Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 1h

“StylesVille is the oldest Black-owned barbershop in the San Fernando Valley. Freddie & Ollie Carter opened the long-time #Pacoima business in 1957, across the street from its current location,” LA Conservancy. www.laconservancy.org/learn/histor... #SanFernandoValley

StylesVille Barbershop & Beauty Salon - LA Conservancy

Preserving the historic places that make L.A. County unique

www.laconservancy.org

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 2h

Today @ 10am: Join the #Pacoima Historical Society as the organization unveils a historical plaque for StylesVille Barbershop & Beauty Salon. “After the ceremony, stay for the block party and celebration — music, community, and history until 1 pm!” www.facebook.com/events/17689...

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 1d

Oct 10, 1911: California voters gave women the right to vote #OTD (nine years before the #19thAmendment). www.sos.ca.gov/archives/wom... #womenshistory

Image via Claremont's Ella Strong Denison Library: ccdl.claremont.edu/digital/coll...

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 1d

"On 9 October 1936, Elizabeth Scattergood ignited a 60-foot electric arc over the Los Angeles Civic Center with #hydroelectricity from the just-completed Boulder (now Hoover) Dam," Sarah Kanouse. www.environmentandsociety.org/arcadia/touc... #HooverDam #infrastructure

Touching Power: White Womanhood, Colonial Spectacle, and the “Forces of Nature” at the Boulder Power Inaugural

Gender colonization, progress, and nature on display as the first electricity from Hoover Dam arrived in Los Angeles in 1936.

www.environmentandsociety.org

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 1d

Oct 9, 1936: Hoover Dam began transmitting electricity to Los Angeles. To celebrate the arrival of hydroelectric power in Los Angeles, the city hosted the Boulder Dam Inaugural. #hydropower #infrastructure

Photos via @uclalibrary.bsky.social: digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog?utf8...

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 1d

One of my favorite rooms in the #MagicCastle is the Houdini #seance room filled with #HarryHoudini memorabilia. October 31st will be the 99th anniversary of Harry Houdini’s death. www.magiccastle.com/houdini-sean...

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 2d

Such a treat to visit the Magic Castle — especially during the spooky season! www.magiccastle.com/clubhouse #magiccastle #spookyseason

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 2d

"Focusing on automobile insurance in California, the topic of my current book project, reveals a cultural history of race, redlining, and how those viewed most unfavorably by risk assessment models..."

@drgenacarpio.bsky.social's article -> themetropole.blog/2025/10/07/c... #UHA2025 #Skystorians

California’s Invisible Infrastructure: What Auto Insurance Tells Us about Race, Risk, and Responsibility

By Genevieve Carpio Being a historian often means living with the contradictions of the present. As an Angeleno, I see my city in pain. There is resilience and courage too, but the suffering caused…

themetropole.blog

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 2d

Oct 15: The Philosophical Research Society is hosting a talk titled “The Cemetery Unusual: The Art & History of Forest Lawn." www.eventbrite.com/e/the-cemete...

Oct 20: New exhibit at the #ForestLawn Museum about the art & history of this famous #cemetery:
forestlawn.com/exhibits/unv...

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 3d

Looking forward to discussing #womenshistory on this @urbanhistorya.bsky.social panel! #UHA2025

Musician Manuela García (1860s-1930) will be one of the LA women in my talk. In 2020, a handful of scholars & artists developed this project about García's musical life: asapjournal.com/node/versos-...

Panel description for "Roundtable: Telling Herstory: New Approaches to Women's Public History in Los Angeles."

Black & white portrait of Manuela García, courtesy of the Autry.

Screen capture from the multi-faceted project "Versos y Besos: The Anthrophony of Manuela García." This image shows the section developed by historian Marissa López titled, "Mapping Manuela: Creating Spaces from Archival Traces."

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Reposted by @LAhistory

Getty @gettymuseum.bsky.social · 3d

Many thanks to our community partners who have made this event possible: The Chapter House LA, Meztli Projects, and NDN Girls Book Club.

🎟️ RSVP for your free ticket: www.getty.edu/calendar/cel...

Celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day. Free outdoor family festival. Music, activities, storytelling, poetry, art and performance. Saturday, October 11 2025, 11am- 4pm. Getty Center

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Reposted by @LAhistory

sgvtribune.bsky.social @sgvtribune.bsky.social · 7d

How Los Angeles, San Jose and San Diego looked more than 100 years ago trib.al/lfW8v0N

How Los Angeles, San Jose and San Diego looked more than 100 years ago

Here’s where you can find maps from the 1800s for many U.S. cities.

trib.al

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 5d

The @urbanhistorya.bsky.social conference begins this week (on Thurs) in downtown Los Angeles. Conference info: www.urbanhistory.org/uha2025 #HistorySky #skystorians #UHA2025

Here are a few more panels discussing SoCal & #LosAngelesHistory: ⬇️

Description for the "Making the New Deal Visible in Los Angeles" panel.

Description for the roundtable titled "Indigenous Urban Landscapes of Southern California"

Description for the "Stories from Sunset Over Sunset: Urban Histories of Change through the Lens of Ed Ruscha" panel.

Description for the "Reimagining the Settler City: Spatial Surveillance and Inequality in Los Angeles" panel.

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Reposted by @LAhistory

@c1typlann3r @c1typlann3r.bsky.social · 11d

We are honoring Mike Davis at the @urbanhistorya.bsky.social UHA Conference 2025 in Los Angeles.

c1typlann3r.blog/2025/09/29/w...

