memoirist, aka Ronyoung Kim, Korean-American
Betty Miller (06 apr 1926 – 21 feb 2018 | Los Angeles CA – Bountiful UT) instructor, dispatcher, pioneering aviator, ground school co-founder, first female pilot to fly solo across Pacific Ocean
Marilyn Monroe (01 jun 1926 – 05 aug 1962 | Los Angeles CA – Brentwood CA) artist, actress, director, social icon, humanitarian, autobiographical author, born Norma Jean Mortenson
Betty Edwards (26 jun 1926 – San Francisco CA) author, art teacher, researcher, founded Center for Educational Applications of Brain Hemisphere Research
Vera B. Williams (28 jan 1927 – 16 oct 2015 | Hollywood CA – Narrowsburg NY) non-violent activist, children’s writer / illustrator
Joan Lowery Nixon (03 feb 1927 – 28 jun 2003 | Los Angeles CA – Houston TX) journalist, children / young adult fiction author
Mary Katherine Jaynes Hocking Shell (09 feb 1927 – 14 jun 2018 | Bakersfield CA – Bakersfield CA) journalist, politician, first female Mayor Bakersfield CA
Zilpha Keatley Snyder (11 may 1927 – 07 oct 2014 | Lemoore CA – San Francisco CA) serial children’s / young adult novelist
Marilyn June Hawley Hilton (11 feb 1928 – 11 mar 2004 | Los Angeles CA – Los Angeles CA) socialite, philanthropist, business magnate, multiple sclerosis activist / supporter
Elizabeth [Tib] Schindler Sherrill (14 feb 1928 – Hollywood CA) author, Christian writer, co-author with husband, former freelance magazine writer, co-founded Chosen Books publishing company
Shirley Temple Black (23 apr 1928 – 10 feb 2014 | Santa Monica CA – Woodside CA) child star actress, tv / radio show host, political activist, American UN delegate, US Ambassador
Jean Lucille Gleason Macy (16 may 1928 – 09 may 2009 | Santa Cruz CA – Fall River Mills CA) artist, watercolorist, doll / puppetmaker
Gloria Griffen Cline (21 mar 1929 – 02 apr 1973 | San Francisco CA – Ireland) author, historian, professor, guest lecturer, Great Basin history specialist
Alice Estes Davis (26 mar 1929 – Escalon CA) costume designer, former lingerie designer / pattern maker, costumer for Walt Disney’s films / television / theme parks
Patricia Pendleton Bragg (29 apr 1929 – Piedmont CA) author, health consultant, health businesswoman
Joanna Rogers Macy (02 may 1929 – Berkeley CA) author, Buddhist scholar, environmental activist, focus on deep ecology and general systems theory
Margaret [Peggy] Lynch Kerry (11 may 1929 – Los Angeles CA) author, actress, radio host, motivational speaker
1930s
Margaret [Marni] McEathron Nixon (22 feb 1930 – 24 apr 2016 | Altadena CA – New York NY) operatic soprano, ghost singer
Carmen De Lavallade (06 mar 1931 – Los Angeles CA) dancer, professor, choreographer, film / stage actress
Betty Lou Varnum (03 may 1931 – Chicago IL) writer, director, producer, television personality
Dian Fossey (16 jan 1932 – c. 26 dec 1985 | San Francisco CA – Virunga Mountains, Rwanda) author, zoologist, primatologist, anthropologist, mountain gorilla researcher / conservationist, murdered in her tent [open unsolved case]
Edeve Francesca Thompson (29 apr 1932 – Los Angeles CA) retired academic, member of Sisters of St. Francis of Oldenburg IN, past Tony Awards nominating committee member, leading academic in field of theater and African-American studies, past chair of Department of Theater and Speech at Marian College
Channa Horwitz (21 may 1932 – 29 apr 2013 | Boyle Heights CA – Santa Monica CA) visual / graphic artist, sonakinatography developer / innovator
Patricia Crum Bosworth (24 apr 1933 – Oakland CA) editor, journalist, biographer, former actress, professor of journalism
Midori Kono Thiel (07 jun 1933 – Berkeley CA) artist, painter, calligrapher, Japanese-American
