Posts tagged as:

History

The Bricks and Mortar of Feminist Power

Angeleno Sights

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Who says L.A. has no history? Open your eyes (or in this case your camera lens) wide enough, and you’ll literally discover it in the most out-of-the-way corners of town.
While shooting the Broadway viaduct the other day, I parked my Jeep in front of this old brick building on N. Spring Street, thinking little of [...]

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L.A. in Quotes: An Ironic Reflection on the River

Angeleno Sights

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“The Los Angeles River was a beautiful, limpid little stream with willows on its banks….it was so attractive to me that it at once became something about which my whole scheme of life was woven. I loved it so much.” — William Mulholland, 1855-1935.
You have to admit there’s a certain irony to this quote. Thanks [...]

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Old News: L.A.’s Dangerous Streets Revisited

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A week ago this blog brought you the news that L.A.’s streets have been ranked the nation’s third most deadly to pedestrians. But have our streets always been so mean?
Obviously, such statistics weren’t kept 117 years ago, but this April 21, 1892, Los Angeles Times “City Brief” may offer a clue:
“People should be careful about [...]

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Tripout to Charles Lummis’ El Alisal Hideaway

Angeleno Sights

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Imagine trekking more than 3,000 miles to take a job. Yet that’s exactly what Charles Fletcher Lummis did in 1884 after accepting a reporting position at the Los Angeles Times.
In what has to be one of the greatest early promotional stunts in L.A. Media history, Lummis journeyed on foot from Cincinnati to the City of [...]

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Weekend Matinee: Remember Marineland?

Angeleno Sights

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The aquatic park entertained millions of visitors to the Palos Verdes Peninsula from 1954 to 1987. Opening a year prior to Disneyland, it was then the world’s largest oceanarium and arguably California’s first major theme park.
But the whales, dolphins and performing seals are all history now, along with the ruins shown in this video [...]

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Ghosts and GHOULA at Olvera Street’s Casa La Golondrina Mexican Cafe

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Readers with a thirst for spirits — both the distilled and paranormal kind — should consider some monthly barhopping with GHOULA, the Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles.
Last night the group’s “Spirits With Spirits” gathering descended on Olvera Street’s famous La Golondrina Mexican Cafe for dinner, drinks and an impromptu tour of the not-so-public upstairs [...]

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Everything Comes Up Roses With Capt. Sully

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If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s for Tournament of Roses officials to bring a trademark “rosy optimism” to each New Year’s celebration.
For a year overshadowed by malaise like 2010 promises to be, could they have done any better to lift our spirits than naming Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger as the parade’s Grand [...]

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Forest Lawn, the Ultimate Celebrity Neverland

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This week it was announced that pop-singer Michael Jackson will be laid to rest at Forest Lawn, Glendale, on what would have been his 51st birthday, Aug. 29.
Dateline>City of Angels can’t think of a more appropriate choice of cemetery, given how for nearly a century Forest Lawn has served as a virtual Neverland for [...]

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Where Were You When the Eagle Landed?

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I count myself fortunate to have been a young witness to one of humankind’s proudest achievements. Forty years ago I, like millions the world over, gazed in awe as the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle touched down at Tranquility Base.
A boy of seven, I was gathered with my brothers in our family living room along [...]

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Old News: When Those Freaky Circus People Come to Town

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There’s a certain historical irony in this month’s return of Cirque Berzerk (left) to the Los Angeles State Historic Park with a schedule of weekend performances. Over a century ago, L.A.’s City Fathers faced quite a conundrum over how to prevent such big-top hijinks from disturbing the Sunday peace.
Reporting on City Hall’s daily antics, the [...]

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Driveby Shot: Crossroads of the World

Angeleno Sights

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Now an office building, Sunset Blvd.’s Crossroads of the World opened in 1936 as L.A.’s first themed shopping mall. (Many believe it’s America’s first such mall as well.)
The shipshape design was the brainchild of Robert V. Derrah, well known for his Streamline Moderne Coca Cola building across town on Central Avenue.
Here at Crossroads, a twirling [...]

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Banking on a Dead Horse in Silver Lake

For all Citibank’s Silver Lake customers know, their branch safeguards a mythic lost treasure.
But it’s not in the bank’s vault — at least not the one where the loot is kept.
That’s because the treasure in question isn’t gold or currency, but rather Old Blue, faithful steed of cowboy movie legend Tom Mix. And according to [...]

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Weekend Matinee: Recalling Beverly Park and Ralph Story

Life in Angel City

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For your weekend enjoyment: An excerpt from the PBS program Things That Aren’t Here Anymore, narrated by Ralph Story, a guy who (sadly) isn’t here anymore.

Beverly Park operated at the current site of the Beverly Center from 1945-1974. Having never been there as a kid, your humble blogger lacks any personal recollections of it. However, [...]

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More Old News: Trouble at the Ol’ Coronel Place

If you’re a faithful reader of this blog, you’ve already met Antonio Coronel, 19th century L.A. mayor and leading citizen extraordinaire. Now it’s time to meet his widow Mariana, courtesy a news item carried by the Los Angeles Times 110 years ago this month.
Entitled The Coronel Mansion, the May 2, 1899, piece reports the courtroom [...]

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Photo Op: Pasadena’s City Hall

Angeleno Sights

This building ranks as one of Southern California’s true gems. Completed in 1927, it was designed by the San Francisco firm of Bakewell and Brown. The red tile roofing, cast stone details and massive six-story dome recall 16th Century Italian architectural cues.
When I set out to snap my night photos, I began with the much [...]

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Rediscovering an Elysian Valley Treasure

Angeleno Sights

Sometimes it feels like I just don’t get around as much as I used to.
How else to explain my embarrassing ignorance of a splendid little pocket park practically in my own backyard?
Acting on a tip from a source that will remain nameless (OK, it was this month’s issue of Sunset Magazine), your humble blogger set [...]

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Old News: Living the Good Life in 1890s Glendora

Ahhh, Glendora… Garden spot of the Southland.
Well maybe not nowadays, but 119 years ago, the Los Angeles Times reported that “you can scarcely find a livelier place” in all Southern California…
“There are no loungers around the postoffice and stores. It is almost out of the question to get a man if you want one for [...]

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L.A. in Quotes: Tax Day Stimulus Edition

“We are taxed for schools — taxed as no people ever were — and the reason our children cannot go to school is because our money has not been properly used.”
–Major Horace Bell (1830-1918).
Major Bell was publisher of The Porcupine, a famous 19th Century weekly L.A. newspaper dedicated to skewering civic corruption and hypocrisy.
The above [...]

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Check It Out: The Original Foxfire Book Series

With the 1970s making their retro-glorious comeback, Dateline>City of Angels readers might want to check into the popular Foxfire book series that debuted during that decade.
I was reminded of these books while making my recent post about Grannie’s breadbox. As those who lived the 1970s will recall, “returning to nature” and “the basics” were prevalent [...]

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Photo Op: Grand Avenue’s Artsy New School

Angeleno Sights

My regular readers may be wondering where I’ve been lately. The answer is all over town.
Two magazine writing gigs, plus continued work on my book have kept me plenty busy. Add to that a documentary film class that I started at the Echo Park Film Center a couple of weeks ago, and you’ve got the [...]

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