May 26, 1966: Anheuser-Busch opened Busch Gardens 60 years ago today. The Van Nuys #amusementpark featured free beer (for adults), boat rides, bird shows, and a Sky Trolley that carried visitors over the Anheuser-Busch brewery. Brochure (1974) via #LAPL: dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/cali... #VanNuys

"Eastside Memorial Day commemoration marks 80 years at Cinco Puntos" -> thelalocal.org/neighborhood... #MemorialDay #CincoPuntos

Forever grateful to those brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice! 🕊️ When the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena opened in July 1959, the arena was dedicated to those soldiers who gave their lives in WW2 and Korea. 📸: @usclibraries.bsky.social #MemorialDay

Over 400 artists painted a favorite book for the "We're Very Well Read" exhibit-> verywellread.net. A few Los Angeles titles as seen at Sat’s exhibit opening: ◾️“Anything But Mexican” / Rudy Acuña ◾️“Parable of the Sower” / Octavia E. Butler ◾️"City of Quartz" / Mike Davis ◾️”Ask the Dust" / John Fante

May 22, 1958: "It Rained Oil: Remembering the Explosive 1958 Hancock Refinery Fire in Signal Hill" -> #PBSSoCal: www.pbssocal.org/shows/lost-l... #OnThisDay #envhist

Everything there is to know about the hyper-dank and extremely brave brewery opening at Union Station’s iconic Fred Harvey space on May 22. The full story: lataco.com/everywhere-b... By @theglutster.bsky.social

The Green Book was a vital guide for African Americans driving through Jim Crow–era America. It listed places where Black travelers could expect safe treatment. Los Angeles had over 224 listed places throughout the publication's 31-year run. But only 56 of these sites remain.

Always excited to stumble upon SIMONS bricks while out and about (stumbled over these historic bricks yesterday). #BrickHistory #BrickArchitecture #BuiltHeritage #SIMONSBricks

Sat @ 10am: The Echo Park Historical Society is hosting an #EchoPark Stairway tour -> www.historicechopark.org/news/echo-pa... The tour “includes the Baxter Stairs...as well as Fellowship Park, Red Hill, the modernist Harwell Hamilton Harris house and the restored long lost #JohnLautner house.”

Sat @ 6pm: Color Compton is hosting an exhibit titled “Inherited Ground: Land, Memory, and Stewardship" -> www.eventbrite.com/e/community-... “This immersive gallery explores themes of land, memory, and stewardship through powerful artwork and #communityarchives created by our fellows.” #Compton

An important California modernist, Rudolph Schindler, pioneered an architecture and way of living that resonates to this day; curator, historian and writer Adam Štěch takes us on a tour of the master's residential work in Los Angeles www.wallpaper.com/architecture...

"From life-size Twister to installations on epilepsy, PTSD and homelessness, artists mine [St. Vincent Medical Center’s] history to confront invisible trauma, seeking catharsis rather than escapism in L.A.’s immersive-art boom." www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

"The 30-foot-tall Ballerina Clown, also known as Clownerina, with an uncanny design that combines male and female elements, is one of Venice, California’s most recognizable works of public art." Santa Monica Mirror: smmirror.com/2026/05/veni... #VeniceCA #PublicArt

"The show features rare, mostly B&W photos Luis J. Rodriguez took growing up in South #SanGabriel & hanging out in Eastside neighborhoods in the 1960s to the 1980s, capturing early gang life, style, identity & everyday moments of young #Chicanos & #Chicanas." thelalocal.org/art-and-cult...

Wed @ 6pm: “Did you know that #LittleTokyo has a rich grapefruit orchard history? Come celebrate our 9th Annual Historic Grapefruit Cocktail Night on May 20th and learn more!” More info via Go Little Tokyo on IG: www.instagram.com/p/DYNtjFnBloc/

Check out this important story from the Los Angeles Times about the Trump effort to cut budget and stifle the message at Manzanar www.latimes.com/california/n...

May 18, 1927: Grauman's Chinese Theatre opened 99 years ago. www.academymuseum.org/hollywood-pa... Mary Pickford & Douglas Fairbanks were the first actors to 'intentionally' leave footprints in concrete. Norma Talmadge's accidental step into wet cement is often credited for inspiring Sid Grauman.