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein (22 jun 1933 – San Francisco CA) author, politician, California State Senator, currently oldest serving US Senator
Carole Eastman (19 feb 1934 – 13 feb 2004 | Glendale CA – Los Angeles CA) screenwriter
Claudia Marian Lauper Bushman (11 jun 1934 – San Francisco CA) author, LDS domestic women’s historian, founded Mormon women’s oral history project
Yvonne Glee Lime Fedderson (07 apr 1935 – Glendale CA) actress, philanthropist, orphans’ rights activist
Jill Kinmont Boothe (16 feb 1936 – 09 feb 2012 | Los Angeles CA – Carson City NV) skier, painter, paralytic, educator, special education teacher
Joan Tewkesbury (08 apr 1936 – Redlands CA) actress, producer, screenwriter, tv / film director
Bernice [Bingo] Bing (10 apr 1936 – 18 aug 1998 | San Francisco CA – Philo CA) Chinese-American artist, lesbian, Zen Buddhist, community activist, arts administrator, calligraphy-inspired abstract painter
Eleanor Coppola (04 may 1936 – Los Angeles CA) artist, writer, documentary filmmaker
Carla Borg Bley (11 may 1936 – Oakland CA) jazz pianist, organist, composer, bandleader, born Lovella May Borg
Catherine Gayer (11 feb 1937 – Los Angeles CA) violinist, musicologist, operatic coloratura soprano, academic voice teacher
Paulette Frankl (25 feb 1937 – CA) artist, author, photojournalist, performance artist
Sally Claire Kellerman (02 jun 1937 – Long Beach CA) actress, author, memoirist, producer, singer, voice-over artist
Mary Helen Ponce (24 jan 1938 – Pacoima CA) Mexican-American, author, novelist, feminist, academic, autobiographical author
Cielle Tewksbury (09 feb 1938 – 03 jan 2014 | California US – Brattleboro VT) poet, artist, model, mother, actress, dancer, farmer, tai chi teacher, photographer, five element practitioner, born Patricia Virginia Beattie
Joan Vivien Beatty Brown (13 feb 1938 – 26 oct 1990 | San Francisco CA – Puttaparthi, India) self-portrait artist, figurative painter, public sculptor, devotee of Sathya Sai Baba, member of second generation of Bay Area Figurative Movement, died in construction accident installing an obelisk at Sai Baba’s Eternal Heritage Museum in Puttaparthi, India
Jean Ferris (24 jan 1939 – 30 oct 2015 | Fort Leavenworth KS – San Diego CA) young-adult novelist
[Patricia] Jo Clayton (15 feb 1939 – 13 feb 1998 | Modesto CA – Portland OR) fantasy science fiction novelist / short story writer
Judith May [Judy] Newton (23 mar 1939 – 12 mar 2011 | Sebastopol CA – Scotts Valley CA) author, songwriter, Methodist foreign missionary, university professor in Japan
Barbara Hammer (15 may 1939 – 16 mar 2019 | Hollywood CA – Los Angeles CA) author, professor, feminist filmmaker, pioneer lesbian film director
Christina Crawford (11 jun 1939 – Los Angeles CA) actress, novelist, nonfiction writer, autobiographical author
Maris Soule (19 jun 1939 – Oakland CA) short fiction writer, romance / suspense / mystery novelist
1940s
Katharine Ross (29 jan 1940 – Hollywood CA) stage / film actress, children’s book author
Mary Ellen Edmunds (03 mar 1940 – Los Angeles CA) nurse, author, public speaker, LDS Church member, foreign missionary, former director of LDS Missionary Training Center
Hope Cooke (24 jun 1940 – San Francisco CA) author, lecturer, Queen Consort, aka Her Highness Hope La, the Gyalmo of Sikkim
Kathy Kohner Zuckerman (19 jan 1941 – Los Angeles CA) Malibu surfer, surfs annually to benefit cancer charity, real-life inspiration for character in novel Gidget: The Little Girl with Big Ideas written by [her father] Frederick Kohner and later a character in films / television series
Janice Mirikitani (04 feb 1941 – Stockton CA) Sensei poet, author, activist, incest survivor, literary magazine editor, Methodist activist / foundation president
