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Bank Deserts - Mister Money
Across Los Angeles County, more than half a million residents lack access to a single bank or credit union within their neighborhoods.
1842 map of the Pacific Ocean
What does the idea of a "West Coast" mean to migrants who traveled east to get here?
Aerial view of the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in 1964. Courtesy of the Dick Whittington Photography Collection, USC Libraries.
With many of the imported goods sold across the county at deep discount this Black Friday having passed through the twin seaports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, explore the story of Southern California's unlikely harbor -- and how it came to be divided...
The Green Book
First published in 1936, "The Negro Motorist Green Book" helped African-American motorists safely navigate Jim Crow America.
Advertisement in the 1980 Los Angeles edition of the Damron Guide
First published in 1965, Bob Damron's Address Book helped LGBT travelers navigate a Los Angeles where intolerance often trumped acceptance.
1939 HOLC "redlining" map of central Los Angeles
Endorsed by New Deal-era federal housing policy, "redlining" encouraged housing inequality in U.S. cities.
Housing Rights - Long Beach
Housing is linked, inextricably, to health, emotional well-being, family financial security, and economic mobility.
Central Casting
At a time when aspiring motion picture players were flocking to Los Angeles, this new organization streamlined the casting process, but it also marginalized nonwhite actors.
Lois Weber
The early film industry was a creative Wild West, open to anyone with the means and the boldness to exploit the new technology of motion pictures.
San Francisco's meeting of land and water at Fort Point, location for Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). Universal Studios
Although we most often associate filmmaking with Southern California, the Bay Area has long been a site of movie magic.
imitation_of_life_1934_header.jpg
Hollywood's struggles with diversity long predate #OscarsSoWhite.
View of an outdoor film set at Vitagraph Studios, showing a film shoot in progress, 1917
Why did the film industry choose to locate in L.A.? Thank the weather – as well as the city's open-shop, anti-union labor policies.
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