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Rancho Palos Verdes: Nature Preserves and Natural History
6:41
Palos Verdes Peninsula is host to a bounty of human history.
Discovering Russian History on the California Coast
5:28
Decades after the Russians withdrew, Fort Ross was acquired by the state in 1906.
Descanso Gardens
51:47
Lost L.A.: The Descanso Gardens explores the history of one of the beloved public garden.
Exterior of Venice West, a beat generation coffee house | Austin Anton from the Lawrence Lipton papers, USC Libraries
Lawrence Lipton's book “The Holy Barbarians” was a celebration and canonization of the “Venice West” scene. It also became the biggest hit of his career, around which he revolved on for much of his life.
Broadside for Teatro Principal, Los Angeles, printed by Imprenta Jalisco, Boyle Heights, 1929 January 10. | University of Southern California Libraries, Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum Collection, 1830-1930
There was a time that Los Angeles powered a lively Hispanic vaudeville scene, and its legacy still lives on in many performers today.
Pacifico Dance Company gives audiences a glimpse into the dance of Yucatan. Dancers wearing large flowers on their hair and dresses. | Courtesy of Pacifico Dance Company
Traditional Mexican dances (aka baile folklórico) are the forte of the Pacifico Dance Company, and they’ve helped train hundreds, performing in venues around the country and the world.
Rubén Salazar with former President Eisenhower, San Bernardino, CA, 1961| Rubén Salazar (1928-1970) Papers, USC Libraries Special Collections
The Chicano Moratorium and the death of Rubén Salazar continue to reverberate today as communities of color speak out against police brutality and discrimination, and as journalists are once again targeted, attacked and undermined by government officials.
Cover of One magazine featuring "The homosexual villain" by Norman Mailer, 1955. | ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
In the face of overwhelming harassment and persecution of homosexuals during the 1950s, a certain plucky queer magazine based in downtown Los Angeles was steadfast in its political mission to elevate gay and lesbian Americans.
"PROBE Summer of 1980" float at Los Angeles Christopher Street West pride parade, 1980. | ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
The L.A. Pride Parade and Festival in West Hollywood is a fixture of Los Angeles life, but 50 years ago, it was at the center of a heated battle between the authorities and the LGBT community’s wish to be publicly gay. 
Left to right: John Platonia, Jim Kepner (moustache), Howard Fox (standing), June Herrle, Jim-Ed Thompson, Ralph Schaeffer, Morris Kight, Don Kilhefner (far right) and another person at the Gay Community Services Center, 1971. | Pat Rocco/USC Libraries
From the outside, it's not much to look at, but this small home in East Hollywood was a warm home for an unusual family — a place of refuge for dozens of young, displaced members of the LBGTQ community.
A woman protests with members of Black Lives Matter.
In the last few years, Black Lives Matter has emerged organically as one of the most important movements of this era to address state-sanctioned violence against Black people.
Los Angeles, 1992: Scan from negative of LAPD officers from Parker Center advance across City Hall lawn against stricken rioter in the early evening. | Andy Katz/Corbis via Getty Images
George Floyd’s death has again triggered demands for police reform and an end to racism — the same cry that occurred almost 30 years ago when King survived a brutal beating at the hands of LAPD.
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