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When I Think of Home: Images from L.A. Archives

Timeline Path

Contents of this path:

This aerial view showcases the bold yet rational design of Pueblo del Rio. Built in 1940 for African-American defense industry workers, the mid-century modernist project, located at 52nd Street and Long Beach Avenue, was designed by the Southeast Housing Architects, led by African-American architect Paul Revere Williams. The group also included Richard Neutra, Gordon Kaufman, Adrian Wilson, and the firm of Wurdeman & Becket.
Aerial view, 1946, of the Northrop Aircraft plant in Hawthorne, between 120th St. (right) and Jack Northrop Ave. (right), looking east from Prairie Avenue, showing housing for Northrop employees. Note the difference between the houses in the foreground and the near left, which appear to have been built individually, one at a time, and the houses in the upper left and upper right, which were built by developers.
To make any place home, fill it with music! Gracing a Tearoom of The Ebell Club of LA is the very grand Steinway and Sons grand piano dated 1884. Gifted to the Ebell in 1960, it appears to have original parts. Soundboards are made from Sitka spruce from Alaska, and other wooden components, such as rims, are sourced from Canadian maple. Since its inception, Steinway has numbered every piano, making their instruments’ genealogy traceable.
The tape begins with short clips of the participants. At 4:19, Shelly Kappe introducing Whitney Smith, A. Quincy Jones, John Lautner, and Carl Maston. Kappe silently presents a selection of slides depicting each panelist's work. At 13:11, a brief video with highlights of last week's design forum is presented, featuring Gregory Ain, Harwell Harris, Thornton Abell, and Raphael Soriano. Ain argues that architecture is about solving a problem while Harris argues that architecture is about solving personal goals as opposed to social goals. Abell discusses form and function, and Soriano argues that style is thought with a minimum amount of words. At 25:13 the live discussion begins. Carl Maston remembers Raphael Soriano and reflects on some stories from Soriano's history. Whitney Smith jokes about how various generations all believe they are going to save the world. He talks about the importance of communication, the AIA, and he compares the profession to a fraternity. A.Quincy Jones discusses the importance of ecological design. Lautner defines architecture as a search for a better human environment, the need for meaning in the work, and the difficulty of progress. John Lautner discusses his arrival in California and getting started as a young architect. Whitney Smith brings up the subject of programming and collaboration. A. Quincy Jones discusses client relationships and programming in terms of a project for a factory. Carl Maston talks about clients in rocky marriages who turn to two things as a solution; building a home or having a baby.
This image shows a young man working on a hot rod car in a driveway in Long Beach in 1954. Hot rods (generally older cars modified for speed and acceleration) and the culture around them started to appear in Southern California in the 1930s, with races in dry lake beds northeast of Los Angeles, and remains popular today. This photograph was taken by Joseph Risinger, a photographer for the Long Beach Press Telegram.
The Britt House Mansion is a colonial revival design. Colonial revival is a copy of Georgian 100 years after the Georgian era. It is on 1 1/2 acres. The exterior walls are all three bricks deep. All the outside terra cotta (sills, lintels, key-stones, ornamental panels, chimney caps, portico columns) were originally in cream white. The interior is vintage Craftsman dating back to the 1905-1914 time period.
This is an excerpt from a larger brochure highlighting the six miniatures made in the 1930s that toured the country from 1946 to 1948, as a celebration of Hollywood and Los Angeles. This page is the short text explaining the miniature of Hollywood and how it came to be. The brochure covers all the models but we are including just the pages on this specific model. The brochure was created to promote the tour of the models.
This is an excerpt from a larger brochure highlighting the six miniatures made in the 1930s that toured the country from 1946 to 1948, as a celebration of Hollywood and Los Angeles. This page is an image of the Hollywood Miniature. It is the companion to the text page submitted separately. The brochure covers all the models but we are including just the pages on this specific model. The brochure was created to promote the tour of the models.
Many of us take our work home, but for Caltech seismologist Charles F. Richter (1900-1985) that meant keeping a full-sized seismograph in his living room, where he fielded earthquake queries at any time. Richter quipped that the instrument was a great conversation starter for his guests. In the 1930s Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg had developed the eponymous earthquake magnitude scale, the first to characterize the absolute energy of shaking rather than structural damage.
Chavez Ravine by Miyo Stevens-Gandara depicts Dodger’s Stadium, a triumphant icon of Los Angeles pride and identity, with the bulldozed phantom of the Chavez Ravine community that existed in its place before the stadium’s construction. Stevens-Gandara draws parallels between the historical accounts and testimonies of the Chavez Ravine community’s displacement and the present issue of gentrification and displacement facing communities everywhere.
