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History

Weekend Matinee: Old Town Pasadena “Haunt”

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This has got to be some type of Halloween gimmick or hoax. During California’s Mission Era, meticulous records were kept by both civil and Church authorities documenting every phase of a mission’s founding, from site surveys to actual construction. If there had been a mission chapel in the area of Old Town Pasadena, there [...]

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Summer Reruns: Cryptic SoCal Edition

span class=”drop_cap”>Like many history buffs, I find old cemeteries profoundly educational. Walking among the plots, statuary and epitaphs, you never know who (or what) you’ll stumble upon. But this being Southern California, some of the burials can get exceptionally bizarre. Here are some of the more interesting graveyard posts Dateline>City of Angels has run over [...]

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Close-Up: Monrovia’s Scary Aztec Hotel

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Built in 1925 in the Mayan Revival style, Monrovia’s sadly dilapidated Aztec Hotel is a notable example of the once-proudly offbeat motoring attractions that characterized America’s famous Route 66.
The hotel was designed by Robert Stacy-Judd, an architect known for exotic buildings, including several Egyptian-themed theaters in England. The Aztec was his first American creation.
Tucked away [...]

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Weekend Matinee: Buzzing Suicide Bridge

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More Pathe Newsreel footage from the Silent Era. This time a plane buzzes Pasadena’s Colorado Street (aka “Suicide”) Bridge. Just imagine anyone trying that stunt today.

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Close-Up: L.A.’s Famous Eagle Rock

Angeleno Sights

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span class=”drop_cap”>While I’m not that sure it looks all that bird-like up close, this is L.A.’s celebrated Eagle Rock, so named because from a distance it resembles an eagle’s head. Popular legend has it that the area’s original Tongva Indian settlers gave the rock its moniker, but this story seems apocryphal.
Situated near where the 134 [...]

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Time Warp: The St. Francis Bungalow Court

Angeleno Sights

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Love ‘em or hate ‘em, nothing says Southern California Living like a bungalow court — and with good reason. They originated here, specifically in the City of Pasadena. In fact, the photo at left depicts what’s left of the world’s very first one.
Built in 1909 by Sylvanus Marston, the St. Francis Court once occupied the [...]

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Weekend Matinee: L.A. Street Names

Angeleno Sights

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Created by the Seaver Center for Western History Research, a department of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, this is the first of an educational series of videos examining historic street names in the City of Angels. Too see more beyond the introduction, be sure to click on the links for parts 2-6 [...]

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Summer Reruns: Murder and Mayhem Edition

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That’s right, folks! Once again we’re pimping the old Dateline>City of Angels archives to reacquaint readers with some of our all-time favorite posts. This week we bring you three selections dealing with murder and mayhem topped off with scandal. (Not to mention a ghost or two.) Enjoy!

The gruesome kidnapping and murder of Marian Parker shocked [...]

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Close-Up: Pasadena’s Oldest Church

Angeleno Sights

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A close-up shot of the Church of the Angels, Pasadena’s oldest house of worship. The church was commissioned by San Rafael Ranch owner Francis Campbell-Johnson to memorialize her husband Alexander, who died in 1888. Since the couple were English immigrants, Campbell-Johnson turned to Holmbury St. Mary’s Church, near Dorking, Surrey, England, for inspiration. The cornerstone was [...]

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Weekend Matinee: L.A. Balloon Ride, 1925

Life in Angel City

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Pathe Newsreel footage of a 1925 balloon ride over Los Angeles. According to Wikipedia, font of all Internet knowledge, Charles Pathe “was a pioneer of moving picture news services in the silent era.” His Pathe News company produced newsreels from 1910 to the 1970s.

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Summer Reruns: A Few Favorite Ghost Posts

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When it comes to sleuthing a good ghost story, I’m like Velma in the “Scooby Doo” cartoons: I prefer to start my search in the library. Over the years, this blog has paid a lot of attention to local ghostlore, often from a more analytical perspective. It’s not that I’m a total skeptic, it’s just [...]

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How Now, Plastic Cow?

Life in Angel City

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Once upon a time in SoCal history there were, as one author put it, “Cattle on a Thousand Hills.” Nowadays the most any of us suburbanites ever see is a plastic bovine like this one standing outside Rigo’s drive-up market in Monrovia.
I was pondering this fact outloud as I snapped this picture, when I swear [...]

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Weekend Matinee: An Extremely Condensed History of Hollywood

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Everything you ever wanted to know about the development of the movie industry, from the early days to television, in exactly 5 minutes. Listen up close, kiddos. It goes by fast.

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Summer Reruns: Keeping Up With the Coronels

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Throughout the summer, your humble blogger is performing a much-needed, behind-the-scenes overhaul of Dateline>City of Angels. During that time, we’ll occasionally pimp the archives to revisit some favorite posts you may have missed or forgotten over the years. Here are this week’s offerings…

Antonio Villaraigosa is L.A.’s first Latino mayor in over a century. But he [...]

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Face From the Past: The Ever-Notorious Judge William G. Dryden

Names and Faces

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Melodramatic as they might be, modern courtroom TV reality shows wouldn’t hold a candle to the legal antics of 19th Century Los Angeles. Throughout the mid- to late 1800s, the town’s circus-like court system produced a parade of offbeat trials filled with colorful characters and preposterous verdicts. But for sheer entertainment value, there was probably [...]

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Can Haunted Los Encinos SHP Be Saved?

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That’s the question raised by this March 2 Los Angeles Daily News article. (Well, the article doesn’t actually mention the “haunted” angle, but we’ll get to that below.)
It would be a shame if budget cuts force Los Encinos State Historic Park to close. For those lucky enough to stumble across it, the place offers a [...]

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Spain Makes Federal Case Out of Sunken Treasure

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Treasure hunters be advised: finders aren’t always keepers.
At least that was the verdict of a U.S. judge in the case of a centuries-old sunken treasure discovered off the coast of Spain. The cache of coins is worth an estimated half billion dollars, but the U.S.-based salvage company that hauled them up from the briny deep [...]

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North Hollywood Shootout, 15 Years Later

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Today marks the 15th anniversary of the famous 1997 North Hollywood Shootout in which two armor-clad bank robbers with assault rifles held off hundreds of outgunned LAPD officers. The gun battle lasted nearly 45 minutes, with the robbers firing off more than 1,000 armor-piercing bullets and police unleashing more than 750 rounds. Ultimately, the LAPD [...]

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Before “The Artist” Came “Wings”

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As everyone knows by now, “The Artist” was named best picture at last night’s 2012 Oscars — the first (mostly) silent film to win such honors in 83 years. The last silent movie to receive similar accolades was “Wings,” a 1927 flick about World War I fighter pilots starring “It Girl” Clara Bow and Charles [...]

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Photo Op: Colma Monuments

On my recent holiday jaunt to San Francisco, I was fortunate enough to visit the nearby city of Colma. Founded in 1924 and billed as the “City of Souls,” Colma has a unique history — it’s basically San Francisco’s necropolis, boasting 16 crowded cemeteries within its approximately 2-square-mile jurisdiction.
In 1900, San Francisco outlawed burials within [...]

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