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D.J. Waldie

D. J. Waldie (2017)

D. J. Waldie is the author of "Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir" and "Where We Are Now: Notes from Los Angeles," among other books about the social history of Southern California. He is a contributing editor for the Los Angeles Times.

D. J. Waldie (2017)
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A hand-colored postcard of a large, white, colonial-style building with a green tiled roof stands behind a lush landscape of flower beds, a green lawn and many varieties of trees, with mountains looming just behind. An American flag waves at the top of a flagpole above the roof.
The opportunity to get and stay healthy was a major draw for people to both visit and move to Los Angeles — whether it was during the tuberculosis epidemic (a.k.a. the "forgotten plague") during the 19th century or the health and wellness boom of the early 20th century. Both of these topics are explored in Season 6 of the PBS SoCal Original Series Lost LA.
A black and white image of an elephant holding a broom with its trunk. A man is seen near the elephant, walking towards the animal.
The early days of the movies in Los Angeles inadvertently allowed visitors to experience the largest collection of animals in the western United States. When animals weren't appearing in a movie, they were rented out to other film companies, performed for studio visitors, or in the case of filmmaker William Selig's collection — an opportunity to create one of Los Angeles' first zoos.
Round House, ca. 1885. While still the Garden of Paradise or soon after, the Old Round House veranda and porch were enclosed with siding, turning it into a 12-sided structure. Photograph courtesy of California Historical Society Collection, USC Libraries
Forgetting is famously what Los Angeles does best. But despite erasure, memories do have a place in Los Angeles. Some are official monuments. Some are in ruins and need critical excavation. Some require the imagination to be seen. Here are some places of memory lost to time.
A black and white collaged image of a newspaper ad overlaid semi-transparently over an image of oil wells. The newspaper ad reads, "'Everybody's Doing It' 'Doing What.'" In the center stands a C. C. Julian — a man in a tailored suit and fedora hat with his thumbs hanging off of his pockets.
Booster optimism, unregulated stock speculation, a culture of civic corruption, the power of new advertising media and the cunning of stock promoters fed the Julian Pete swindle — a scandal that defrauded tens of thousands of investors of over $150 million.
A vintage colored photo of three vintage vehicles parked at the top of a dirt hill while people stand outside of the cars, looking at a large fire at an oil refinery below. Large, thick black plumes of smoke emerge from the orange blaze An oil well can be seen to the left.
On May 22, 1958, a series of oil spills and explosions ignited the Hancock Oil Refinery in Signal Hill, burning for two days and sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air. Writer D.J. Waldie, who was 9-years-old at the time of the fires, recalls the explosive event.
A black and white aerial view of Los Angeles Harbor facing east. Visible: Terminal Island, San Pedro, Wilmington, Los Angeles Harbor Main Channel, Smith's Island, Mormon Island, Cerritos Channel, Dominguez Channel, Los Angeles Yacht Club, Fish Harbor and canneries, United States Customs, United States Coast Guard, United States Naval Shipyard, Long Beach, INS Bureau of Prisons, Long Beach Harbor.
The socially and historically complex Terminal Island has become a mono-culture of standardized, containerized commerce. Writer D.J. Waldie recounts a personal history of a once scruffy seaside that is now the nation’s top cargo port.
A photo of avocados hanging off a small tree. The background is black and white while the tree and its leaves and fruit are a green shade.
The history of commercial avocados in California comes from a collection of chance discoveries, Indigenous heritages exploited and improbable survivals that were ultimately hitched to the power of California's industrialized agriculture.
A black and white archival image of a cemetery with gravesites sparsely scattered across the ground, marked various sized and shaped crosses. Many of the crosses are encircled with a wooden fence. Beyond, is a mountain and trees.
The deaths of early Angelenos didn't always lead to eternal rest. When the first Catholic, Jewish and Protestant cemeteries in Los Angeles were abandoned by 1910, the displaced dead were scattered to other cemeteries — but not all were found and reburied.
A black ink illustration of the Angels Flight in Los Angeles and a downtown storefront arranged side-by-side.
In November 1935, Los Angeles Times reporter Timothy Turner and staff artist Charles Owens began a year-long ramble through the historic core of downtown. The Times published more than 40 vignettes of the city's aging Victorian mansions, derelict theaters and other survivals of the 19th century.
A black and white archival photo of a Los Angeles street bustling with pedestrians on the sidewalk and crossing at a crosswalk. A street trolley is seen driving downt he street. In the foreground is an ornate lamp post with two apple-shaped lamps.
When Los Angeles first installed incandescent street lamps, or electroliers, it illuminated the streets with a soft glow, with each street light having distinct decorative features that reflected class distinctions.
A black and white photo of a Los Angeles city street illuminated by street lights along the street and mounted on shop exteriors. The building in the middle of the photo has a sign that reads, "Coast Cigars Coast. The largest retail cigar dealers in the world."
By the end of 1883, Los Angeles became the first city in America to abandon gas for street lighting, opting for electricity.
An old, Sepia-toned image of a late 1800s street with unpaved roads. A gas lamp stands just off the side of the road.
In the 19th century, efforts in making Los Angeles more modern made the city more dependent on burning a fossil fuel.
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