These boxes are artifacts from the City Market in Los Angeles. Most peddlers selling produce to Los Angeles residents in the late 1880’s were Chinese. A space was created to regulate the produce market as the demand increased. City Market opened in 1909 just south of Historic Chinatown. Led by Louie Quan, ownership was diverse including many identified as Chinese, Italian, Japanese and Russian. The marketplace helped formed East Adams into a small Chinese community.
This bridge was designed by architects Waddell and Harrington of Missouri but the local contractor from Los Angeles, John Drake Mercereau, changed the design to use natural strong footing in the Arroyo saving money to the city and giving the bridge it's distinctive curve. It was the first high bridge across the Arroyo Seco with an eleven-arched reinforced concrete structure. It connected Pasadena with Highland Park and gave way to more development of both sides of the Arroyo.
In Public Domain -The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information.
In Public Domain -The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information.
The photograph shows the original home of the Gay Community Services Center (GCSC) at 1614 Wilshire Blvd. The mansion, built in the 1870s, served as the GCSC's headquarters when it incorporated in 1971, and provided housing for LGBTQ homeless youth. The organization, now known as the Los Angeles LGBT Center, has continuously provided some form of transitional housing for the LGBTQ community for the last 50 years.
The difference between a house and a home is reflected in La Casa Nueva at the Homestead Museum. The Spanish Colonial Revival house, filled with references to the family and California history, was intended to be a family home for years to come, but the death of Laura Gonzalez Temple was an obvious blow to those plans. Catholic Bishop Cantwell blesses the home in her memory on the first anniversary of her death in December 1923.
Jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer, and bandleader, Don Ellis at Ellis Island (club) on the Sunset Strip, Hollywood, California, 1967. The Don Ellis Band plays "In a Turkish Bath" in celebration of the release of "Electric Bath." Ray Neapolitan is on sitar for "In a Turkish Bath." Opening sequence shows the Sunset Strip and includes the following famous clubs: Dino's Lounge, Sneeky Pete's, The Galaxy, The Whisky, Shelly's Manne Hole, and Ellis Island.
The Ebell club “closet” is a fantasy room for clothing lovers, with more than 1000 dresses, hats, shoes and other accessories along with theatrical costumes. Donated by members and community women since the club’s 1894 founding, the collection reflects what was worn by women of means who shopped local stores like Bullocks and Robinson’s, with some dressmaker and home sewn 1890s through 1900s tea dresses, 1920s evening and daywear and many 1930s-1970s styles.
In the 1830s, Mexican California was embroiled in power struggles between north and south. This decree documents competition for the provincial capital. It not only elevated the pueblo of Los Angeles to the dignity of a city, the first in Alta California, but also designated Los Angeles as the capital. This measure passed the National congress due to the efforts of Carlos Antonio CarriIlo, provincial deputy from California to the Mexican congress and the author of the Exposition of 1831.
The Fat Liberation Manifesto expressed the values of the first feminist Fat Liberation organization, the Fat Underground. Formed in 1973 by radical therapists Judy Freespirit and Sara Golda Bracha Fishman, it took a revolutionary stance against the harmful practices of the diet industry and doctors. As Freespirit wrote, "In the beginning, people giggled when we talked about Fat Liberation. Now . . . there are hundreds of thousands of fat activists and allies."
Flyer for talk by Los-Angeles-based labor organizer L. Gutierrez de Lara. According to historian David Struthers, de Lara was a major contributor to the Mexican branch of Los Angeles’ Socialist Party, whose 1907 founding marked “the first time a non-white group created an institutional home in a white-led leftist organization” there. He often spoke and taught socialist night school for Mexicans in the city; this flyer shows he was also active in San Francisco.
Connexxus was one of the first Los Angeles based non-profit organizations ran by and for women, particularly lesbians. Del Martinez and Lauren Jardine, shown here, opened Connexxus in January of 1985 on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. The thriving center included a library, coffee house, and meeting spaces and services like workshops and counseling. In 1986, it opened Connexxus East / Centro de Mujeres and reached out to Latina lesbians specifically.
View of the Foy Residence at the corner of 7th and Figueroa (current site of the Wilshire Grand Center). Built by Samuel Calvert Foy (1830-1901) around 1872, the house was moved to Witmer Street in 1920, and again to Carroll Avenue in 1992 where it still stands. Foy was the father of Mary E. Foy (1862-1962) a leader in the local suffrage movement and the first woman to serve as the Los Angeles Public Library's City Librarian.