Carol Plantamura (08 feb 1941 – Los Angeles CA) author, soprano singer, 17th / 20th c. music specialist
Jennifer Bartlett (14 mar 1941 – Long Beach CA) painter, printmaker, abstract / representational artist
Lyn Hejinian (17 may 1941 – San Francisco CA) poet, essayist, publisher, translator
Jill Gibson (18 jun 1942 – Los Angeles CA) painter, sculptor, photographer, singer-songwriter
Barbara Elaine Gunter Coffman (19 jun 1942 – San Diego CA) suspense / historical romance novelist, pen-name Elaine Coffman
Margo Humphrey (25 jun 1942 – Oakland CA) art teacher, printmaker, illustrator
Donna Lewis Friess (16 jan 1943 – Los Angeles CA) author, professor, incest survivor, public speaker, children’s rights / child abuse prevention activist
Wendy Masako Yoshimura (17 jan 1943 – Manzanar Internment Camp CA) Japanese-American artist, author, art teacher, still life watercolor painter, former radical political activist
Susan Griffin (26 jan 1943 – Los Angeles CA) eco-feminist author
Maureen Ann Orth (26 jan 1943 – Berkeley CA) author, journalist, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine
Elaine Hiesey Pagels (13 feb 1943 – Palo Alto CA) author, historian, religious scholar, professor of religion, special focus on the Gnostic Gospels
Frances Ann [Fran] Williams Reed (12 jun 1943 – 11 sep 2008 | La Jolla CA – Anchorage AK) artist, weaver, professor, fiber artist, natural basket maker
Lee Shallat Chemel (15 jun 1943 – Los Angeles CA) television producer, tv / film director
Marlene Rasnick (02 jan 1944 – 18 nov 2001 | Los Angeles CA – Los Angeles CA) playwright, improv director, stage / film actress, workshop leader, medical marijuana activist, Public Works Improvisational Theatre co-founder, Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center advocate / supporter
Bonnie Franklin (06 jan 1944 – 01 mar 2013 | Santa Monica CA – Los Angeles CA) actress, director, literary activist
Margaret H. Wright (18 feb 1944 – Hanford CA) author, mathematician, computer scientist
J. J. Phillips (02 apr 1944 – Los Angeles CA) African-American poet, novelist, civil rights activist
Helen Conrad (11 apr 1944 – Pasadena CA) romance novelist, aka Jena Hunt, Raye Morgan
Judith Spaeth McNaught Smith (10 may 1944 – San Luis Obispo CA) romance / suspense novelist, first female executive producer at CBS radio station
Alana Kathleen Cordy-Collins (05 jun 1944 – 16 aug 2015 | Los Angeles CA – La Mesa CA) author, art curator, archaeologist, anthropologist
Kathleen Ann Bishop Chalfant (14 jan 1945 – San Francisco CA) actress, arts / social / political activist
María de Lourdes [Mia] Villiers Farrow (09 feb 1945 – Los Angeles CA) actress, memoirist, humanitarian
Randa Haines (20 feb 1945 – Los Angeles CA) tv / film director / producer
Christine Walevska (08 mar 1945 – Los Angeles CA) classical cellist, pedagogue, aka Goddess of the Cello, first US concert musician to perform in Castro’s Cuba
Susan Jillian Creamer Tyrrell (18 mar 1945 – 16 jun 2012 | San Francisco CA – Austin TX) actress, author
Shirley Anne Rogers Walker (10 apr 1945 – 30 nov 2006 | Napa CA – Reno NV) jingle writer, composer, conductor, orchestrator, music arranger
Donna Deitch (08 jun 1945 – San Francisco CA) tv / film director, documentary filmmaker
Adrienne Jo Barbeau (11 jun 1945 – Sacramento CA) actress, novelist, autobiographical author
Sharon [Kristin] Harmon Nelson (25 jun 1945 – 27 apr 2018 | Burbank CA – Santa Fe NM) author, actress, primitive painter
Laura Kalpakian (28 jun 1945 – Long Beach CA) author, memoirist, aka Juliet Fitzgerald and Carenna Jane Greye
Susannah McCorkle (01 jan 1946 – 19 may 2001 | Berkeley CA – New York NY) novelist, translator, jazz vocalist, short fiction writer
