LAhistory

Just sharing several photographic highlights from last...

Sat, 01 Jun 2013 18:09:24 -0400

Just sharing several photographic highlights from last night’s “Sonic Overdrive,” a Getty evening of Los Angeles music curated by historian Josh Kun. Building upon the Getty’s PSTinLA exhibit “Overdrive,” Kun curated a small sampling of LA music — past, present and future. And frankly, the sampling left us wanting more.

Photos (L-R) with descriptions taken mostly from the Getty website:

Josh Kun introducing the night’s program (his new book “Songs in the Key of Los Angeles” shares sheet music found in the LA Public Library to illustrate the story of LA.)
Exene Cervenka, singer for the bands X & The Knitters (she’s also on Twitter)
Soul-and-gospel legend Merry Clayton (she’s included in the new film “20 Feet from Stardom” that looks at the “unsung heroes behind the greatest music of our time.”)
Chris Hillman of The Byrds & Flying Burrito Brothers
Underground hip-hop veteran Busdriver
Latin fusion band La Santa Cecilia
Alternative-rock favorites Silversun Pickups

The citizens of Los Angeles had good reason to celebrate the...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 10:50:00 -0400

The citizens of Los Angeles had good reason to celebrate the laying of the cornerstone for the San Pedro breakwater on April 26, 1899. It marked the successful end to a long-fought battle with the Southern Pacific Railroad over the location of the city’s deep-water harbor. Would it be San Pedro advocated by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the Free Harbor League? Or would it be Santa Monica advocated by Collis Huntington and the SP?

One hero of the battle was Stephen M. White, Los Angeles attorney and U.S. Senator, who was dogged in his determination to locate the “free” harbor at San Pedro. If the harbor were to be built in Santa Monica, the Southern Pacific, which had been buying up property adjacent to the pier, would control access and freight rates. In San Pedro, rates were would be competitive.

The celebration began when President McKinley pushed a button in Washington, D.C. that signaled a barge in San Pedro to dump a load of large boulders into the sea for the beginning of the new breakwater.

In downtown Los Angeles, an estimated 100,000 people attended a parade followed in the evening with music from many bands, including the Mexican Philharmonic Band, who performed from a gayly-decorated streetcar that moved around town. In San Pedro, residents attended a barbecue, water carnival and fireworks on the first day. On the second, they saw a historical pageant, floral parade and parade of illuminated boats.

The Los Angeles Times ended its report, “In all it was a fitting close for a magnificent celebration, and when the last tune was played and the final lamp went out, the thousands who had participated in the carnival had retired, rejoicing that Southern California had won another victory for securing a free harbor.”

For more images, see the Port of Los Angeles’ archival photos (recently made available online) and also the book “Port of Los Angeles,” by Angel City Press.

Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare! On William Shakespeare’s...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:14:21 -0400

Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare!

On William Shakespeare’s birthday, April 23, 1902, “a crush of ultra-fashionable ladies and gentlemen” celebrated by dedicating Cumnock Hall—a duplicate of Shakespeare’s house in Stratford. With its “wilderness of flowers [and] furbelows and electric lights in a violet-laden atmosphere,” the dedication was a “magnificent success” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Located on Figueroa, the hall was the new home of the Cumnock School of Expression which offered classes in acting and stagecraft (and even had a Shakespeare Room). Among the most popular were the Shakespeare classes taught by Kate Tupper Gilpin, founder of the Los Angeles Shakespeare Club. For this club, the Bard’s birthday was always an occasion for celebration.

In 1904, the club presented “The Merry Wives of Windsor” to great acclaim…”brilliant work” noted the Los Angeles Times. British-born actor, director and playwright Garnet Holme (author of the Ramona Pageant) “who trained and directed the play, was recipient of a Marie Antoinette basket of La France roses from the cast,” all of whom were amateurs.

The Times concluded “Let no one say, after this, that in the city of Los Angeles the immortal Bard of Avon is unremembered or unsung.”

