In the latest, Pride-themed episode of Stories from the Map Cave, map librarian Glen Creason walks us through some significant landmarks and events in Los Angeles' LGBTQIA history. Watch below:
Los Angeles has no shortage of notorious crimes, nor of great writers. When true accounts of the former are penned by the latter, the results are some fascinating reads. In any good true crime book…
Whether you want it hot or cool, swingin’ or slow, Dixieland or experimental, there’s jazz to fit your mood, mellow you out, pick you up. Jazz was born in New Orleans—the only place in the U.S. in the…
Los Angeles is a city whose theater scene is typically overlooked, yet every now and then we are host to a production that is monumental. One such occasion descended upon Los Angeles 40 years ago this…
Jacaranda season is almost here, that magical time of year when the spectacular purple blossoms come into sight and chase away May Gray and June Gloom. Like so many of the trees that make up the Los…
Friday is National Arbor Day: a day to celebrate trees. When we look around Los Angeles today with its beautiful tree-filled parks and palm-lined streets, it's hard to imagine it being any different…
When it comes to cats versus dogs, or birds, rabbits, and horses, what makes your pet special? Is it all your love and nurturing? Its abject cuteness and sass? What if you could receive a blessing for…
The Big Read this year is The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu. A few of the themes running through this award-winning novel about an Ethiopian immigrant are displacement, cultural…
Chinatown in Los Angeles has been demeaned and misunderstood for about a century and a half. It has never been considered the equal of the much more famous entities in San Francisco or New York but it…
A quiet, gentleman, he found his ‘voice’ in his designs. When others attempted to silence him with racism, he ‘spoke’ as others could not—for himself, and for his community. He also found his voice in…
It's a rare instance when a junior high school yearbook has implications on the social history of a city so when you see it, it’s pretty amazing; the winter 1937 edition of the John Burroughs Junior…
When you work at Central Library, at some point in your career, you will be taken on a stairwell safety tour which guides you through a maze of long lonely corridors snaking under and around the staff…
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!Looking through our…
In January 1947, KTLA Channel 5, Los Angeles's first commercial television station, aired its first broadcast, and the Herald Express newspaper was there to report the milestone event. Since then…
![A close-up shot is lined up by the director and cameraman during a Maverick shoot on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, [1961]. Valley Times Collection](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_1536x864/public/blogs/2026-01/backyardheader.jpg.webp?itok=YufS7lZk)