Janet Campbell Hale (11 jan 1946 – Riverside CA) Native American short fiction writer
Lucy Saroyan (17 jan 1946 – 11 apr 2003 | San Francisco CA – Thousand Oaks CA) actress, photographer, film library archivist
Gretel Ehrlich (21 jan 1946 – Santa Barbara CA) poet, essayist, travel writer
Carol Neblett (01 feb 1946 – 23 nov 2017 | Modesto CA – Los Angeles CA) operatic soprano
Ellen Brooks (03 feb 1946 – Los Angeles CA) sculptor, photographer
Patricia [Tricia] Nixon Cox (21 feb 1946 – Whittier CA) memoirist, former US Presidential family member, board member for medical research institutions and the Richard Nixon Foundation at the Nixon Library
Gloria Arellanes (04 mar 1946 – East Los Angeles CA) Chicana, feminist advocate / innovator, political / community activist, Brown Berets Chicano Movement member
Lee Mallory (16 mar 1946 – San Mateo CA) poet, editor, academic
Bavi Edna [Nedi] Rivera (24 mar 1946 – Visalia CA) first Hispanic female Bishop of Episcopal Church
Candice Bergen (09 may 1946 – Beverly Hills CA) actress, essayist, producer, playwright, memoirist, photographer, political activist
Nancy [Rusty] Barceló (05 jun 1946 – Merced CA) author, essayist, speaker, academic administrator, former president of Northern New Mexico College, leader of National Initiative for Women in Higher Education [NIWHE]
Helaine Head (17 jan 1947 – Los Angeles CA) tv / film / theatre director, professor of directing USC School of Cinematic Arts
Barbara Lister-Sink (18 jan 1947 – Lexington CA) classical pianist, music educator, global leader / founding director for first Professional Certificate Program in Injury Preventive Keyboard Technique
Linda Beryl [Lin] Oliver (02 feb 1947 – Los Angeles CA) children’s author, film producer, Executive Director of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators)
Bev Doolittle (10 feb 1947 – California US) visual artist, watercolorist
Martha McClintock (22 feb 1947 – Pasadena CA) author, psychologist, pheromone researcher, Distinguished Service Professor, menstrual synchrony theory innovator, founder / past director of Institute for Mind and Biology
Rae Armantrout (13 apr 1947 – Vallejo CA) Language poet
B. D. Hyman (01 may 1947 – Santa Ana CA) pastor, author, minister. born Barbara Davis Sherry, daughter of actress Bette Davis
Nancy Flourny (04 may 1947 – Long Beach CA) essayist, professor, statistician, statistical researcher
Meredith Baxter (21 jun 1947 – South Pasadena CA) actress, producer, memoirist
Octavia Estelle Butler (22 jun 1947 – 24 feb 2006 | Pasadena CA – Lake Forest Park WA) sci-fi novelist, short story writer
Linda Susanne Howarth Gottfredson (24 jun 1947 – San Francisco CA) author, professor, educational psychologist
Christine Anne [Chris] Weatherhead (11 jan 1948 – Los Angeles CA) novelist, playwright, screenwriter, tv / film / theatre actress, director, producer
Prudence Anne Villiers Farrow Bruns (20 jan 1948 – Los Angeles CA) author, film producer, magazine writer, meditation teacher
Susan Bernard (11 feb 1948 – Los Angeles CA) author, actress, biographer, businesswoman
Annette Cardona Charles (05 mar 1948 – 03 aug 2011 | Los Angeles CA – Los Angeles CA) actress, social worker, speech professor
Hallie Elizabeth Ephron (09 mar 1948 – Los Angeles CA) novelist, journalist, book reviewer, fiction writing teacher
Jayne Ann Castle Krentz (28 mar 1948 – Cobb CA) romance novelist, aka Jayne Castle, Jayne Taylor, Jayne Bentley, Stephanie James, Jayne Ann Krentz, Amanda Glass, Amanda Quick
Wendy Rose (08 may 1948 – Oakland CA) poet, artist, Hopi / Miwok, social scientist, anthropologist, aka Chiron Khanshendel, born Bronwen Elizabeth Edwards