Wed @ 7pm: Getty's new book "'Marching West: The Los Angeles Civil Rights Movement in Photographs' features dynamic stories from the civil rights era in Los Angeles..." This in-person event will also be available via Zoom: www.getty.edu/calendar/mar... #InternationalMuseumDay

I’m a big fan of the Los Angeles County Fair’s #tablescaping competition. This year, one entry paid homage to two beloved #ChinatownLA restaurants: Hop Louie (1941-2016) and Grandview Gardens (1925–1991). #mahjong #LACountyFair

A miniature version of the Echo Mountain House and its #funicular as seen at the Garden Railroad at the LA County Fair. #modelrailroad This hotel in the #SanGabrielMountains only operated from 1894-1900 as it was destroyed by fire. mountlowe.altadenahistoricalsociety.org/on-echo-moun...

Happy 80th birthday today to the iconic The Original Tommy's, founded by chiliburger entrepreneur Tommy Koulax at a small wooden Shack on Beverly & Rampart blvds #OTD in 1946! The company, still run by Koulax's family, has 32 locations in CA & NV. #Westlake #HistoricFilipinotown

May 15, 1927: The Roosevelt Hotel opened 99 years ago today. Two years later, this Hollywood hotel hosted the first Academy Awards ceremony on May 16, 1929. Academy Museum: www.academymuseum.org/hollywood-pa... #OTD @castatelibrary.bsky.social postcard: delivery.library.ca.gov:8443/delivery/Del...

June 1: The 100th birthday of Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) The Academy Museum's #MarilynMonroe exhibition opens May 31st, with two screenings: www.academymuseum.org/exhibitions/... And Palm Springs' historic Plaza Theatre is screening four of her films: www.palmspringsplazatheatre.com/marilyn

The UCLA Film & Television Archive @uclaftvarchive.bsky.social, a unit of UCLA Library, will present the 22nd edition of its biennial UCLA Festival of Preservation, running Friday, May 29 to Sunday, May 31 at the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum. Full festival schedule: ucla.in/4vHiZ5q

📽️ Here's the #LAConservancy schedule for its "Last Remaining Seats" series: www.laconservancy.org/2026-last-re... #DTLA #classicfilms ▪️Jun 6: Charlie Chaplin's The Rink/Modern Times and Rebel Without a Cause ▪️Jun 13: Mary Poppins Sing-A-Long and LA Confidential ▪️Jun 20: 9 to 5 and North by Northwest

May 14: 1935: The Griffith Observatory opened 91 years ago today. #GriffithObservatory brochure (1943) via #LAPL: dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/cali... #histstm #onthisday

Sat @ 1pm: The Historical Society of Long Beach’s “History Hangout” will focus on downtown Long Beach’s many movie theaters. Info via Instagram: www.instagram.com/p/DYIOkMNAWL... #historictheatres The Egyptian Theatre in downtown Long Beach:

Remembering the 85th birthday of musician Ritchie Valens (1941–1958) with this mural painted in his hometown of Pacoima (located here -> maps.app.goo.gl/cXaTyrsbryFg... ): Also, there will be a #RitchieValens tribute show at Grand Performances on Aug 22nd. www.grandperformances.org/events/ritch...

Wed @ 7pm: Author Stephen Gee will be discussing “Los Angeles Central Library: A History of Its Art and Architecture” at the Philosophical Research Society. www.eventbrite.com/e/los-angele... #LAPL #LibrarySky

Today, we’re celebrating what would’ve been Mervyn Dymally’s 100th birthday and his contributions to the Japanese American community.

Today is the 100th birthday of Los Angeles politician Mervyn M. Dymally (1926–2012), the first African American elected to the California State Senate & CA's first African American Lt. Gov. history.house.gov/People/Detai... 📸: Bradley Center/CSUN Library digital-collections.csun.edu/digital/coll...

Sat @ 12pm: “You're invited to join the Silver Lake History Collective as we celebrate 20 years of documenting the people and events that have shaped our community.” Silver Lake Branch Library: www.lapl.org/whats-on/eve... [h/t @ericbrightwell.bsky.social] #SilverLake

On this Mother’s Day, a look at Chinatown’s East Gate known as the “Gate of Maternal Virtues.” Y.C. Hong, one of the first Chinese Americans admitted to the CA Bar, had this gate built to honor his mother. Photo via Huntington Library: hdl.huntington.org/digital/coll... #MothersDay #ChinatownLA

Today is National Train Day, which commemorates the completion of first transcontinental railroad in the US. #NationalTrainDay If you’re at the Los Angeles County Fair, you can head over to the Rail Giants Train Museum (railgiants.org) to explore some #railwayhistory. #LACountyFair

The Los Angeles County Fair just opened on Thursday, an annual tradition that began in #Pomona in October 1922. The @calpolypomona.bsky.social library has an incredible collection of Fairplex records. Here are a few items from its #LACountyFair archive:

Spent the day exploring Metro's new D Line stops. Loved seeing how the artists incorporated Los Angeles history into their #publicart projects! #RidetheD #transitart For the Wilshire/La Cienega stop, artist Todd Gray was inspired by the nearby #ArtDeco Saban Theatre & its architect S. Charles Lee.