Freeways are a staple of the landscape of Los Angeles County. In this image from 1954, Goodwin Knight (1896-1970), the 31st Governor of California who served from 1953-1959, cuts a ribbon at the opening of the Los Angeles River Freeway State Route 15. Today this freeway is known as the Long Beach Freeway/Interstate 710. This photograph was taken by Joseph Risinger, a photographer for the Long Beach Press Telegram.
Established by Secondo Guasti in 1900, the Italian Vineyard Company accounted for thousands of acres of agricultural land, and at one point became the largest vineyard in the word. The acres of vineyard and accompanying walnut groves depicted here helped to create the town of Guasti, California. Secondo Guasti's heavy Italian influence in the area led to the Italian consulate in Los Angeles to promote the agricultural town to Italian workers during this time.
Los Angeles in 1949 meant a lot of ex-military personnel were finding a new life for their families. Many of my Romero uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins had migrated to LA from Albuquerque by this time. The Romeros had been in NM since 1751. They chose the neighborhoods close to Downtown and each other. My father's first house was 160 W. 76 St., South Los Angeles. Genealogy helped me tell this story. —Cathy Romero
Los Angeles in 1949 meant a lot of ex-military personnel were finding a new life for their families. Many of my Romero uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins had migrated to LA from Albuquerque by this time. The Romeros had been in NM since 1751. They chose the neighborhoods close to Downtown and each other. My father's first house was 160 W. 76 St., South Los Angeles. Genealogy helped me tell this story. —Cathy Romero
This short reel provides a highlight overview of the Academy Visual History Program, which has recorded over 225 long-form visual histories in 9 countries and 11 languages. As the ecosystem in which we make and share films becomes increasingly multi-regional and international, the Academy Foundation and Film Archive seeks to document those shifts by including voices which are essential to a more global appreciation of cinema history.
Entrance to Caltech’s High Voltage Research Laboratory, the first facility to produce million-volt discharges. It was home to groundbreaking research that helped "make" Caltech, including technological innovations for Southern California Edison, the transmutation of elements, neutron-beam generation, and radiation therapy. Lee Lawrie sculpted the dramatic art-deco frieze (1923) on Bertram Goodhue’s façade, depicting two men pulling a cable to create a powerful burst. The frieze was demolished in 1959 when the building was repurposed.
Los Angeles is home to millions of migrants and immigrants, many of whom are undocumented. A photograph of the March 25, 2006 demonstration for immigrant rights—the largest demonstration in California history with more than one million participants—promoted the May 1, 2006 immigrant rights march, attended by approximately 500,000. It opposed HR 4437, The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (passed in the House, defeated in the Senate).
Built in 1915, the Lanterman House was one of the first reinforced concrete homes built west of the Mississippi River. This innovative building material was chosen because of the Lanterman’s interest in preventing fire and earthquake damage. Designed by Arthur Haley, the house features a U-shaped Mexican Colonial hacienda design with a fountain courtyard in the middle, pergolas with plantings on all sides of the house, and English Arts and Crafts design elements throughout.
In addition to Mrs. Temple's death, the four children were away at school during the five-year construction process and for two more years after it was finished in 1927. This November 1924 letter from daughter Agnes to her brother Thomas discusses progress on the house during a visit from her during a time when she attended a girl's school in Los Angeles. Surviving letters show the eagerness of the family to enjoy their home, but conditions dramatically changed.
Bird's eye view of Los Angeles surrounded by vignettes symbolizing key moments and features in the city's history to 1871, including ranchos; old and new city halls; a view of the pueblo in 1853; zanjas and waterwheels; Placerita Canyon, site of discovery of gold; early vehicular traffic (the Spanish carreta); hacienda life; Chinese dragons from fiesta parades; the Battle of La Mesa 1847; the Federal Building, site of many vigilante hangings; and more.
Take an aerial trip through Los Angeles landmarks, circa 1964, visiting city streets before sweeping stops to the Hollywood Bowl, Griffith Observatory, Dodger Stadium, City Hall, and Union Station. In the first shot, get a glimpse of the May Company Building, now home to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Filmed on 16mm, this served as an audition reel for Pan Am World Airways. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.
"Los Caminos de la Vida" by Trenely "Clover" Garcia provides a glimpse of South Central’s reality and a community filled with green spaces, the artist’s idealized vision of her neighborhood. Her work highlights one of many liquor stores in the area, that make alcohol and drugs easily accessible. Downtown’s skyscrapers, nightlife, art scene, all presenting gentrification, encroach upon neighborhood residents. However, images of Olmec heads and people evolving from nopales, symbolize pride and strength despite attempts of displacement.
