Women.Bourne.Works | US-CA | California

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