Hadley Meares
Hadley Meares is a writer, historian, and singer who traded one Southland (her home state of North Carolina) for another. She is a frequent contributor to Curbed and Atlas Obscura, and leads historical tours all around Los Angeles for Obscura Society LA. Her debut novel, "Absolutely," is now available on Amazon.
Before it was a tourist destination, Monterey's Cannery Row was home to a tight knit, multi-cultural community of fish factory workers and the Pacific Biological Lab, a hub of local artists and writers.
The soul of this famous art colony can be found in the artists who have been and continue to be inspired by its natural beauty.
In 1851, California’s first Anglo-American governor stood before the state legislature and declared the genocide of Native Californians a sad inevitability.
Today, the heart of In-N-Out Burger is still located in the same one-mile radius in Baldwin Park where the iconic restaurant began almost seventy years ago.
In 1948, as Cold War paranoia gripped the nation, 17 Los Angeles County social workers lost their jobs for refusing to take loyalty oaths.
Today Van de Kamps is known for its frozen fishsticks, but it once populated L.A. with dozens of fanciful coffee shop windmills and pastries.
History has largely forgotten Ida Hancock Ross, an important figure in early L.A.
When Chinatown's iconic Little Joe's on Broadway finally closed in 1998, it was a megaplex of culinary Italian goodness
In the 1920s, Hollywood heartthrob Rudolph Valentino retreated behind the walls of his estate, Falcon Lair, until his flame was snuffed out by his own self-destruction. Falcon Lair is proof that all that glitters is not gold.
The Pacific Coast Club, one of many sporting clubs that popped up in SoCal in the 1920s, was once the pride of Long Beach, until it was demolished in 1988.
Less than 100 years ago, Hollywood and Highland was a rural paradise, and at its heart was the genteel Hollywood Hotel, where the idea for the Hollywood Walk of Fame was born.
In the process of crafting his own California fairytale, Charles Lummis drove away those who loved him and lost touch with the reality of the ever changing city that surrounded him.