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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.


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.


Photographer Rolland J. Curtis and his mother, Mathilda Curtis. They are standing near a Delta Airlines plane, and she is wearing a corsage.
Photo Friends, May 24, 2018

Born in Louisiana in 1922, Rolland J. Curtis came to Los Angeles with his wife in 1946 after serving in the Marines during WWII.


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.


Young Japanese girls brave the early morning rain to bid farewell to friends leaving for Manzanar relocation camp
Photo Friends, May 01, 2018

In the spring of 1942, the City of Los Angeles experienced a population exodus triggered by a presidential executive order. Images in the Los Angeles Public Library's Herald Examiner Collection and Shades of L.A.


vintage postcard of central library
Glen Creason, April 28, 2018

"It happened in New York, April 10th, nineteen years ago. Even my hand balks at the date. I had to push to write it down, just to keep the pen moving on the paper.


Photo of a drawing by Edward Vischer of El Aliso at the Vignes winery
Kelly Wallace, April 27, 2018

“Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.”

—Trees by Joyce Kilmer


yogi bear and boo boo bear cartoon
Glen Creason, April 21, 2018

The best way to celebrate the National Park System in America is to stand on the hallowed ground of any one of them and just look around. They never fail to fill you with wonder and genuine pride in the treasures that exist in this country.


Martin Luther King and Governor Edmund G. Brown during a Freedom Rally at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
Tina Lernø, April 04, 2018

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. He was 39 years old when he was shot to death at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.


Los Angeles Herald headline from July 24, 1905 reads "woman's rights volcano bursts"
Nicholas Beyelia, March 31, 2018

This blog post series looks at the history of the 1905 firing of Mary L. Jones as Los Angeles City Librarian.


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