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L.A. as Subject's latest contribution to KCET's SoCal Focus blog revisted three classic tourist attractions from Southern California history: Marineland of the Pacific, Knott's Berry Farm, and the California Alligator Farm.
Recently, scenes from L.A. history have been reappearing a few dozen miles to the south, as the…
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L.A. as Subject's latest contribution to KCET's SoCal Focus blog features archived images of oil wells towering over Southern California beaches, orange groves, and golf courses:
Ever since the legendary oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny and his partner, Charles A. Canfield, struck oil northwest of downtown Los Angeles in…
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Balloons, dirigibles, and their many variations have long traversed SoCal's skies. L.A. as Subject's latest contribution to KCET's SoCal Focus blog features archived photos from Southern California's ballooning past:
August 17th marked the 33rd anniversary of the first successful transatlantic flight of a balloon--the…
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With Silver Lake's Sunset Junction in the news, L.A. as Subject's latest contribution to the KCET SoCal Focus blog looks at the history of the intersection, from its origins as a node in L.A.'s streetcar network to its pivotal role in the early gay rights movement:
With the recent decision by the L.A. Board of Public…
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Since October 1, hundreds of protesters have occupied the lawn in front of Los Angeles City Hall. Capturing the attention of the public and the news media, these protesters have joined a long, yet sometimes seemingly hidden, tradition of activists who have advocated publicly in Los Angeles for their vision of social…
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L.A. as Subject's latest contribution to KCET's SoCal Focus blog looks at a series of hills near Los Angeles' historic core that have disappeared over the years:
Los Angeles is not a city short on hills. The Hollywood Sign, one of the city's most iconic structures, gazes down at the city from its perch on Mount Lee.…
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Usually, when historic landmarks fall to the wrecking ball, they are lost forever, preserved only in our memory—and in our region's archives. But soon memory will once again take physical form when several historic landmarks from L.A.'s past reappear thirty miles to the south, at Disney California Adventure in…
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Today, the seaside community of Santa Monica could hardly be more different from the sprawling harbor district adjacent to San Pedro. An industrial landscape dominates the Harbor Area--the beaches of the former San Pedro Bay have been converted to landings, and its seas stilled by breakwaters. Santa Monica's landscape,…
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The Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) has played an important historical role in the development of the Los Angeles art scene and has launched the careers of well-known artists who are currently highlighted in the exhibition Golden State of Craft: California 1960-1985, a part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time…
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Santa Monica, California – Take a step back in time and meet Henry Gaylord Wilshire, the man for whom Wilshire Boulevard is named, in a presentation by Louis Rosen, author of Henry Gaylord Wilshire: the Millionaire Socialist, on Saturday, February 4 at 1:00 p.m. in the Main Library’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Auditorium,…
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Ethnic enclaves have long staked out the area immediately north of Los Angeles' historic plaza, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. Now known as Chinatown, the district has attracted successive waves of immigrants, many of them barred from newer neighborhoods by racial hostility and later racially restrictive…
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Los Angeles is a city with its vision so firmly pointed toward the future that traces of the past often escape its sight. Headlines proclaim new mega-developments downtown and transportation projects on the Westside. Even historical reminiscences of the city often focus on what was lost—hills, tunnels, and Victorian…
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Modern Los Angeles is a city without a center. Nodes of power, prestige, and commerce dot the landscape, even if the skyscrapers of Bunker Hill mischievously invite the viewer to locate the city's center there. In its early years, however, Los Angeles was built around a well-defined center, the Plaza, which remained…
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On Saturday February 4 the first joint meeting between LA as Subject (LAAS) and the Los Angeles Heritage Alliance (LAHA) took place at the historic Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga. Attendees were welcomed by Sherri Smith, President of the Little Landers Historical Society. The Little Landers Historical Society (LLHS) is…
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“My five-year tenure in the majors was one of satisfaction and gratification at having conquered the biggest challenge in my life and in some measure opening the door for black umpires. I feel proud having been an umpire in the big leagues not because I was the first black man but because major league umpires are a…