May 8, 1959: The last of the Chavez Ravine residents were forcibly removed from their homes. "LA County sheriff's deputies arrived to find the Arechigas barricaded inside their two homes. The deputies broke down their doors as bulldozers idled outside." 📸: UCLA Library pix 📖: "City of Dreams" book

May 7, 1926: Designed by architect Julia Morgan, the Hollywood Studio Club (located here-> maps.app.goo.gl/AmUVJ4ByFhvm...) opened 100 years ago as a YWCA residence for young women working (or hoping to work) in Hollywood. #womenshistory #Architectural drawing: archives.calstate.edu/concern/arch...

"In 'The Dreamy Side,' Molina chronicles the heady period between the end of the pachuco era of zoot suits & jazz parties in the 1940s, up to the late-1950s emergence of #Chicano rock ’n’ roll stars like #RitchieValens and #TheeMidniters." www.latimes.com/entertainmen... #musichistory #LosAngeles

Located in Westlake, Juan Hector Ponce's mural "Los Angeles Teachers" features legendary Garfield High School teacher Jaime Escalante & Edward James Olmos, the actor who played him in the film “Stand and Deliver.” #NationalTeacherDay Google Arts & Culture-> artsandculture.google.com/story/hispan...

May 5, 1801: Today marks the 225th birthday of Pío Pico, who was born at the San Gabriel Mission #OTD. The last Mexican Governor of California had a diverse heritage that included Indigenous, Mexican, and African ancestry. #PioPico His portrait via the Huntington Library:

The tribe, so far, is not talking about the purchase price and renovation plans until the deal closes at the end of May. More here: https://mrf.lu/Vq4v

“Cinco de Mayo is not, in its origins, a Mexican holiday at all but rather an American one, created by Latinos in California in the middle of the nineteenth century,” David Hayes-Bautista. His book “El Cinco de Mayo: An American Tradition” -> www.google.com/books/editio... #HistorySky #CincodeMayo

On Sunday, I joined the East LA Walking Club for a wonderful mural walk down the street formerly known as Brooklyn Avenue. Artist Andrea Ramirez led the walk & has posted this mural guide on her site: www.artemextica.com/muralwalk #EastLA #LAMurals #WalkingInLA

Happy Star Wars Day! A couple of contact sheets featuring Luke, Leia, Han & Chewbacca, as seen at the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library. #Maythe4th More #StarWars contact sheets from Terry O’Neill: academycollection.org/web/arena/se... & David Steen: academycollection.org/web/arena/se...

Many of these commemorate key moments in L.A. labor history. With May Day approaching, I've been thinking a lot about this one on the 2006 "Day Without An Immigrant" march in 2006, which features incredible video from that day: memorywork.irle.ucla.edu/archives/998

Today also marks the 20th anniversary of the “Day without immigrants” May Day march of 2006, which drew as many as 2 million people. Photo by Times photographer Brian Van der Brug

#MayDay 1960: Thurgood Marshall, future Supreme Court Justice, spoke to 5,000 people at an NAACP rally at Olympic Auditorium. "They're sitting in at the lunch-counters but they don't want a hamburger. What they want is democracy,” #ThurgoodMarshall. CA Eagle (5/5/1960): archive.org/details/la_c...

"This was seen on May 1, 1930, one month after #OlveraStreet opened. More than 10K demonstrators congregated just outside the Plaza carrying various banners: 'Immediate Aid to the Unemployed & Their Families,'....and ‘Down with Police Terror,’” William Estrada. www.google.com/books/editio... #MayDay

Saturday: join us on a stroll along the Arroyo to root out oddball lore, see cool buildings and meet folks who preserve and improve the landmarks that show us what it means to be an Angeleno. Plus: meet a ghostly rooster! esotouric.com/event/arroyo...