Looks like these photos were from this 1966 article in LIFE...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 01:33:23 -0400

Looks like these photos were from this 1966 article in LIFE Magazine.

morejunk:

suicidewatch:

Los Angeles, 1966

babeeezzzzz

Today, Olvera Street celebrates its 83rd anniversary as it...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 12:12:59 -0400

Today, Olvera Street celebrates its 83rd anniversary as it opened on April 20, 1930 (Easter Sunday). William Estrada’s book, “The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space,” recounts the opening:

…the next phase in the revival of the Plaza area began on Easter Sunday, 1930, with the opening of Paseo de Los Angeles, which later became popularly known by its official street name, Olvera Street. Christine Sterling’s romantic revival had finally come to pass. It was an overnight success as a local tourist destination and was heralded in the local press as “A Mexican Street of Yesterday in a City of Today.”

This postcard comes from the recently launched Digital Public Library of America.

In preparation for the annual Festival of Books, the Los Angeles...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:19:41 -0400

In preparation for the annual Festival of Books, the Los Angeles Times compiled a great map of Literary LA.

We skimmed through the festival’s weekend-long schedule to pull out several panels focused on Southern California history. The list below is not exhaustive as there will many writers and presenters who will weave between LA’s past and present, but hopefully this helps the LA history fan begin to navigate the overwhelmingly wonderful Festival of Books.

Sat @ 12pm: Kevin Starr in Conversation with William Deverell. At the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes tonight, Kevin Starr will receive the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement (more info via the LA Times Jacket Copy). Historian Bill Deverell has published many titles about Los Angeles history, including the 2010 “A Companion to Los Angeles.”

Sat @ 2:30: History - Telling Hollywood Tales:

Leo Braudy, author of “The Hollywood Sign”
M.G. Lord, author of “The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice”
Margaret Talbot, author of “The Entertainer: Movies, Magic and My Father’s Twentieth Century”
David Thomson, author of “The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies and What They Did to Us”
Moderator Barbara Isenberg

Sat @ 3:30 pm: The Real LA Noir with Patt Morrison:

Andrew Blankstein, crime reporter for the LA Times
Larry Harnisch, author who shares LA history via LA Daily Mirror
Richard Winton, crime reporter for the LA Times

Sun @ 11am: The Cold War - Hollywood & Beyond

Steven J. Ross, author of “Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics”
Richard Schickel, author of numerous books on the film industry
Jon Wiener, author of “How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey Across America”
Moderator James Rainey

Sun @ 1:30pm: Living and Writing Los Angeles

William Deverell (his USC profile lists his recent publications)
Dana Johnson, author of “Elsewhere, California”
Laura Pulido, author of “A People’s Guide to Los Angeles”
Richard Rayner, author of “A Bright and Guilty Place: Murder, Corruption, and LA’s Scandalous Coming of Age”
Moderator Brighde Mullins

What did we miss?

Again, full schedule for the LA Times Festival of Books is available on the Los Angeles Times website.

This year, the Ramona Pageant celebrates its 90th season...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:10:00 -0400

This year, the Ramona Pageant celebrates its 90th season (performances are scheduled for April 20, 21, 27, 28, and May 4 and 5). If unfamiliar, Ramona is the romantic tale of early California written by Helen Hunt Jackson that sparked a tourist industry more interested in California’s mythic Spanish past than its actual Mexican one. In Jackson’s defense, she wrote Ramona to draw attention to the plight of the Native Americans, building upon her previous non-fiction book, A Century of Dishonor.

To write the adaption of Helen Hunt Jackson’s bestselling novel (which you can read here), the Hemet Chamber of Commerce hired actor/producer/playwright Garnet Holme with the hope of drawing tourists to the San Jacinto Valley. British-born Holme had arrived in Los Angeles in 1903 to teach Shakespeare and became active in Los Angeles’ theater community. Since then, he had been producing outdoor shows all over California, including the Desert Play in Palm Springs in 1921.

The Ramona Pageant turned out to be his most successful production. The pageant was so successful, he was later hired as the “pageant master” of the National Parks, producing historical plays for Yosemite, Yellowstone and Sequoia parks among others (Source: Garnet Holme: California’s Pageant Master by Phil Brigandi).