Arlene Joy Harris (06 jun 1948 – Los Angeles CA) inventor, entrepreneur, multi-patent holder, aka First Lady of Wireless, founder / CEO Dyna LLC, co-founded Cellular Business Systems Inc. (CBSI), known for Wrethink, GreatCall, Jitterbug cell phone
Karen L. Gould (17 jun 1948 – San Francisco CA) scholar, non-fiction author, former academic dean, first female President of Brooklyn College
Wendy Ashmore (26 jun 1948 – 08 jan 2019 | Los Angeles CA – Riverside CA) author, archaeologist, professor of Maya archaeology
Julie Clark (27 jun 1948 – Hayward CA) author, aerobatic air show pilot, former commercial airline pilot, one of first female major US airline pilots
Janet Isaacs Ashford (09 feb 1949 – Los Angeles CA) artist, writer, activist, musician, childbirth historian
Synthia Saint James (11 feb 1949 – Los Angeles CA) author, artist, educator, keynote speaker, US stamp designer, book cover artist, children’s book illustrator
Elena Duran (21 feb 1949 – Oakland CA) Mexican-American author, flautist
Mary Catherine [MC] Lamb (12 mar 1949 – 15 aug 2009 | Oakland CA – Portland OR) art quilt textile artist, arts and community activist, founded / curated Buckman House private museum
Elodie Keene (10 apr 1949 – Paso Robles CA) tv / film editor, director, producer
Deborah Kay Butterfield (07 may 1949 – San Diego CA) sculptor / found object artist
Joan Marie Embery (01 jun 1949 – San Diego CA) author, speaker, horsewoman, philanthropist, animal / environmental advocate
Holly Near (06 jun 1949 – Ukiah CA) actor, author, teacher, singer-songwriter, social change activist, autobiographical author
Sandra [Sandy] Froman (15 jun 1949 – San Francisco CA) author, attorney, speaker, lobbysit, gun rights advocate, past president of National Rifle Association
Jill Barnett (17 jun 1949 – California US) romance novelist, women’s fiction author
Lenore Chinn (20 jun 1949 – San Francisco CA) Chinese-American, curator, realist painter, LGBT activist, Queer Cultural Center co-founder
Ann Margaret Veneman (29 jun 1949 – Modesto CA) author, social activist, former UNICEF Executive Director, former / first / only female US Secretary of Agriculture
Lindsay Jean Wagner (22 jun 1949 – Los Angeles CA) actress, nonfiction writer, meditation / self-help advocate, vegetarian cookbook author
1950s
Patricia Bracewell (19 jan 1950 – California US) educator, historical fiction author
Michaela-Marie Roessner-Hermann (27 jan 1950 – San Francisco CA) sci-fi author, writing professor
Donna Ann Kofnovek Hanover (13 feb 1950 – Oakland CA) actress, journalist, TV producer, radio / TV personality, former First Lady of New York City
Patricia Monique Soltysik (17 may 1950 – 17 may 1974 | Goleta CA – Los Angeles CA) political activist, aka Zoya and Mizmoon, radical feminist, self-avowed revolutionary, Symbionese Liberation Army co-founder
Melissa Maria Mathison (03 jun 1950 – 04 nov 2015 | Los Angeles CA – Los Angeles CA) tv / film screenwriter, Tibetan freedom activist
Sandra Segal Ikuta (24 jun 1950 – Los Angeles CA) attorney, journalist, US federal judge
Karen Tei Yamashita (08 jan 1951 – Oakland CA) Japanese-American novelist, professor, playwright
Francine Berman (07 feb 1951 – Glendale CA) professor, computer scientist, women’s advocate, expert in digital data preservation / cyber infrastructure
Francine Pocino Busby (03 mar 1951 – Los Angeles CA) author, politician, former member Cardiff CA school board
Susan Musgrave (12 mar 1951 – Santa Cruz CA) American-Canadian poet, memoirist, children’s writer, fiction/non-fiction author, creative writing professor
Kathy Gori (19 mar 1951 – San Francisco CA) screenwriter, radio personality, voice actress
