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F.M. Uyematsu, Star Nursery proprietor
The Flower That Links Descanso Gardens to the Manzanar Concentration Camp
Descanso Gardens acquired its prize collection of Camellias during World War II from incarcerated Japanese-American growers.
Enchanted Railroad
A Guide to Five Hidden Treasures at Descanso Gardens
Five of the best ways to experience Rancho del Descanso beyond its horticultural delights.
sutro baths
The Forgotten Fight for Civil Rights at San Francisco's Sutro Baths
The Sutro Baths stood as a testament to the Gilded Age, but it also harbored an injustice hidden within this lavish gift to the people of San Francisco. 
Tent encampment. Federal military units set up temporary encampments much like this one to suppress secessionists in Los Angeles and El Monte. Photograph courtesy of Security Pacific National Bank Collection, Los Angeles Public Library
'We Have Been and Are Yet Secessionist' – Los Angeles When the Civil War Began
How close did Southern California come to leaving the Union during the Civil War?
Baxter Street, circa 1937
How Baxter Became One of L.A.’s Steepest Streets
With its 32 percent grade, how did Baxter Street ever get built?
Camels in Los Angeles, circa 1861/63
When Camels Came to Los Angeles
In the 1850s, the Army tried to introduce the "ship of the desert" to the arid American Southwest.
fireworks fourth
Five Little-Known Facts About the 4th of July
Think you know Independence Day? Think again!
Union Bank building thumbnail
When Union Bank Square Dethroned City Hall as L.A.'s Tallest Building
In 1966, 516-foot Union Bank Square ended City Hall's long reign as the tallest building in Los Angeles.
Sepulveda Canyon Road in 1930
How Sepulveda Canyon Became the 405
L.A.'s most hated stretch of freeway began as a bucolic country road through the Santa Monica Mountains.
A double-decker bus of the Los Angeles Motor Coach Company, circa 1932
When L.A.’s Buses Had an Upper Deck
When the double-decker transit bus arrived in Los Angeles, it came with a distinctly local innovation — an open-air top deck.
City Hall, Lost L.A.
This Was L.A.’s City Hall for 39 Years
Before Los Angeles’ municipal government moved into the imposing, neoclassical skyscraper we now know as City Hall in 1928, it was content with a more modest, three-story structure.
Mud splatters Ralph Hamlin while competing in the Cactus Derby of 1912. His companion is likely Andrew Smith, the Franklin’s “mechanician.”
Ralph Hamlin: The Forgotten History of an L.A. Auto Pioneer
The racing legend became one of L.A.'s most successful car dealers.
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