Dateline>City of Angels

Normally my Monday Melange posts are dedicated to humorous items I find on the Internet. But my speaking engagement today for Las Angelitas del Pueblo was such a great experience, that I wanted to use this post to extend a personal thanks to the group.

All in all, I hope Las Angelitas members enjoyed my talk on Angeleno Ghostlore as much as I enjoyed presenting it.

We covered 10 local Angeleno haunts, several of which I’ve written about here on my blog (click on the City of Ghosts category for all my “ghost posts.”) In the coming weeks, I plan to add more such posts — especially since a number of Las Angelitas volunteers expressed interest in this Website…
Of course, the last thing I’d want is to disappoint my new readers. So, for those of you who thirst for more historic ghostlore, welcome to “Spook Central.” I hope you’ll keep coming back — and spread the word.

Beyond talking ghosts, my morning with Las Angelitas was a rare opportunity for an inside glimpse of L.A.’s historical community, which is thankfully incredibly active. I was able to speak with descendants of several historic people and/or families from the city’s past, all with fascinating stories to tell. More important, virtually all the El Pueblo volunteers I spoke with are also connected with scores of other landmarks or programs throughout L.A.

Who knew that history could be so much fun? When you meet and talk with these volunteers, you can’t help but feel energized by their sense of mission.

Some are out fighting to save old neighborhood buildings and even cemeteries from the developer’s bulldozer. (Always a difficult task in this town.) Others are committed to much-needed educational outreaches and related programs within their communities, especially for school children. Several are researching and writing books that shed new light on our region’s historic diversity. All, of course, give up considerable personal time to serve the public by conducting professional-level tours at El Pueblo and other Southland locations.

The list of contributions goes on and on. Everyone, it seems, is engaged in some noteworthy endeavor.

And it’s a good thing they are.

With city officials now pondering serious cutbacks to historical-cultural programs, these and other volunteers’ commitment to the past may prove more important to our future than Angelenos realize.