The state of California recognized the Ramona Pageant on its 70th anniversary in 1993 by designating it the official California State Outdoor Play. RamonaBowl.com has more pictures and information about the pageant’s history. Also, City of Hemet’s Facebook page has vintage Ramona photos (including this 1923 photo above)

SongsinKeyofLA, “brings to life the Library’s...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:48:51 -0400

SongsinKeyofLA, “brings to life the Library’s extraordinary Southern California Sheet Music Collection. Consisting of sheet music pieces that range from the 1840s through the 1950s, the Collection offers a singular portrait of Los Angeles history and culture rendered in music and visual art. The motto of the project: archives should not just be preserved and maintained. Archives should come back to life.”

songsinkeyofla:

George Wilton Ballard singing of a Paradise of Poppies in 1917. “I’m going back to California, to dear old sunny California.”

Sharing this LAPL photo of Jackie Robinson with his Pasadena Jr....

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 12:58:34 -0400

Sharing this LAPL photo of Jackie Robinson with his Pasadena Jr. College teammates as today, MLB celebrates Jackie Robinson Day. Many Dodger fans know that Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier (in Ebbets Field) on April 15, 1947. The movie 42 draws much-needed attention to this important achievement giving many the springboard to talk about Robinson’s early life in Pasadena and at UCLA. Here’s just a handful of articles:

The Los Angeles Times shared a series of photos of Jackie Robinson through the years.

For Zocalo Public Square, NPR’s Scott Simon wrote about Jackie Robinson’s days at UCLA (where he met his wife). Simon, “Because of UCLA, [Robinson] had played sports at the major college level and excelled…He had learned how to cope with the questions and attentions of sportswriters…” UCLA just unveiled a mural featuring Jackie Robinson at Jackie Robinson Stadium (more on KPCC).

Several discussed how the film 42 brushed over Robinson’s early history in Southern California. LA Weekly’s Brendan Whalen wrote, “Mostly, I’m disappointed because Robinson’s journey really both starts and ends in Los Angeles.” For KCRW, Kevin Roderick spoke on Jackie Robinson’s Pasadena life, “Jackie Robinson, is through and through, a local story before he went on to play with the Brooklyn Dodgers.” Robinson’s alma mater, Pasadena City College, celebrated with its own screening of 42 at Pasadena’s ArcLight.

African American reporter Wendell Smith covered Jackie Robinson for the African American-owned Pittsburgh Courier. Not allowed in the press box, Smith sat in the stands with a typewriter on his lap chronicling the achievements of Robinson. Bill Plaschke writes in the LA Times, “Everyone will remember the headline, but few will remember the byline — Wendell Smith.”

KPCC’s Take Two interviewed Willie O’Ree, who broke the NHL’s color barrier and also played hockey for the LA Blades. O’Ree recounted the 1962 NAACP luncheon held for Jackie Robinson in Los Angeles.

According to the LA Times, Magic Johnson once said, “If it wasn’t for Jackie, then I wouldn’t be able to own the Dodgers.” Both Johnson and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig hope to increase the number of black players in baseball. Magic Johnson, “We have to bring the game to them. We have got to bring the kids to the [neighborhood] park, as young, young kids, to let them see how exciting it is to be a baseball player.”

On April 12, 1909, Los Angeles shops closed and thousands lined...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:04:28 -0400

On April 12, 1909, Los Angeles shops closed and thousands lined the streets for the funeral of Madame Modjeska at St. Vibiana’s Cathedral. Born in Poland, Helena Modjeska was a famous 19th-century Shakespearean actress who emigrated to California in 1876. Though she settled in Orange County (Santiago Canyon), she was beloved in Los Angeles (and the U.S) as “Angelenos really felt Modjeska belonged to them,” according to 1953 article “Madame Modjeska in California.”)

Most pictures of the popular 19th-century Shakespearean actress, Helena Modjeska, show her costumed in one of her notable roles including Macbeth, Cleopatra, or Mary Stuart. Here she is shown (center, back row) in San Juan Capistrano with her Orange County friends, including Judge Richard Egan. Noted horticulturist and champion of California’s native wildflowers, Theodore Payne had his first job at Madame Mojeska’s ranch (and published his recollections “Life on the Modjeska Ranch in the Gay Nineties”). One of Payne’s favorite memories is of a dance on the veranda of her home, Arden, in Santiago Canyon: “There was Madame Modjeska, one of the greatest actresses the world has ever known….dancing with Jose Serrano, wearing a big Mexican sombrero. What a picturesque scene.”

