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L.A. Through the new Life Magazine historic photo archive

  • Kevin Ferguson

    Kevin Ferguson

    Born in Long Beach, California, Kevin graduated with a Bachelor's of Arts in Spanish. Before joining KPCC, Kevin worked for Marketplace and the District Weekly, a Long Beach magazine. He's also covered music, art and news for OC Weekly, LA Record, Arthur Magazine, and Riviera.

2008-11-19T04:43:11-08:00

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Just saw today that Life Magazine, in partnership with Google has unloaded a massive photo archive up onto this beautiful internet thing of ours. Looking up photos with a "Los Angeles" tag brings up hundreds fascinating pictures (like the frighteningly real shot on the left of Nixon praying somewhere in Los Angeles) that in their own way give a new insight into LA's history. Check it out!

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Highlights include George Silk's photo essay of a 1952 L.A. cat show, including this awkwardly timed shot of a judge in mid-decision making. There's Ralph Crane's shot of a man planting plastic shrubbery next to a highway, the Watts riots, fireworks at the Coliseum, Oil tanks painted as jack-o-lanterns, Lakewood's suburban explosion and Long Beach's waterfront amusement park, pre-breakwater. Now we finally have something to give Shorpy a run for his hard-earned money.

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  • Kevin Ferguson
    About the Author

    Kevin Ferguson

    Born in Long Beach, California, Kevin graduated with a Bachelor's of Arts in Spanish. Before joining KPCC, Kevin worked for Marketplace and the District Weekly, a Long Beach magazine. He's also covered music, art and news for OC Weekly, LA Record, Arthur Magazine, and Riviera.

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