Article
Lost LA
Before Motown: L.A.'s Black-Owned Soul Music Empire
During the 1950s and 1960s, Los Angeles had its own Motown records — Dootone Records. The label's owner, Dootsie Williams, was a trailblazing Black music executive and entrepreneur who not only left an impact on the music industry, but also in his community.
Article
Lost LA
How Public Transit Helped the 1932 Olympics Move Around Los Angeles
Streetcars, interurban trolleys, and a fleet of buses transported athletes and spectators around Los Angeles during the 1932 Summer Olympics.
Article
Lost LA
Obama in L.A.: The 44th President’s Two Years as an Angeleno
As an undergraduate at Occidental College, Barack Obama lived in the Los Angeles area from 1979-81.
Article
Lost LA
How a Neighborhood Disappears: The Life and Death of Pico Heights
During the 1970s, the name Pico Heights was erased from maps and today the name is all but forgotten.
Article
Lost LA
Shootout at Temple & Main: The LAPD’s Violent Beginnings
The first LAPD officer killed in the line of duty was shot by a fellow officer over a reward for recovering a runaway Chinese prostitute.
Article
Lost LA
Los Angeles’ 1850s Slave Market Is Now the Site of a Federal Courthouse
Though California was technically a "free state" in the 1850s, its laws blessed a system that amounted to slavery for Native people.
Article
Lost LA
Irwindale: Mining the Building Blocks of Los Angeles
Much of the raw material for L.A.'s freeways and concrete structures comes from Irwindale, where rock, sand, and gravel mining has long dominated the local economy.
Article
Departures
California, Calafia, Khalif: The Origin of the Name "California"
California, which has spawned so many of its own myths, has its origin in myth. The Spanish explorers were looking for an "island dream" when they gave California its name.
Article
Departures
The Hunt for Tiburcio Vasquez: A Chase Through a Californio's L.A.
Tiburcio Vasquez portrayed himself as the defender of the Californios following the American takeover of California, though he was tried as a criminal and eventually hung. The last chase of Vasquez throughout L.A. reveals a landscape in transition from...
Article
Departures
Clifford Clinton: The Man and His Cafeteria Shaped Food and Politics in L.A.
Clifford Clinton, best known as the founder of Clifton's Cafeteria, was not only a colorful restaurateur, but also a political reformer, mayoral candidate, and the founder of Meals for Millions.