After the funeral, Madame Modjeska’s casket was sent by rail to New York for another funeral and finally by ship and land to her native Poland where she was buried. And more than 100 years later, “America is awash in Modjeskiana” according to Beth Holmgran in her 2012 biography of the famous Polish-American actress, “Starring Madame Modjeska.”

While we may not remember who won the Oscars for best actor or...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:17:00 -0400

While we may not remember who won the Oscars for best actor or actress in 1972, those attending the Academy Awards on April 10 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion will never forget the moving tribute to Charlie Chaplin. He received the longest standing ovation in Oscar history—12 minutes—when he came on stage. He had lived with his family in Switzerland since 1952, vowing never to return to the United States when he learned that the immigration service would deny him a re-entry visa because of his leftist leanings. His appearance at the Academy Awards on April 10 was the first time he was in the U.S. after 20 years. According to the LA Times, “…there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Jack Lemmon gave him his famous Little Tramp hat and cane.”

And, according to The Academy’s web site, the best actress was Jane Fonda in “Klute” and best actor was Gene Hackman in “The French Connection” which also won best picture.

On April 4, 1850, Los Angeles was incorporated as a U.S. city...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:04:00 -0400

On April 4, 1850, Los Angeles was incorporated as a U.S. city (official California statute). What was known as Pueblo de Los Angeles had become the City of Los Angeles. Should note that Los Angeles became a U.S. city before California became a U.S. state.

In 1950, Los Angeles Mayor Bowron (dressed as a gentleman of the early days) led the festivities celebrating 100 years as a U.S. city. And while April 4, 1850 can be considered one birthday, Los Angeles also celebrates its founding on September 4, 1781. Photo comes from the Herald Examiner Collection of the Los Angeles Public Library.

Today is the official start of Dodger baseball! In honor,...

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:54:22 -0400

Link: http://www.lapl.org

Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozfan22/4473795449/

Today is the official start of Dodger baseball! In honor, here’s a couple of vintage Dodger photos, including this one of Sandy Koufax taken almost 50 years ago (April 2, 1963). The other features Dodger Stadium during the 1965 World Series. Today’s pregame ceremony celebrates the 50th and 25th anniversaries of the club’s 1963 and 1988 World Series championships.

The $100 million upgrade to Dodger Stadium has several musing on the past, present and future of Chávez Ravine. In Los Angeles Review of Books, Sam Lubell writes that approaching Dodger Stadium “feels a bit like stepping back in time, back to a very specific midcentury Los Angeles when technology was the answer, when the future could bring anything, and when optimism wasn’t optional.”

Los Angeles Times architectural critic Christopher Hawthorne details the efforts to transform Dodger Stadium from a privatized space into a more public one. Hawthorne notes, “The team has now spent nearly a decade longer in Chavez Ravine than it did in Ebbets Field.”

While we’re always excited for another season of Dodger baseball, our excitement is informed with the memory of the Chávez Ravine’s painful past, as illustrated with Ry Cooder’s song “3rd Base, Dodger Stadium,” off his Chávez Ravine album:

Mister, you’re a baseball man, as anyone can plainly see.
The straightest game in this great land. Take a little tip from me.
I work here nights, parking cars, underneath the moon and stars.
The same ones that we all knew back in 1952.
And if you want to know where a local boy like me is coming from:
3rd base, Dodger Stadium.

Wishing all a Happy Easter with the 1938 menu from...

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 11:51:00 -0400

Wishing all a Happy Easter with the 1938 menu from Pasadena’s historic Vista del Arroyo, once a posh resort and now the Richard H. Chambers U.S. Court of Appeals. Take a look inside this menu for a glimpse of fine Easter dining circa 1938.

This menu comes from the wonderful collection of menus archived by the Los Angeles Public Library.

With the Dodgers and the Angels playing tonight the second in...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 17:59:43 -0400

With the Dodgers and the Angels playing tonight the second in their 3-game preseason Freeway Series, this image reminds us of what the Angels were doing 42 years ago today — getting ready to open their first season in Southern California. They were also filming the scenes for “The Birth of a Ball Club,” a TV special that aired just over a month later as part of the CBS Summer Sports Spectacular. The Angels played their first season in the now-gone Wrigley Field.

As you can see, this image comes the CBS Archives and was shared online via Getty Images.