Charon Virginia Huber Asetoyer (24 mar 1951 – San Jose CA) author, essayist, Comanche activist, women health advocate, founding member Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center [NAWHERC]
Janet Kay Jensen (03 apr 1951 – Berkeley CA) novelist, nonfiction author
Mary Doretta Heebner (19 apr 1951 – Los Angeles CA) painter, photographer, papermaker, book artist
Cheryl Saban (30 apr 1951 – San Diego CA) women’s advocate, philanthropist
Sally Kristen Ride Hawley (26 may 1951 – 23 jul 2012 | Encino CA – La Jolla CA) astrophysicist, non-fiction author, children’s book writer, first American female astronaut
Susan Fletcher (28 may 1951 – Pasadena CA) children’s / young adult speculative fiction author
Patricia Nelson Limerick (17 may 1951 – Banning CA) author, editor, American historian
Victoria Chaplin (19 may 1951 – Santa Monica CA) British-American circus performer, costume designer
Wendy Fletcher Pini (04 jun 1951 – San Francisco CA) inker, pencilist, graphic artist, comics editor / writer / publisher
Carla Harryman (11 jan 1952 – Orange CA) poet, essayist, co-editor, playwright, creative writing professor, associated with Language poets
Tam Elizabeth O’Shaughnessy (27 jan 1952 – San Andreas CA) educator, children’s science writer, science education company co-founder, former professional tennis player
Miriam Slater (09 feb 1952 – Los Angeles CA) visual artist, object painter
Amy Tan (19 feb 1952 – Oakland CA) novelist, focus on Chinese-American mother-daughter relationships
Laraine Newman (02 mar 1952 – Los Angeles CA) writer, actress, comedian, voice actress
Margaret Astrid Lindholm (05 mar 1952 – Berkeley CA) children’s short fiction writer, adult fantasy fiction author, pen-names Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm
Maryedith Burrell (12 apr 1952 – Gilroy CA) writer, actress, producer, comedienne
Toni Naples (03 may 1952 – Los Angeles CA) actress, producer, aka Karen Chorak, born Karen Rosemary Chorak
Susan Rasky (10 jun 1952 – 29 dec 2013 | Hollywood CA – El Cerrito CA) journalist, political reporter, senior lecturer in political journalism
Barbara Thompson (13 jun 1952 – San Luis Obispo CA) former member LDS Relief Society, Utah Department of Human Services worker, executive director of The Christmas Box International organization serving abused and/or neglected children
Roberta H. Martinez (18 jun 1952 – Los Angeles CA) Latino heritage activist historian, independent writer / researcher / consultant
Luann Marie Ryon (13 jan 1953 – Long Beach CA) former Olympic gold medal archer
Debbie Meisterlin Steinbach (28 jan 1953 – Fullerton CA) author, broadcaster, fold instructor, professional golfer, motivational speaker
Joanna Crussie DeVarona Kerns (12 feb 1953 – San Francisco CA) actress, television film director
Deborah Raffin (13 mar 1953 – 21 nov 2012 | Los Angeles CA – Los Angeles CA) tv / film actress, audiobook publisher
Diane Francis Christine Felix (15 mar 1953 – Stockton CA) aka Chili D, LGBT activist, disc jockey, founded Felix Computers
LuAnn Haslam (28 mar 1953 – Los Angeles CA) blogger, former child model / actress, high school math / film appreciation / film production teacher, aka Patty the Prom Pro
Rebecca Fransway (30 apr 1953 – San Pedro CA) poet, author, novelist
Kathleen Sullivan (17 may 1953 – Pasadena CA) news anchor / broadcast journalist
Kathleen Kennedy (05 jun 1953 – Berkeley CA) film producer, production company president
Susan Kunze (06 jun 1953 – Highland Park CA) teacher, educational books author
Colleen Celeste Camp (07 jun 1953 – San Francisco CA) actress, comedian, producer
Sharon Rich (11 jun 1953 – Los Angeles CA) author, biographer, film historian
Tess Gerritsen (12 jun 1953 – San Diego CA) author, mystery novelist, former physician
