January 2012 Newsletter, Office of Historic Resources 

Sometimes the newsletter from the L.A. Office of Historic Resources can be kinda dull. Yes, even for an L.A. History lover like myself (it can be heavy on the city planning but that's all good... my girl over at ChicanaTranStilo will appreciate that aspect).  But not this month! Because I recognize the house pictured on page 4 where it's featured along with information about my beloved and historic South L.A.!

Hidden Murals

All these years, I've gone by the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building knowing it was something special.  I had no idea it housed a treasure depicting African-American contributions to early California.  L.A. is a treasure trove of hidden delights! http://www.westadamsheritage.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=611&Itemid=40

Artists Hale Woodruff & Charles Alston

These murals will be available for viewing on October 22.

Aerial Views of L.A.

These stunning pics of L.A. were taken in 1978 by Don Ray. More of his pics plus great details are posted on his blog at Don Ray Friends and Hideaways.

 Those are Bunker Hills Towers in the foreground.  Don adds an interesting bit of information that I had not previously known.  Grand Avenue used to be called Charity St. back when Bunker Hill still had its magnificent mansions.  Bunker Hill was cleverly bordered by Hope and Charity.  This changed because the affluent residents did not enjoy informing people that they lived on Charity.  Hahaha!

The Bonaventure in the foreground and the LA Public Library before the great fire that sadly destroyed its collections.  It's great to compare these photos to today's views and see how the city has transformed. 

L.A. as Subject

This is an amazing project hosted by the USC library system.  It's a wonderful alliance of historical archives to facilitate the city's continuous and necessary self-study.  http://www.laassubject.org/
They also host this great free event for L.A. history buffs, the Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar http://www.laassubject.org/index.php/archives_bazaar 

I'm on an L.A.history binge, so most posts this week will focus on my great city ;)

6th-annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar Poster

1940s NYC in COLOR!

First saw this at Behind the Curtain - 16 Sparrows:  1940s NYC in COLOR!  so neat!  I've watched so much TCM and I Love Lucy that it's hard for me to think of the early twentieth century as anything other than black and white.  More pics can be found at the Daily Mail.

I thought this one was rather interesting.  The Daily Mail caption says it's a picture of three homeless men.  Interestingly, they all are dressed in a coat and hat and two of them have ties.  In general, most of the pics show people dressed nicely by today's standards. 

There are places in LA that resemble this block... cluttered multilingual signage, barber shop, vending machines... I love it. 

Bizarre Historical Discovery....

Local news has been abuzz with the gruesome discovery of two mummified infants in a steamer trunk in the basement of a 1920s building in Los Angeles.  It has piqued the morbid curiosity of many city residents, myself include.  Clues within the trunk include the name of the owner, Jean M. Barrie, her certificate of membership to the Peter Pan Woodlands Resort in Big Bear and tickets to the 1930s Olympics here in L.A.  The babies were found wrapped in 1930s newspaper in doctor's satchels.  Speculations include that the remains were of aborted babies, that they were being kept as potential research specimens and that the lady in question was related to James M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan.  What a mystery!  Poor babies.  But I am thoroughly intrigued.  This is one of the reasons I studied archaeology, because I love a good mystery.  This sounds like the basis for a great mystery read.  I'm eager to hear the results of the investigation.