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los angeles history

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Women taking a photograph
Photo Friends, March 02, 2018

As March is Women’s History Month, it is only appropriate to celebrate some of the women who helped document Los Angeles – big events and small moments – for all to see.


portion of the front page of the liberator magazine
Neale Stokes, February 23, 2018

The Liberator is an early 20th-century Los Angeles African American newspaper, whose owner and editor, Jefferson Lewis Edmonds, was formerly enslaved and spent twenty years in bondage before Emancipation.


Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building
Kelly Wallace, February 22, 2018

In 1920s Los Angeles, insurance companies considered black Americans to be either uninsurable or extremely high risk. As a result, black people were routinely denied coverage or charged exorbitant premiums.


graphic of chocolates in a heart box, raw chocolate and stacked chocolate candies in wrappers
Kelly Wallace, February 14, 2018

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.” ―Charles M. Schulz.


Couple at Nightclub, 1962
Neale Stokes, December 28, 2017

What will you eat this New Year's Eve? However we plan to celebrate the new year, Angelenos have a lot of dinner options this December 31st—from buck-fifty street tacos to a $285 tasting menu at Spago.


Richard J. Riordan Central Library
Central Docents, December 09, 2017

Architect Bertram G. Goodhue (1869-1924) was a gifted and multi-faceted artist. He began drawing as a young child, first with pen and pencil and later with watercolors.


children oohing at turkey coming out of the oven
Tina Lernø, November 21, 2017

Thanksgiving in Los Angeles 100 years ago was an interesting affair. World War I was over, but troops were still stationed overseas, and most institutions continued to support the effort either by rationing food, or sending supplies “Over There.”


James Barlow, left, also known as Jeri Ryan, and August Coy, also known as Irene Paston, at the city hall police station. Photograph dated November 27, 1944.
Christina Rice, June 12, 2017

Prior to the late 1970s, LGBTQIA coverage in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner (previously the Herald Express) was extremely limited. Any photos in our image archive from the newspaper focus exclusively on men being arrested for "masquerading" as women.


Detail of a map of Los Angeles, as it appeared in 1871, showing the site of the 1871 Chinese massacre
Kelly Wallace, May 19, 2017

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, a month in which we celebrate the culture, traditions, accomplishments, and history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.


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