Art & Literature Archives

#175: Saddlerock Ranch Pictograph Site (Malibu)

October 9, 2023

The pictographs at Saddlerock Ranch are the earliest known indigenous documentation of the arrival of the Europeans in the LA area. They are believed to represent an encounter between the Chumash tribe and Gaspar de Portolá's exploration party in 1769-1770.

#127: Grace Nicholson Building / Pacific Asia Museum (Pasadena)

November 21, 2022

Architecture

The USC Pacific Asia Museum continues the legacy of Grace Nicholson, who built this remarkable Chinese building in 1925 to house her massive collection of Asian and Native American art and artifacts.

#115: Upton Sinclair House (Monrovia)

September 5, 2022

Art & Literature

This was the home of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, labor activist and would-be politician Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle. Sinclair moved to Monrovia from Pasadena after unsuccessfully running for Governor of California, and wrote nearly everything from the last 15 years of his career in the study in the back.

#112: Heinsbergen Decorating Company Building (Central LA)

August 18, 2022

Architecture

This curious late gothic French chateau was the headquarters of the Heinsbergen Decorating Company, one of the 20th century's great mural and interior design firms. Respected architects Curlett & Beelman designed it in 1928, and built it out of bricks salvaged from buildings that were demolished to make way for LA City Hall.

#91: The Watts Towers (Watts)

April 13, 2022

Art & Literature

One of the world's great works of folk art, the Watts Towers offer a glittering, enduring testament to the imagination and tenacity of Italian immigrant Simon Rodia.