Front Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Pioneer Crazies -- 1: Grizzly Adams (John Adams, Arnold, Calaveras County) -- 2: Psycho Hooker (Ida Brewer, Sacramento) -- 3: The Geek (Tom McAlear, San Francisco) -- 4: Psycho Politician (David Terry, Stockton/San Francisco/Lathrop) -- 5: Shanghai Chicken (John Devine, San Francisco) -- 6: Voodoo Queen (Mary Ellen Pleasant, San Francisco) -- 7: Elusive as a Will-o'-the-Wisp (James Dunham, Campbell) -- 8: First in Flight (Lyman Wiswell Gilmore, Grass Valley, Nevada County) -- 9: Crazy Cowboy (C.M. Jones, Sacramento) -- 10: It's a Gas! (Edna Fuller, San Francisco) -- The Rise of Southern California Nutjobs -- 11: Death by Ostrich (Billy Ritchie, Los Angeles) -- 12: Little Miss Bohemian (Aline Barnsdall, Los Angeles) -- 13: Silent Fall (Larry Semon, Hollywood) -- 14: In His Sister's Shadow (Jack Pickford, Los Angeles) -- 15: True Square (Aimee Semple McPherson, Los Angeles) -- 16: Grumpy Stooge (Jerome Horwitz, Los Angeles) -- 17: Big Bill (Bill Tilden, Hollywood) -- 18: The Brat Wagon (Margaret Rowney, Van Nuys) -- 19: Fraidy Cat (Samuel Horwitz, Los Angeles) -- 20: Nature Boy (eden ahbez, Los Angeles) -- 21: Rocket Scientist (Marvel "Jack" Parsons, Pasadena) -- 22: Friday on His Mind (Jack Webb, Los Angeles) -- 23: Genius in Angora (Ed Wood, Los Angeles) -- 24: The Not-So-Little Rascal (Carl Switzer, Los Angeles) -- 25: 20th Century Nostradamus (Jerome King Criswell, Los Angeles). -- 26: A Brilliant Man (Hermann Schultheis, Los Angeles) -- 27: Lovable Crank (William Frawley, Los Angeles) -- 28: The Rebel (Nick Adams, Los Angeles) -- Only in California -- 29: The Terror Bandit (Clarence "Buck" Kelly, San Francisco) -- 30: Black and White and Read All Over (Harry French, Alturas, Modoc County) -- 31: Big Daddy (Eric Nord, San Francisco/Venice).

32: The Educated Idiot (John Russell Crooker, Bel Air) -- 33: Firebug (Stanford Pattan, Glenn County) -- 34: It's Friday! (William Liebscher, Fairfax, Marin County) -- 35: The Gold Coast Princess (Karyn Kupcinet, West Hollywood) -- 36: Shame on You (Spade Cooley, Willow Springs, Kern County) -- 37: Fleecing the Flock (C. Thomas Patten, Oakland) -- 38: The Ruler (John "Bunny" Breckenridge, San Francisco/Los Angeles) -- 39: The Sacramento Vampire (Richard Trenton Chase, Sacramento) -- 40: The Grifter (Dorothea Puente, Sacramento) -- 41: Taxed Out (Jim Ray Holloway, Sacramento) -- 42: Savannah Smiled? (Shannon Wilsey, Los Angeles) -- 43: The Naked Guy (Andrew Martinez, Berkeley) -- 44: From Russia, with Hate (Nikolay Soltys, Sacramento) -- 45: The Gambler (Frank Gambalie, Yosemite National Park) -- 46: A Different Drummer (Jim Gordon, Los Angeles) -- 47: The Panty King (Roy Raymond, San Francisco) -- 48: The Tower of Wooden Pallets (Daniel Van Meter, Sherman Oaks) -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author.