Wat Thai in Los Angeles, 2008

Thai American Life in Los Angeles

Or, what the Wat Thai temple tussle in the San Fernando Valley teaches us about public space in America.
A couple in a Studebaker in Santa Barbara, CA, 1962 on a television screen

The Rise of the LA Suburb in 1960s TV

The shift from city centers to suburbs was reflected in post-World War II television programming.
Broadway and Third Street, looking east on Third Street from Olive Street, Los Angeles, 1890-1900

How Los Angeles Started Its Sprawl

Victorian values and Anglo(phile) aesthetics shaped the city’s infrastructure and architecture in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
David Hockney

Why David Hockney Makes Both Paintings and Photographs

In a 1991 interview with singer Graham Nash, David Hockney explained how he applied his drawing skills to photography via the computer.
East LA Student protest

The Activist Students of 1960s East Los Angeles

Over a week and a half starting on March 1st, 1968, more than 10,000 students in mostly Chicano schools took part in what became known as the East Los Angeles School Blowouts.
Rodney King video

Why Didn’t the Rodney King Video Lead to a Conviction?

The grainy pictures speak for themselves. Or so thought many Americans who watched the video of the March 3rd, 1991, beating of motorist Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.
Los Angeles skyline with palm trees in the foreground

How Marketing Made L.A.

In the early 20th century, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce started marketing L.A as an earthquake-free alternative to San Francisco.
Anna Deavere Smith as Cornel West in “Twilight: Los Angeles.”

Remembering the LA Uprisings Through Theater

Just one year after the Rodney King verdict and subsequent LA riots, Anna Deveare Smith opened her one-woman show “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992."
Cars in 1920s LA

How the Women of Los Angeles Protected Their Rights to Drive

In the 1920s, women's love of driving in auto-obsessed Los Angeles created traffic jams and a battle over women’s rightful place.
Watts

Did The 1965 Watts Riots Change Anything?

Sociological data from immediately after the riots in Watts, Los Angeles, in 1965 show major disparities in attitude by race.