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History & Society

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The Woman's Building, North Spring Street, Los Angeles
Throughout its 18-year run, The Woman’s Building cultivated an experimental space for women from around the world to explore ideas in feminist theory and sexuality through art.
Woollett plan, 1939
More than 30 different plans were created during the 20th century for the L.A. Civic Center.
Jewel's Catch One
The Arlington Heights club is believed to be the first large-scale discotheque in the U.S. to serve the black LGBTQ community.
Black Cat protests, 1967
On Feb. 11, 1967, a demonstration against an LAPD raid on the Black Cat bar in Silver Lake made LGBTQ history.
The Magic Washer (thumbnail)
The idea of "closing America’s gates" got its start in xenophobic 19th-century California.
The Long Beach Pike, 1910
The Pike was one of Southern California's largest playgrounds by the sea.
Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
The U.S. forcibly relocated nearly 100,000 Californians of Japanese descent, many of them American citizens, during World War II.
Isaac Graham
In 1840, California's Mexican authorities deported 46 Americans and Britons who had settled in the territory illegally.
Braille Map of California (thumbnail)
How is the state's geography represented for those who cannot see?
Apartment Building with Downtown Los Angeles in Background
What does the incoming leadership of Donald Trump and Ben Carson mean for L.A. housing?
Capitol Records Tower (FB thumbnail)
Even if you’re unfamiliar with his Parker Center, which the city might demolish, you’ll probably recognize another of Becket's iconic creations.
John Black's Saloon, Bishop, California
In 1896, the Parkhurst Society's "meddling ministers" targeted L.A.'s saloons, brothels, and dives.
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