Ryan Reft
Ryan Reft is a historian of 20th and 21st-century American history at the Library of Congress. His work has appeared in several journals, including Souls, The Sixties, California History, Planning Perspectives, Southern California Quarterly, and the Journal of Urban History, as well as in the anthology "Barack Obama and African American Empowerment: The Rise of Black America's New Leadership" and "Asian American Sporting Cultures." The opinions expressed by Reft are solely his and not those of the Library of Congress. He can be reached on twitter at @ryanreft.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, pirates in Los Angeles provided a window into the tensions over access to music that besets the difficult relationship that exists between artist, label, and fan.
To understand the City of Angels, Joan Didion once wrote, one needed to immerse oneself in the freeway experience or, as she put it, "the only secular communion Los Angeles has."
This June marks the 70th anniversary of the Zoot Suit Riots, which some critics call "the worst mob violence in Los Angeles history."
Despite, or perhaps because of, its proximity to the Pacific Ocean, SoCal's enthusiasm for pool-based recreation knows few bounds.
Los Angeles and its entertainment industry has played and continues to play a central role in the crafting of the Asian American identity.
Southern California's landscape provided the setting for three critical court cases that reveal the ability of the law to cleave efforts toward equal rights.
Three examples confirm Southern California's critical role in the mall's early formation: the Broadway Crenshaw Center, the Valley Center, and San Diego's Linda Vista Shopping Center.
Ralphs' innovations in retail and supermarkets in Los Angeles rippled through the industry and became a catalyst for suburban expansion.
When C.L. Peckham opened Ye Market Place on Los Feliz Road in Glendale in 1924, few realized the influence the drive-in market would have on urban planning and American retail.
Two films from the 1980s defined character and social archetypes that persist to this day.
Artists have played a large role in developing community identity and establishing a sense of place in communities with lower incomes and fewer resources.
How does Orange County's conservative Asian American population reflect the region's past?