Houston, James D.

James D. Houston (1933 – 2009, no local burial found) was an American writer who lived his later years in the Live Oak area. He wrote nine novels and a number of non-fiction works. One of the historical novels, titled Snow Mountain Passage, was about the 1846 Donner Party. A survivor of that disaster, Martha (Reed) Lewis, came to live in the same Live Oak neighborhood.

Californians (1980) is a series of autobiographical essays on various California experiences, with a number of references to Santa Cruz County.

Farewell to Manzanar, a memoir of internment experiences during WWII, was co-written with his wife, the former Jeanne Wakatsuki.

• See also The Japanese in the Monterey Bay Region (1997 book)