Westchester is part of the city of Los Angeles. At the start of the twentieth century, Westchester was primarily an agricultural area, but in 1928, was selected as the site of Los Angeles International Airport. In 1929, Harry Culver offered 100 acres of land to build a new campus for Loyola University. As late as 1930, Manchester Blvd. was only a muddy road leading to Loyola University, now known as Loyola Marymount University.
Wyvernwood Garden Apartments, built in 1939, was the first garden apartment complex in Los Angeles backed by the Federal Housing Administration. Intended for whites only, it continued housing segregation policies. Decades later, residents were primarily working-class people of color. The complex is a successful example of affordable housing designed to build community. Activists used this poster to challenge redevelopment plans. As of 2019, Wyvernwood’s 6,000 residents have successfully resisted efforts to demolish their homes.
Milton and Dorothy Anderson are pictured here in their 1929 Malibu Lakeside cottage, known as "Sleepy Hollow." Malibu Lakeside was a community founded in 1924 in the Santa Monica foothills. Many early residents were middle class Angelenos, using their cabins as a weekend escape from the city. Every homeowner held a stake in the Lakeside Mutual Water Company, which helped fund the community center. The community boasted a large redwood clubhouse, swimming pool, softball and tennis courts, and a playground.
This two story 508 sq. foot building in Palos Verdes Estates is a rare example of round stonemasonry. Built on the city parkland, it was originally a gatekeeper’s lodge but it was never used for this purpose. Photographer is unknown. Originally part of the Palos Verdes Homes Association. Architects include: Clarence E. Howard, S.C. Waters, Vernor X. Lyon.The architect, Clarence E. Howard, hired at the behest of the well-known Olmsted Brothers, designed a number of residential and commercial buildings in the City. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.
This photograph of Nisei Week in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles shows the mid-1960s appearance of this ethnic enclave that has been home to the largest Japanese-American population in the United States. Founded around the beginning of the twentieth century and developed in part because of discriminatory laws that limited where Japanese Americans could live and work, the neighborhood became a dynamic economic and cultural hub.
Horace Dobbins dreamed of building the first ever elevated cycleway from Pasadena to Los Angeles. The construction began in 1899 and the first phase was completed and just under 1.5 miles of cycle pathway from Hotel Green was open to the public on January 1st, 1900. Unfortunately, the next phase of construction of this cycleway never took place. This photograph shows a view looking north from Raymond Hotel. Tracks in foreground are Santa Fe Rail Road. Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena is on left side.
Experimentations in domestic architecture are a feature of the landscape in L.A. Renowned L.A. architect Edward Fickett, known for his work on large tract-home developments, designed the Tennis Court House for a 1971 issue of Architecture and Interiors magazine, which featured case study houses for the community of Bon Vivant in Woodland Hills. The “roof” of the house takes the unusual form of a tennis court sitting atop the living spaces below.
REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES (2002), directed by Patricia Cardoso, is celebrated for its nuanced portrayal of a working-class Mexican American family. Starring America Ferrera in her feature film debut, it is an unprecedented exploration of gender politics and the immigrant experience. These photographs, along with other production materials donated by Patricia Cardoso, will be on display at the 2021 opening of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, California.
A door is every home's special gateway. For the Ebell Club's Wilshire Boulevard grand entrance, it is our portal! The 1927 wrought iron masterpiece by John William Chard is revered as one of the finest in the West, rivaling the grandest European ironwork. Using 2000 individual pieces, he turns this unyielding medium into a delicacy, incorporating symbolic elements of a radiating sun, letters E (Ebell) and C (Club), tragedy/comedy masks, a palette and a scroll into the design.
Henry and Heong Wong are pictured here with their children, Violet, Rose, Howard, and Edward in front of their family home on 10th Street in Los Angeles (not pictured is their son Morland). The family were the owners of Henry’s Market, a small grocery store in LA. New economic opportunities provided generations of Chinese American families to build a life in Los Angeles and a long-term future in America.
The Spanish Colonial Revival style house was built in 1927 by Los Angeles Times as a demonstration home. In 1943, after escaping the Nazis, German novelist Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta purchased it and transformed the dilapidated house into a cultural hub for German-speaking emigres in Los Angeles. The Feuchtwangers regularly hosted readings and concerts, with guests like Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Bertolt Brecht, Charlie Chaplin, and many others.
July, 1978, Los Angeles Little Tokyo: As dancers go through their routine, a crew of cinematographers shoot a scene recreating the 1935 Nisei Week Grand Parade and ondo as part of Visual Communications' feature-length narrative HITO HATA: RAISE THE BANNER. Capturing the spirit and energy of the Nisei Week Japanese Festival required the participation of nearly 200 performers and extras, as well as the unprecedented good-will of Little Tokyo merchants who were notorious for refusing to allow film crews to close down the streets of Little Tokyo for Hollywood movie productions.
