history

Pages

California native garden
Julia G, November 27, 2018

We think of springtime as the season for planting gardens, but that’s not the case here in Southern California, where summers can be scorching and rains only come in the winter. Here in L.A. County, November and December are the perfect time to start a garden.


pictorial map of california (detail)
Glen Creason, September 10, 2018

The last time I looked upon Admission Day as an important holiday for our dear Golden State was probably back in Sister Leocritia’s grade 4 classroom at St. Helen school back when electricity was new.


Tom Bradley on an escalator at the opening of the Red Line subway downtown, 1-30-93.
Central Docents, September 06, 2018

“Never give up. Keep your thoughts and your mind always on the goal.” —Tom Bradley


3 children heading into a school on the first day
Tina Lernø, August 10, 2018

It's the day lots of adults look forward to, and lots of kids dread. After a summer of fun, it's time to start setting that alarm again, shop for supplies, and go back to school!


Brenda Allen waits for policewoman Audre Davis to appear at hearing arranged by Judge William McKay. Davis never showed up in court. Herald Examiner Collection, photo dated July 9, 1949
Photo Friends, June 14, 2018

After Ann Forst, the Black Widow, was sentenced to serve time for pandering, one of her protégés, Brenda Allen (born Marie Mitchell and going under a number of aliases including Brenda Allen Burns, Marie Brooks, Marie Cash, Brenda Burris, and Marie Balanque) wasted no time in setting up her own prostitutio


Ann Forst testifies in court regarding collaboration with LAPD Vice Squad in photo dated August 5, 1940.
Photo Friends, May 31, 2018

And now, a bit of real life noir compliments of the photo collection of the Los Angeles Public Library and the real lives of two L.A. femme fatales – the Black Widow and the Vice Queen.


Decoration Day parade in Pasadena, 1891
Tina Lernø, May 26, 2018

Memorial Day is officially observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who lost their lives while serving in the U.S. military. It was originally known as Decoration Day because families would decorate the graves of those who had fallen in the Civil War.


Looking northeast towards Brighton Beach
Nicholas Beyelia, May 25, 2018

At some point in 1889 the president and (later) chairman of the board of the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Los Angeles, Jackson A. Graves, decided that his Alhambra residence simply wasn’t as relaxing for his family as he would like.


Amelia Earhart and technical expert Paul Mantz study the route Earhart undertook in a flight from the Hawaiian Islands to California, the longest over-water flight ever undertaken at that time.
Photo Friends, July 19, 2018

While attending the 1907 Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, ten-year-old Amelia Mary Earhart saw her first airplane. She was not impressed. She described it as “a thing of rusty wire and wood and not at all interesting” and asked her father, Edwin Earhart, to take her back to the merry-go-round.


Cinco de Mayo plus colorful banners
Tina Lernø, May 04, 2018

Cinco de Mayo is a holiday commemorating just one event: The Battle of Puebla, which was a day of victory for the Mexican army against the French in 1862. Over 150 years later, people still mistake the holiday for Mexican Independence Day which is September 16.


Pages

Top