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El Camino Real
Mission bells along Highway 101 imply that motorists' tires trace the same path as missionaries' sandals. But much of El Camino Real's story is imagined.
How does modern war mark the California landscape? A single day's photographic record produced on the Southern California coast offers one compelling answer.
The Second Street Railway extended west from Spring Street to housing subdivisions beyond Bunker Hill. This 1889 view looks west down Second from Broadway. Courtesy of the Photo Collection, Los Angeles Public Library.
As in San Francisco today, cable cars once plied L.A.'s streets.
Hollywood Blvd. transformed into Santa Claus Lane, circa 1950. Courtesy of the Photo Collection, Los Angeles Public Library.
Every November beginning in 1928, elaborate holiday decorations transformed Hollywood Boulevard into Santa Claus Lane.
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A 1909 illustration reveals grand plans for the L.A. River.
Photo courtesy The Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Bullock's Wilshire was the showpiece of the Bullock's department store chain, and the tea room was the crown jewel.
Aerial view of Manhattan Beach, laid out on the sand dunes of the South Bay coast, circa 1920. Courtesy of the Photo Collection, Los Angeles Public Library.
This month, Manhattan Beach celebrates its centennial. Known for its lively seaside promenade, the Strand, and for its associations with surf culture, the city has its origins as a coastal resort built atop shifting sand dunes of the South Bay.
Illuminating
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is getting a new permanent exhibition ready. It will help us understand how we became Los Angeles.
A two-horse City-Central streetcar, circa 1886. Courtesy of the California Historical Society Collection, USC Libraries.
Public transportation made its L.A. debut in 1873 with a horse-drawn omnibus.
Photo via Paul Bartunek.
After a long history on downtown's Skid Row, The King Eddy Saloon closes its doors on December 16th.
The mouth of a swollen Santa Ana River near Newport Beach and Huntington Beach, 1927. Courtesy of the Orange County Archives.
Southern Californians have long maintained a complicated relationship with the Santa Ana River, accepting its life-giving water but fearing its wrath.
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A veteran bartender explains the history of Venice's oldest bar.
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