Lilly Tartikoff Samuels Karatz (23 jun 1953 – Los Angeles CA) activist, socialite, restaurateur, breast cancer fundraiser
Rene Marie Russo (17 feb 1954 – Burbank CA) actress, producer, former model
Patricia Campbell [Patty Hearst] Shaw (20 feb 1954 – San Francisco CA) actress, heiress, novelist, memoirist, children’s AIDS activist / fundraiser, convicted of bank robbery, kidnapped / indoctrinated by Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA)
Helena Maria Viramontes (26 feb 1954 – East Los Angeles CA) critic, novelist, professor, Mexican-American, short fiction writer
Nancy Lamoureaux Wilson (16 mar 1954 – San Francisco CA) singer, musician, guitarist, songwriter, composer, producer, ranked by Gibson as eighth greatest female guitarist of all time
Susan Hutchinson (24 mar 1954 – Fairfield CA) former television news journalist, past chair of Seattle Symphony, past executive director of Simonyi Fund for the Arts & Sciences
Celia Martin Chazelle (07 apr 1954 – California US) author, historian, professor of history, Canadian-American
Jeanne Sakata (08 apr 1954 – Santa Cruz CA) playwright, film / stage / television actress
Anne Lamott (10 apr 1954 – San Francisco CA) activist, novelist, essayist, memoirist, nonfiction writer
Ella Mae Lentz (05 may 1954 – Berkeley CA) poet, author, teacher, deaf advocate, American Sign Language (ASL) researcher, training / educational material developer
Carol Buckley (18 may 1954 – Oakland CA) author, elephant caregiver, elephant welfare consultant, founded Elephant Aid International, creator / facilitator of Elephant Refuge North American [ERNA]
Janice Felice Karman (21 may 1954 – Los Angeles CA) singer, voice artist, film / record producer, production company co-owner
Megan Marshall (08 jun 1954 – Oakland CA) author, scholar, biographer, essayist, book reviewer
Deborah Grabien (28 jun 1954 – San Francisco CA) editor, novelist, essayist, short story writer
Vanessa Theme Ament (08 jan 1955 – Glendale CA) author, musician, academic, professor, Foley artist, voice artist
Lynda Susan Weinman (24 jan 1955 – Hollywood CA) author, speaker, essayist, computer instructor, business owner, multi-media studies professor, self-taught special effects animator
Whitney Otto (05 mar 1955 – California US) novelist, writing workshop leader, writing focus on female photographers
Paige Matthews Peterson (19 mar 1955 – Belvedere CA) figural / portrait / landscape painter, children’s book illustrator, Chief Growth and Development Consultant at Attitudinal Healing International, National Council on US-Arab Relations board member
Nina Kiriki Hoffman (20 mar 1955 – San Gabriel CA) horror / fantasy / science fiction writer
Ellen Hopkins (26 mar 1955 – Long Beach CA) poet, novelist, nonfiction children’s book author
Katherine Evelyn [Kate] Heyhoe (09 apr 1955 – Los Angeles CA) editor, food writer, gourmet cookbook author
Rebecca Dazai Costa (11 apr 1955 – San Mateo CA) author, futurist, sociobiologist, expert in field of fast adaptation
Sandra [Sandy] Hill Pittman (12 apr 1955 – Los Gatos CA) author, fashion editor, mountaineer
Winifred Hervey-Stallworth (14 may 1955 – Lompoc CA) tv screenwriter, producer
Debbe Magnusen (06 jan 1956 – Pasadena CA) author, foster care activist, founded non-profit Project Cuddle, infant / mother health / welfare advocate
Alison Saar (05 feb 1956 – Los Angeles CA) artist, sculptor, installation artist
Kim McCarty (10 feb 1956 – Los Angeles CA) artist, monochromatic watercolorist
Denise Di Novi (21 mar 1956 – Sherman Oaks CA) journalist, film director, producer
Maralou Eve De Nicholas (21 april 1956 – Beverly Hills CA) author, advanced transportation researcher
Nancy Temple Rodrigue (28 may 1956 – Oakland CA) adventure novelist
