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Los Angeles in the 1850s
Los Angeles, 1853; LAPL Digital Archives This drawing of the Pueblo de Los Angeles was done in 1853, just three years after California statehood. The vantage point is the crest of Ft. Moore Hill, from...
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Sunday Reading: Ghosts, Lava Lamps and Tsunamis, Oh My…
GHOULA logo The Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles (GHOULA) have announced that their monthly “Spirits With Spirits” event will take place Friday, September 13, at Hollywood’s Beachwood Cafe. Each...
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10 Tinseltown Trivia Tidbits
Grauman's Chinese Theater; Wikimedia Commons How much do you know about Hollywood? The following are some interesting factoids you can share the next time you’re escorting out-of-town visitors around…...
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MONA: Preserving Our Neon History
Stock xchang image Sometimes a community’s history is written in neon. This electrified gas-tube type of lighting was first introduced in Paris in 1910. Since then, it has been more than a form of...
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Weekend Matinee: An Incredible Collection of 300 Hot Rods
Founded by the late Robert Petersen in 1948, Hot Rod Magazine is known throughout the automotive world as a car-culture icon. To celebrate its 65th anniversary, the publication did the seemingly...
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Sunday Review: A Week of Noteworthy Links
Cal Worthington Rest in peace, Cal Worthington. All around the Southland, we knew him as the man who would “stand on his head” to make a car deal. Plus he had a truly wild assortment of “dogs” named...
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Should LA “Re-Envision” Pershing Square? Or “Restore” It?
Postcard of Pershing Square in the 1920s. One of LA’s oldest parks, Pershing Square originally opened in 1866 as a lush, tree-filled public space. Then it met the 1980s and was turned into a concrete...
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Crystal Cathedral Goes High Church
Christ Cathedral; Wikimedia Commons What does it take to convert a Protestant worship space to Catholic? A lot more than you’d think, especially when the space in question is Orange County’s famous...
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Sunday Review: Fabricated History at Olvera Street and Other Tidbits
Christine Sterling; El Pueblo Monument Everyone knows Olvera Street as the “Birthplace of Los Angeles” — a shopping bazaar with a decidedly Mexican flavor. Unfortunately, this image is a complete...
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Photo Find: A River (Once) Ran Through It
Paving the Los Angeles River, 1938; Herald Examiner, LAPL Digital Archives A construction crew works to pave the Los Angeles Riverbed in this old Herald Examiner newspaper photo, circa 1938. Given how...
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Weekend Matinee: How People of the 1920s Saw the Future
From convertible automobiles, to automated doors. From animatronics to animated high fashion. It’s amazing how much 1920s futurists got right — except perhaps the peace and prosperity part.
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Sunday Review: Where Your Garbage Goes and Other Informative Links
StockXchng image After a half century of piling up local community trash, the Puente Hills Landfill finally can’t take it any more. Literally. So it’s shutting down this Halloween. (Although it will...
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October 1, 1910: The Morning They Bombed the Los Angeles Times
Bombed-out Los Angeles Times Building, 1910; LAPL Digital Archives This photo shows the smoldering aftermath of the tragic bombing of the old Los Angeles Times headquarters at 1st and Broadway 103...
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Need to Research an LA Street or Hood?
Los Angeles Street For Angelenos seeking a greater connection with their street or hood, this NavigateLA database from the city’s engineers is a fun and useful tool. Simply go to the site, click on...
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Video: Singing the Avocado’s Praises in Carpinteria
Mmmmm. Avocados. How much do you love them? Enough to attend the 27th annual California Avocado Festival in Carpinteria today and tomorrow? The above promotional video comes to us courtesy the...
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Sunday Review: Fur Flies in WeHo and Other Interesting Fluff
665 leather store, West Hollywood; Michael Imlay T his past week West Hollywood became the first U.S. city to ban the sale of wearable fur in its retail establishments. Ironically, the city council...
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Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Los Angeles Beer Industry
Eastside Brewery gets ready for Prohibition repeal; LAPL Digital Archives Except for a brief hiatus during Prohibition, beer production in the Los Angeles area actually dates to the 1850s. For those...
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Sunday Review: Political Scandal Enshrouds Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and...
Hollywood Forever Cemetery; Michael Imlay The San Francisco Gate is reporting ethical questions swirling around Assembly Speaker John Perez and his former dating interest, Tyler Cassidy, owner of...
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Photo Find: Scary Society Ladies Prepare for Halloween, October 1949
Herald Examiner Collection, LAPL Digital Archives Originally run October 27, 1949, this Herald Examiner photo’s caption read: “Getting in the mood for their annual Jack o’ Lantern Ball are Mrs. John...
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Happy Halloween!
Herald Examiner, LAPL Digital Archives The caption for this 1949 Herald Examiner photo reads: “Having a drippingly good time over a barrel of apples is pretty Diane Smith, practicing on October 29,...
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