May 2, 1992, Ardmore Park, Los Angeles Koreatown: At a large community wake in commemoration of teenager Eddie Lee (a Koreatown youth slain in a "friendly fire" incident while helping to safeguard a Korean-owned business on Day Two of the Los Angeles Rebellion), a group of Korean American residents join with others to decry the destruction and rioting that followed the April 29, 1992 "not-guilty" verdicts in the beating trial of motorist Rodney King. This rally and march, which numbered over 20,000 Angelenos and made its way through the streets of Koreatown, proved to be a watershed moment in the Korean-American community's struggle to be accepted as a vibrant part of the larger fabric of Los Angeles and American society.
First Street North, Los Angeles Little Tokyo, May 1, 1972: "We all have the right to healthy communities. The growing resistance to corporate/government expropriation of communities — disguised as redevelopment — is symbolic of Asian America in movement. Chinatown in Honolulu and New York City, the International District in Seattle, Nihonmachi and Chinatown in San Francisco, Little Tokyo in Los Angeles: all bear witness to the determination of Asian Americans to create communities which help us move from a vital heritage to a vision of a better society." — Franklin Odo
Founded in 1921 by Donald W. Douglas Sr., Douglas Aircraft Company was headquartered in Santa Monica until 1975, with satellite plants in other cities. The war effort in the 1940s led to an astonishing expansion at Douglas, where peak wartime employment was recorded at 160,000 workers. Many families counted multiple members as Douglas workers. The growth resulted in new trailer homes sprouting up in Santa Monica, meeting an unprecedented demand for housing.
Jean Rouverol Butler (1916-2017) and her husband Hugo were victims of the Hollywood Blacklist during the 1950s, when the House Un-American Activities Committee investigated the political affiliations of Hollywood workers. Many people lost their careers and screenwriters such as Hugo and Jean were particularly targeted. In this excerpt, Jean recounts the night two men came to the door to deliver a subpoena. She and her family fled LA, eventually settling in Mexico, returning to CA 13 years later.
Garry Marshall (1934-2016) was a prolific and successful film and television writer, director and producer. He is known for creating the TV series Happy Days and its spins-offs and directing such classic films as Pretty Woman, Beaches and The Princess Diaries. Originally from New York, Marshall describes in this excerpt his early career writing jokes and the writing job that brought him to Los Angeles.
The Sun Wing Wo Company opened in 1891 in the Garnier Building. The decorations suggest that this photo was likely captured during Lunar New Year festivities. The store sold merchandise to the Chinese community and provided community services such as letter writing, postal, and banking. The State of California forced the store to close in 1948 to construct the 101 Freeway. The store was re-created by the Chinese American Museum in 2003.
Designed by the Greene and Greene architectural firm of Pasadena, the Darling House was built for Mrs. Mary Darling at College Avenue and 8th Street in 1903. In 1921, the house was sold to Pomona College professor, M. B. Jones. This photograph is part of the Wheeler Scrapbooks, which chronicle life at Pomona College and in the city of Claremont from 1884 to 1938. The digitized scrapbooks are featured on the Claremont Colleges Digital Library.
In 1924, Caltech students gained a home away from home with the dedication of a long-needed student center designed by noted architect Henry Greene. Student donations funded the massive fireplace: bricks were sold for $1 and engraved with the names of purchasers. Seniors offered the bronze motto, juniors the large bronze T, sophomores the mantel, and freshmen the andirons. For many years students gathered around the beloved fireplace for recreation, relaxation, and scientific discussions.
This poster opposes the demolition of public housing in Los Angeles. Gentrification and a lack of affordable housing creates life-threatening conditions in Los Angeles and throughout the world. Posters are key for organizing resistance. Whether the residents win or lose, they become empowered by the process of fighting for the stability of their communities—and posters such as this one record their struggle and empowerment.
Though La Casa Nueva was finished in 1927, the children remained away at school for two more years. Occasional events, like this church society party, were held there, but the home was largely empty. By the time the Temples reunited in summer 1929 after the children graduated from their respective schools, financial problems worsened. The next spring, the house was leased and the family moved, soon to lose it in 1932 during the Great Depression.
Roy and Emily Lanterman converse in the living room of their home, El Retiro, also known as the Lanterman House, in La Cañada Flintridge, California. Roy Lanterman’s family founded La Cañada in the 1870s. He and his wife Emily built the house in 1915 and their sons donated the house and all of its original furnishings to the city of La Cañada Flintridge in the 1980s. The living room today looks much the same as the Lantermans left it.