We Are Honoring Mike Davis at the Urban History Association Conference 2025 in Los Angeles

We’re honoring Mike Davis at the Urban History Association Conference 2025. Urban History Association Conference 2025 Metropolitan Majorities: UHA 11th Biennial Conference The Biltmore Los An…

c1typlann3r.blog

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 5d

Happy 93rd birthday to Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, born in Los Angeles #OTD in 1932! Among many firsts, she was the first African American woman elected to Congress from CA & the first African American on #LACounty Board of Supervisors. history.house.gov/People/Detai...

📸: @usclibraries.bsky.social

From the USC Libraries caption: Yvonne Brathwaite Burke celebrates one-year anniversary on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, 1980. https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/Share/pc34760iqtr05b8k7hqegeb2rd37ku73

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Reposted by @LAhistory

LA Metro Library & Archive @lametrolibrary.bsky.social · 6d

We've uploaded a bunch of "new" historical photos from the 1984 Olympics on our Flickr account. See the photostream here (more uploads to come!): www.flickr.com/photos/metro...

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 6d

“'If there is any single thread in [the @hammer.ucla.edu’s Made in LA biennial exhibition], it is historical,' Harden told @hyperallergic.com, countering the stereotype of LA as a place that forgets its past," @mattstromberg.bsky.social. hyperallergic.com/1046894/five...

Five Artists Share Their Work in This Year’s Made in LA Biennial

Ahead of the opening at the Hammer Museum, Hyperallergic spoke to participants whose practices embrace the show’s threads of history and dissonance.

hyperallergic.com

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 7d

Today (Saturday): The Pasadena Museum of History is opening two exhibits -> pasadenahistory.org/exhibitions/ #quilting #textiles #tiles

1️⃣ Stories, Traditions & Designs: Spotlighting the African American #Quilters of Los Angeles

2️⃣ Cha-Rie Tang: 48 Years of Artistic Innovation in #Pasadena

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Reposted by @LAhistory

Eric Brightwell @ericbrightwell.bsky.social · 7d

Tomorrow! Get free "tickets" now! But if you can't make it, I'm going to record it with my phone.

ericbrightwell.com/2025/10/03/t...

The Semi-Tropic Spiritualist Association, with historian Eric Brightwell

Happy Spooky Season! Join me tomorrow, on 4 October from 13:00-14:00 in a presentation about the Semi-Tropic Spiritualists, their tract, and the Semi-Tropic Park. If you need a brief introduction. …

ericbrightwell.com

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 7d

"In 1993, in a tribute to what was once one of Hollywood’s most famous supper clubs, the @museumofneonart.bsky.social recreated the Beryl Wallace sign." Curbed: la.curbed.com/maps/epco-si... #neon

You can find this #neonsign at Universal CityWalk (located here-> maps.app.goo.gl/5d9ni6ZSQmCn...).

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 8d

Vintage #LifeofaShowgirl: Showgirl Beryl Wallace was immortalized in this neon portrait for the Earl Carroll Theatre in Hollywood.

📸: Theatre photos from the Huntington Library
📸: Beryl Wallace portrait from @castatelibrary.bsky.social

Close up of the black & white photo of the Earl Carroll neon sign courtesy of the Huntington Library:
https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p15150coll5/id/7240

Black & white photo of the Earl Carroll Theatre with its neon sign courtesy of the Huntington Library:
https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p15150coll5/id/7240

Portrait of Beryl Wallace, courtesy of the California State Library: https://csl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma990015359860205115&context=L&vid=01CSL_INST:CSL

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 8d

"From within these confines, the Macy St district was home to an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague, a bacterial infection often caused by a rodent flea or contact w/ an infected animal. Known as the Black Death, the fatal disease had come to sunny SoCal." @lataco.bsky.social: lataco.com/mexican-dise...

Before 'Chinese Virus,’ There Was ‘Mexican Disease’ in L.A.: Remembering the Burning of the City's ‘Mexican Village' in 1924 ~ L.A. TACO

Mexicans in L.A. have been getting screwed by pandemics since the 1920s. Today, we remember how the ‘Black Death’ led the city to unjustifiably burn one of its first barrios.

lataco.com

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 8d

Oct 2, 1924: Dr. Giles Porter made a house call to the home of day laborer Jesus Lajun who was suffering from flu-like systems. "An ancient disease, the Black Death, had arrived in the city of tomorrow," William Deverell. books.google.com/books?id=77E... #histmed

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Reposted by @LAhistory

UCLA History-Geography Project @uclahgp.bsky.social · 8d

Explore this resource and join us on October 6th for a special session for educators with Dr. Kelly Lytle Hernández, one of the project’s lead scholars: centerx.gseis.ucla.edu/event/immigr...

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@LAhistory @lahistory.bsky.social · 10d

Sep 30, 1962: "After months of excitement, KMEX Channel 34 beamed onto the Southern California airwaves for the first time with a live ceremony on Sunday, September 30, 1962." @huscicw.bsky.social (2018): icwblog.wordpress.com/2018/03/09/t... #TVhistory #OTD

Tuning into the Past: The Birth of Spanish-Language Television in Los Angeles

By Carlos Francisco Parra [email protected] At the close of the 2010s, Univision KMEX Channel 34 and Telemundo KVEA Channel 52 regularly competed for the highest ratings among all television viewers i…

icwblog.wordpress.com

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