LA as Subject Blog
KCET
Documenting and Preserving L.A.‘s Olympic History
As Southern Californians tune into the infamously delayed coverage of London's 2012 Olympic games, many will inevitably think back to the Los Angeles games of 1984, and a few may even remember the games' first appearance here in 1932. Though short-lived, Los Angeles' two turns in the Olympic… Read more »
Topics: KCET
Seventh & Broadway: Photos of Downtown’s Crossroads through the Decades
Quoting John E. Fisher of the L.A. Department of Transportation, the L.A. City Nerd recentlyshared this interesting fact on Facebook: in 1924, the downtown L.A. intersection of Seventh Street and Broadway was the busiest in the world with 504,000 people crossing those streets each day.
… Read more »Topics: KCET
From Mines Field to LAX: The Early History of L.A. International Airport
With a renovation of the Tom Bradley International Terminal underway, and with Metro considering a fixed-rail transit connection, change is again afoot at Los Angeles International Airport -- the transportation hub that has hardly stood still since it emerged from the bean fields of… Read more »
Topics: KCET
Rediscovering Downtown L.A.‘s Lost Neighborhood of Bunker Hill
Among the charms of the monthly Downtown Art Walk is strolling through a rare historic L.A. neighborhood spared from the bulldozer. At this month's Art Walk, a new exhibition of photography from the George Mann Archives allows participants to discover a neighborhood to which fate and development… Read more »
Topics: KCET
Rockets, Cable Cars, and Protest Marches: Past SoCal Fourth of July Observances
On July 4, 1847, roughly 700 U.S. troops congregated on a hill overlooking the recently captured ciudad to celebrate the Los Angeles' first American Independence Day. Californio forces under Andres Pico had surrendered just months before, and as the war raged on far to the south, the troops… Read more »
Topics: KCET
The Oldest Things in Southern California’s Archives, Part 2
Southern California's archives bridge the old and the new, offering invaluable historical context that isn't always immediately apparent in the contemporary landscape.
We recently asked L.A. as Subject members to search their archives for the oldest object related to Southern California… Read more »
Topics: KCET
The Oldest Things in Southern California’s Archives, Part 1
Southern California's archives bridge the old and the new, offering invaluable historical context that isn't always immediately apparent in the contemporary landscape.
We asked L.A. as Subject members to search their archives for the oldest object related to Southern California history. Far… Read more »
Topics: KCET
Culver City: From Barley Fields to the Heart of Screenland
When the Expo Line's Culver City station opens June 20, history will come full circle. Founded at the junction of three streetcar lines, the Westside community of Culver City has been without passenger rail service since 1953.
Born on the barley fields of the former Rancho La Ballona in 1913,… Read more »
Topics: KCET
Rise of the Sierra Madre: A Brief History of the San Gabriel Mountains
Last Friday, 41,000 acres of the Angeles National Forest charred by the 2009 Station Firereopened to the public. With summer's return, and with newly accessible trails to explore, Southern Californians will soon flock to the San Gabriel Mountains for fresh air and mountain scenery.
Stretching… Read more »
Topics: KCET
Who Eucalyptized Southern California?
Although the orange and the palm loom large in Southern California's iconography, another imported tree -- the eucalyptus -- has been almost as prominent a feature of the region's landscape. Eucalypti grace parks and gardens and shade sidewalks and roadways. In many suburbs, long rows of the… Read more »
Topics: KCET
