Skip to main content

Up Next

Pio Pico

Borderlands

Season 2 Episode 1
26:50
Calle de los Negros, Los Angeles, 1871

Wild West

Season 2 Episode 2
26:12
Steel frame of building being erected

Building the Metropolis

Season 2 Episode 3
25:32
press image for lost la season 2

Dream Factory

Season 2 Episode 4
23:50
coded geographies

Coded Geographies

Season 2 Episode 5
25:06
pacific rim

Pacific Rim

Season 2 Episode 6
26:50
descanso gardens

Special: Descanso Gardens

Season 2 Episode 7
51:47
Explorers in Yosemite National Park | Public Domain

Yosemite

Season 3 Episode 1
26:40
bombay beach

Desert Fantasy

Season 3 Episode 2
26:40
Four surfers stand in front of their boards- black and white

Beach Culture

Season 3 Episode 3
26:39
Bodie

Ghost Towns

Season 3 Episode 4
26:40
venice_canal_header.jpg

Venice

Season 3 Episode 5
26:40
Back to Show
Lost LA

Reshaping L.A.

Season 1 Episode 3

It is often said that Los Angeles has buried much of its history. It has suppressed inconvenient reports, recast the plight of Mission Indians as a Spanish Romance, written entire cultures and communities out of its official historical narratives. But some of lost L.A. literally lies buried beneath our feet, hidden long ago when the city, finding the shape and character of its land wanting, opted to mold it to its needs. In this episode, "Lost LA" examines how the modern metropolis has reshaped its own topography. The program explores downtown L.A.'s lost hills and tunnels, as well as the vanished canals of Venice Beach.

Support Provided By
Season
Tiki Bars and Their Hollywood Origins
26:40
Tiki culture isn’t a Polynesian import — it’s a Hollywood creation.
Tuberculosis: The Forgotten Plague
26:49
Archives reveal the “forgotten plague” that shaped Southern California: tuberculosis.
Eternal City: Los Angeles Cemeteries
26:50
Visit Hollywood Forever, Evergreen and Forest Lawn, where L.A. reinvented the cemetery.
Hiking Trailblazers
26:40
The hiker-activists who led Angelenos into their hills and onto the trails.
Historic Filipinotown
26:39
How Filipino Americans in Southern California are making their heritage more visible.
Fast Food and Car Culture
26:47
Iconic fast-food chains from McDonald’s to Taco Bell were born in SoCal.
From Little Tokyo to Crenshaw
26:37
After internment camps, Japanese Americans made L.A.'s Crenshaw neighborhood their home.
German Exiles
26:04
During WWII, L.A. became a sanctuary for Europe’s accomplished artists and intellectuals.
Prehistoric Landscapes
26:46
Dig deep into Southern California’s past to reveal lessons for our climate-changed future.
Winemaking
26:41
Explore a forgotten age when winemaking was Southern California’s principal industry.
Who Killed the Red Car?
26:46
Why did Los Angeles dismantle one of the greatest rail transit systems in the nation?
Shindana Dolls | Still from "Lost LA" S4 E6: Shindana Toy Company
26:40
Explore the lasting impact of the Shindana Toy Company, created out of the need for community empowerment following the 1965 Watts uprising, whose ethnically correct black dolls forever changed the American doll industry.
Active loading indicator