Maureen Denise McCormick (19 may 1956 – Encino CA) author, actress, recording artist
Dana Louise Priest (23 may 1956 – Canoga Park CA) writer, teacher, journalist, Washington Post investigative reporter
Robin Mattson (01 jun 1956 – Los Angeles CA) cook, actress, cookbook author
Denise Katnich Austin (13 feb 1957 – San Pedro CA) author, columnist, fitness instructor
Lia Sargent (20 feb 1957 – Los Angeles CA) director, voice actress, acting coach, aka Lisa Sargent / Mary Briscoe
Donna Millar Thomas (31 mar 1957 – San Francisco CA) author, book artist, conceptual artist, publisher, papermaker, hand-made book advocate / educator
Tama Janowitz (12 apr 1957 – San Francisco CA) novelist, short story writer
Ceán Chaffin (26 jun 1957 – Los Angeles CA) film producer
Anna Louizos (24 jun 1957 – Marysville CA) art director, scenic designer
Marla Frazee (16 jan 1958 – Los Angeles CA) children’s author / illustrator
Margo Chase (20 feb 1958 – 22 jul 2017 | Los Angeles CA – Apple Valley CA) graphic designer, founded Chase Design Group, died in small airplane crash
Judy Graves Norton Taylor (29 jan 1958 – Santa Monica CA) actor, theater director
Marci Liroff (03 feb 1958 – Los Angeles CA) film casting director
Marci Lee Bowers (18 jan 1958 – Burlingame CA) surgeon, gynecologist, specialist in gender confirmation surgery, first out trans woman to perform transgender surgery
Deborah King (09 feb 1958 – San Francisco CA) author, attorney, public speaker, alternative medicine practitioner, founder / CEO of Deborah King Center
Bess Motta (10 feb 1958 – Woodland Hills CA) singer, actor, dancer, choreographer, fitness advocate, exercise tv show host / demonstrator, aka Aerobics Queen
Laura Antonioli (09 mar 1958 – Marin CA) jazz singer, producer, composer, former professor, vocal performance curriculum developer, Chair of Vocal Department at California Jazz Conservatory
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (29 apr 1958 – Santa Ana CA) singer, actress, producer, founded Via Rosa Productions
Eve Aline Plumb (29 apr 1958 – Burbank CA) artist, painter, actress
Cecelia Peck (01 may 1958 – Los Angeles CA) actress, producer, director, daughter of Gregory Peck
Kim Jones (02 may 1958 – Sonoma CA) author, marathoner, road runner, distance running coach
Ellen Ochoa (10 may 1958 – Los Angeles CA) engineer, former astronaut, current director of Johnson Space Center, first Hispanic woman in the world to go into space
Elizabeth Wong (06 jun 1958 – Los Angeles CA) playwright, tv writer, librettist, social essayist, college professor, theatrical director
Roberta Grossman (07 jan 1959 – Los Angeles CA) documentary film maker, writer, producer, director
Pamelyn Wanda Ferdin (04 feb 1959 – Los Angeles CA) animal rights activist, public relations director, former film / television child actor
Pleasant Gehman (17 mar 1959 – Hollywood CA) poet, author, dancer, actress, musician, memoirist, aka Princess Farhana
Santhini Govindan (20 mar 1959 – San Francisco CA) children’s poet, picture book author, short story writer
Amy L. Banse (22 apr 1959 – San Francisco CA) business executive, Managing Director / Head of Funds for Comcast Ventures, Senior Vice President of Comcast Corporation, serves on the Board of Directors at Adobe Systems and Clorox
Heidi Baker (11 may 1959 – Laguna Beach CA) Christian author, speaker, missionary, CEO of Iris Global humanitarian organization
Cassandra Gava (28 apr 1959 – San Francisco CA) actress, producer, born Gaviola
Virginia Mayhew (14 may 1959 – San Francisco CA) jazz musician, arranger, educator, composer, bandleader, saxophonist
Lauren Flanigan (18 may 1959 – San Francisco CA) operatic soprano
Eileen Marie Davidson (15 jun 1959 – Artesia CA) actress, mystery novelist