Jogging the collective memory of Los Angeles through social media since 2009. Some people think LA has no history. They just don't know where to look.
"The first 'Ridge Route,' the one with nearly 700 curves cut out of the mountainsides by mule and horse teams dragging scrapers, had opened in 1916," @pattmlatimes.bsky.social. www.latimes.com/california/s... #highways
Commentary: Highway bandits, Charles Lindbergh and the 700 curves; The story of the Ridge Route over Tejon PassTwo versions of the Ridge Route over the Tejon Pass were built before the Interstate 5 was completed in 1970, connecting L.A. to Central California.www.latimes.comRemembering the actress Dolores del Río, born #OTD in 1905, with the #DoloresdelRio mural in Hollywood by artist @alfredo-de-batuc.bsky.social. More info via the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles: www.themcla.org/node/53
Aug 2, 1942: José Gallardo Díaz died from his injuries sustained in Sleepy Lagoon. In response to his murder, the police rounded up 600 Mexican American suspects, mostly wearing zoot suits. www.pbs.org/wgbh/america... Portrait of Jose G. Diaz, from the larger mural at Maywood's Riverfront Park.
Aug 5: There are a few Fairfax Film Festival tickets left for the screening of the documentary “Acting Like Women” (about the Woman's Building). #performanceart Info: www.lookcinemas.com/glendale/mov...
Aug 1, 1956: The City of La Puente was incorporated 70 years ago today. #SanGabrielValley "La Puente Valley attracted numerous settlers during the 1840s with the Gold Rush and again in the 1870s with railroad lines." Text/images via the #LACounty Library: lacountylibrary.org/lapuente-loc...
🎡 Had a lovely time in Ontario last night hearing about the extensive Fairplex collection archived at @cpplibrary.bsky.social! Passing along CPP Library’s link to the vintage #LACountyFair video & audio footage posted on California Revealed -> californiarevealed.org/search?searc... #countyfair
Cal Poly Pomona University Library📅 Mark your calendars! On Thursday, July 30, join Cal Poly Pomona Special Collections & Archives at the Ontario City Library for a free talk on the history of the Los Angeles County Fair. First come, first served. 📍 Ovitt Family Community Library, Ontario, CA
"It might be said of #EveBabitz, as Oscar Wilde said of his life, that she spent her talent on her writing & reserved her genius for her life. Sculpting her natural gifts of wit & brazenness into a living artwork dazzled all who came within her orbit." www.latimes.com/entertainmen... #writersky
"Joseph Young's Triforium is a musical instrument with lit glass prisms, in #DTLA. It was an experiment so far ahead of its time that it has stirred controversy since its 1975 unveiling." ICYMI: #PBSSoCal featured the Triforium in a recent episode of Artbound. www.pbs.org/video/the-tr... #publicart
Artbound | The Triforium’s Noisy History and Vision for the Future | Season 16 | Episode 2Explore the Triforium, a controversial light-and-sound landmark in downtown LA.www.pbs.orgArtist Betye Saar was born #OTD 100 years ago. “Few artists have been as emblematic of their time & place as Betye Saar. While her geography has technically remained the same…she has found a way to remain engaged & vital throughout her region's many eras.” CAAM (2019): caamuseum.org/learn/600sta...
CAAM | #blackhistory: On July 30, 1926, legendary artist Betye Saar was bornFew artists have been as emblematic of their time and place as Betye Saar. While her geography has technically remained the same—Saar (née Brown) was born in Los Angeles on July 30, 1926, and has live...caamuseum.orgAuthor #ChesterHimes was born #OTD in 1909. He wrote two novels set in wartime Los Angeles after working in San Pedro's shipyards during WW2. "His stories sing with a fire and light that comes from a simmering sense of loss. A loss of respect, of humanity, of honor." www.nytimes.com/2024/02/02/b...
The Crime Novelist Who Was Also a Great American Novelist (Published 2024)Chester Himes was on par with Ellison, Hemingway and Fitzgerald, S.A. Cosby writes.www.nytimes.com"She also usually pointed out one of the last Los Angeles citrus trees in Little Tokyo, a grapefruit tree named Sunny. I glanced at the historical, beautiful tree now as I ambled along," Emily Kimiko Gee. #LittleTokyo
Discover NikkeiThe Little Tokyo Historical Society’s Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest - Youth category, honorable mention is Emily Kimiko Gee's "Oh Bachan." Click to read the story (translations available).
July 28, 1984: The 1984 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was held in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcWF...
Opening Ceremony Highlights - Los Angeles 1984 Olympic GamesYouTube video by Olympic Gameswww.youtube.comAug 15 @ 12pm: The #EastLA Library’s Chicano Resource Center is celebrating 50 years. Panelists Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, Patricia Nazario & Erick Galindo will discuss "Latinidad LA: 50 Years of Culture, Community, & #Chicano Legacy." #LACounty Library: lacountylibrary.org/chicano-reso... #LAEvents
So sorry to hear about the passing of Los Angeles artist Betye Saar, just a few days shy of her 100th birthday on July 30. She leaves behind such a tremendous legacy within the local (& national) arts community. #womenartists #womenshistory
Los Angeles TimesPioneering L.A. assemblage artist Betye Saar, who ‘liberated’ Aunt Jemima, dies days before her 100th birthday https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-07-27/betye-saar-dead-artist-assemblage-aunt-jemima-99?utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky_
On Wed, Long Beach officials hosted a public unveiling of the city’s 50-year-old time capsule that was sealed for the Bicentennial in 1976. In this photo, Mayor Rex Richardson is holding a model of the #DC10 that he pulled out of the #LongBeachCA time capsule. www.presstelegram.com/2026/07/22/l...
Long Beach reveals artifacts from 1976 during time capsule openingThe event included five Long Beach Unified School District graduates reading aloud letters they wrote for the time capsule in elementary school.www.presstelegram.comAviator Amelia Earhart was born #OTD in 1897. A few images of #AmeliaEarhart as seen at Santa Monica's Museum of Flying, including one of her Lockheed Vega (this is a replica as the original is at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in DC: airandspace.si.edu/collection-o...). #womenshistory #aviation
Anthea M. Hartig "recognizes, in short, that there is much to commend in the American story and that there is much to criticize. Such a nuanced approach is not a violation of the historian’s creed; it is its fulfillment." www.zocalopublicsquare.org/in-defense-o... #skystorians #publichistory
In Defense of Public History | EssayFour Scholars Refute the Attacks on the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartigwww.zocalopublicsquare.org" #HollywoodForever Cemetery will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of screen legend #RudolphValentino with the 99th Annual Valentino Memorial Service and a special centennial screening of Valentino’s final film, 'The Son of the Sheik' (1926) on Sunday, August 23, 2026." #LAEvents
Karie Bible