“An important epoch in the history of Los Angeles” was marked...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:06:48 -0400

Photo from the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce of the cornerstone ceremony dated March 29, 1903 (http://www.lachamber.com)

The finished 1903 building of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. Photo from the LA Public Library archives.

“An important epoch in the history of Los Angeles” was marked 110 years ago today (on March 28, 1903), according to the Los Angeles Times. The event was the laying of the cornerstone for the new Chamber of Commerce building on Broadway, its 5th home since its founding in 1888.

An estimated 8,000 people were “congested in the block and surrounding buildings…So dense was the throng in the street that all traffic was barred, the electric cars…Flags fluttered in the breeze from the tops of many buildings in the vicinity, lending a gala appearance to the scene.” Reading like a press release, the LA Times reported, “Under a turquoise sky, flecked with fleecy clouds that linked mountain and sea with a filmy band, and in the presence of a great assemblage of citizens and visitors, the principal foundation stone of the new structure was placed in position by the Grand Lodge and Masons of California.” The Masons were present in full force – 800 of them from all over Southern California parading from the Masonic Temple on Hill Street to the Chamber site at 103 South Broadway.

The ceremonies, as you might imagine, were mostly speechifying. On a less serious note, the newspaper published a tribute to the chamber by an anonymous poet:

How dear to our hearts is the Chamber of Commerce
With its hall of exhibits that all of us know;
The elephant, turtles and eke the big pumpkins
And ev’ry old freak that this climate can grow;
The tempting display of the fruits of the orchards
And all the good things that abound in the land;
The board of directors, the obliging attendants,
And genial Frank Wiggins who gives the glad hand—
That dear old Frank Wiggins, the long legged Wiggins,
The wonderful Wiggins who gives the glad hand!

In 1903, newspaper readers knew Frank Wiggins as the legendary secretary of the Chamber, tireless and innovative promoter of Los Angeles, and creator of a larger-than-life elephant made of walnuts.

Presumably on purpose 21 years later, on March 28, 1924, the Chamber celebrated the laying of another cornerstone for another bigger and better building at 1151-12th Street. In all, the Chamber has occupied 8 building locations in Los Angeles. This year, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce celebrates its 125th anniversary.

Looking forward to attending this event on Monday evening:...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:30:19 -0400

Looking forward to attending this event on Monday evening:

huntingtonlibrary:

Today on Verso, a preview of “Better Living Through Electricity,” an upcoming panel discussion tied to Form and Landscape: Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Basin, 1940–1990, part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A.

This free event will take place at The Huntington on April 1.

image caption: Joseph Fadler, Pokey’s Restaurant (Beverly Drive at Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles), 1955. Southern California Edison Photographs and Negatives. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

On March 27, 1987, the band U2 recorded the “Where the...

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:10:25 -0400

On March 27, 1987, the band U2 recorded the “Where the Streets Have No Name” video atop a downtown Los Angeles building at 7th & Main.

usclibraries: “Merry Xmas” greetings from Venice Beach in...

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 17:24:16 -0500

usclibraries:

“Merry Xmas” greetings from Venice Beach in 1951.

Part of the Los Angeles Examiner Collection in the USC Digital Library.

Today, the Book Club of California celebrated 100 years of fine...

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 23:55:43 -0500

Today, the Book Club of California celebrated 100 years of fine printing about the history and literature of California at a centennial luncheon in San Francisco. While based in Northern California, the Club publishes handsomely printed books, keepsakes and ephemera that feature the history of Los Angeles. For example, pictured here is the cover of the annual keepsake for 2006 — 14 reproductions of Southern California travel posters from 1896-1965 with an essay on the collection by Victoria Daily called “From Ramona to Gidgit” (this keepsake and others are for sale on the Club’s web site).

The Club’s newest book is a treasure of historic black and white photos of downtown Los Angeles by William Reagh. Designed by Reagh’s son, Patrick, the book is introduced by photography collector and dealer, Michael Dawson. (LA Observed featured some of Reagh’s wonderful photos).

To celebrate its centennial, the Club has mounted a traveling exhibition, “Pressing Forward: The Book Club of California at 100,” currently on display in its San Francisco headquarters. The exhibit is scheduled to be shown at the Claremont Colleges Library in January.