Social History

#252: 20th Street Historic District (West Adams)

#252: 20th Street Historic District (West Adams)

March 24, 2025

The 20th Street Historic District comprises an uncommonly unified group of 10 intact (mostly) craftsman homes from the early 1900s. As delightful as the architecture is in this district, it's the stories of the families that lived here early on that make the history of this block come alive.

National Register Landmarks We Lost (and Didn’t Lose) in the LA Fires

National Register Landmarks We Lost (and Didn’t Lose) in the LA Fires

January 12, 2025

It's been a tough week, LA. Here are the landmarks on the National Register of Historic Places that we lost in the Eaton Fire & Palisades Fires – and those that are still with us.

#242: King Edward Hotel (Skid Row)

#242: King Edward Hotel (Skid Row)

December 8, 2024

The King Edward Hotel was one of four hotels designed by John Parkinson along a three-block stretch of 5th Street in the early decades of the 1900s. It's home to the infamous dive bar the King Eddy Saloon, and housed a subterranean speakeasy during Prohibition – still intact, a century later.

#241: Washington Irving Branch Library (West Adams)

#241: Washington Irving Branch Library (West Adams)

November 26, 2024

Designed by the firm of Allison & Allison, the Washington Irving Branch was one of a wave of libraries built in the 1920s to meet the needs of a growing LA. It's been vacant since the late 1990s, when the branch moved a few blocks westwards.

#233: Highland Park Masonic Temple

#233: Highland Park Masonic Temple

September 13, 2024

Built in 1923, this handsome brick and terracotta building witnessed 60 years of ritual and fraternity as the Highland Park Masonic Temple. Since 2017, it's housed the music venue the Lodge Room and an adjoining restaurant, Checker Hall. All the original Masonic symbols are still intact, and EVERYWHERE.

#232: Fire Station No. 30 (Downtown)

#232: Fire Station No. 30 (Downtown)

September 1, 2024

Fire Station No. 30 once housed one of LA's two all-Black units during an era when Black and White firefighters were segregated. After a restoration in the 1990s, the old station building was reopened as the African-American Firefighter Museum, dedicated to preserving and retelling the story of Black firefighters in LA and beyond.

#178: Hollywood Forever Cemetery (Hollywood)

#178: Hollywood Forever Cemetery (Hollywood)

October 31, 2023

Pioneers & Settlers

Hollywood Forever cemetery is the final resting place of countless entertainers, and many of LA's all-time most important citizens. But its significance extends way beyond who was buried there.

#172: Pan American Bank (East LA)

#172: Pan American Bank (East LA)

September 16, 2023

This small community bank opened in 1966 as the first bank in California to offer fully bilingual services in English and Spanish. For 50 years they served the largely Chicano community of East LA, offering home and small business loans to people that other banks wouldn’t give the time of day, and generally helping the local economy thrive. It's gilded by a mosaic mural that inspired the local Chicano art movement of the late '60s/early '70s.

#157: Morris Kight House (Westlake)

#157: Morris Kight House (Westlake)

June 14, 2023

This unassuming craftsman in Westlake was the home of the pioneering gay rights activist Morris Kight from 1967-74. But Kight’s house was more than just his residence. It was also a think tank, a clinic, and a meeting place for the LA chapter of the Gay Liberation Front, a group of gay activists with a radical approach to creating political and social change for their community.

#155: Great Hall/Long Hall (West Hollywood)

#155: Great Hall/Long Hall (West Hollywood)

June 2, 2023

Great Hall/Long Hall in West Hollywood’s Plummer Park was built in 1938, on land that was owned by the colorful Eugenio “Captain” Plummer. The building was one of many projects in LA funded by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. It’s served West Hollywood's diverse communities for decades, most notably as a meeting space for the advocacy group ACT UP, which shaped the federal government’s response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the late 1980s and early ‘90s.

#151: Casa de Rosas (University Park)

#151: Casa de Rosas (University Park)

May 10, 2023

Built in 1893, Casa de Rosas was the first project by architect Sumner Hunt, who's also credited with the Bradbury Building, the Automobile Club of Southern California and many other classics. It's also housed many important tenants over the years: the Froebel Institute, one of the first kindergartens in LA; a WWII army barracks, LA's first mission catering to women, even the headquarters of L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics Foundation.

#141: Ebell of Los Angeles (Hancock Park)

#141: Ebell of Los Angeles (Hancock Park)

March 8, 2023

Since 1927, the Ebell of Los Angeles has been the forever home in LA for this venerable women's cultural and philanthropic organization. Designed by the great Sumner Hunt, this Italian Renaissance marvel wears its 75,000 square feet well, with refined exteriors, richly decorated interiors, and a courtyard that ties it all together. The adjoining Wilshire Ebell Theatre has hosted historic appearances by too many celebrities to name, including Judy Garland, Amelia Earhart, Stravinsky, Michelle Obama - the list goes on.

#129: The Lummis House/”El Alisal” (Highland Park)

#129: The Lummis House/”El Alisal” (Highland Park)

December 9, 2022

The Lummis House (aka El Alisal) in Highland Park is a playful castle-like structure of stone, cement and telephone poles (!), hand-built by one of the most colorful figures in LA history, Charles Lummis. You can appreciate it for its architectural uniqueness, or as a 3D manifestation of Lummis's philosophy. Either way, it's one of my favorite LA landmarks.

#116: Fire Station No. 14 (South LA)

#116: Fire Station No. 14 (South LA)

September 12, 2022

Government & Politics

As the home of the LA Fire Department's second all-Black engine company, Fire Station No. 14 was a symbol of both pride and pain for LA's Black community before LAFD was integrated in 1956. The current station was built in 1949, a time of great change as LA reckoned with its segregated past.