Although Los Angeles is by most standards a young city, it is a city full of history, regardless. In LAist's past we've looked at the mysterious Spider Pool ruins, the life of James M. Wood, and Campo de Cahuenga, but have barely scratched the surface. Today we're introducing a new feature on the site, LAistory, which will take us on a journey to what came before to help us understand where we are today. We......

Since February is Black History month, we asked our friends at Eso Won Books in Leimert Park to recommend ten history books that would provide a balanced overview of black history, filling in any gaps in the American educational system. Included are a number of books that specifically focus on the history of African-Americans in Los Angeles. Before the Mayflower Lerone Bennett "The black experience in America--starting from its origins in western Africa up to......

An archival photograph depicts LA's Little Tokyo neighborhood in 1942, which was when Japanese Americans were forced to leave their homes and businesses and sent to internment camps. President Franklin Roosevelt signed Excutive Order No. 9066 in February 1942, which explained that these relocations were necessary because "the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities." Because of the December......

How apropos; today on LAist it's Sex Saturday, but today also happens to be World AIDS Day. Several events took place yesterday and will happen today in order to remind the world community that HIV/AIDS remains a global threat. The LA Times reports today on President Bush's public appearance yesterday at a church in northern Maryland, and that his speeches did not propose new plans or funding, but rather focused on humanitarianism. According to the......

If you're anything like us and still incorporate large quantities of instant ramen noodles into your diet (is that shameful for a food writer to admit?), this morning's news might cause more than a little worry. We woke to our local news broadcasters discussing yet another American health worry: salt. Apparently Americans consume 50% too much salt in their diet, much of it locked up in processed and canned foods, and the FDA is......

North County just can't catch a break lately: another fatal freeway pileup near Antelope Valley today, this one involving eight vehicles and at least one fatality. The freeway has been closed in both directions. Things Not Worth Beating Someone With a Hammer For: six dollars? A group of males accosted and hammered a man in Canoga Park last night; then they blew the cash on penny candy and stamps. Not really, but six bucks??......

This photo is of 6th Street in downtown LA, looking east, between Hope and Grand. The Hotel Savoy on the left later became the Crocker National Bank Tower (how it looked in 1969 or so, when it was the tallest building in LA). The building is still there, and -- no surprise -- it's slated to go condo. LA so relentlessly tears down its buildings that I'm always hoping to find a way to......

In case you’re not up-to-date on all the burial happenings going on nowadays, the ever so hated N-word was put to rest in Detroit, MI., taking on similarities to the organization’s mock burial of the Jim Crow laws in Detroit in 1944. The NAACP held a mock funeral for the word to symbolically call an end to oppressing terminology that has flooded the American society. The funeral comes in retaliation to the degrading images of......

Watch out, Westwood! The color spectrum in Bruinville just got ever so slightly darker. Today's L.A. Times reports that a whopping 203 black students have decided to enroll in next fall's freshman class, out of the nearly 400 that were accepted. This is a 100% increase from last year's debacle, when only about 100 black students enrolled for the fall quarter. Campus officials attribute the rise in minority enrollments to a new "holistic" admissions......

Don Imus is an old man. Maybe back in the day he was funny, but he hasn't been funny for as long as I've been aware of him. But he does live in America, and here we have the freedom of speech. Now that Right doesn't mean that people cant call you out on what you say, but it should mean that you shouldn't have to get fired or jailed or killed for saying......

- Just like the old days, tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman, Kramer will burst into Jerry Seinfeld's spotlight and apologize for his racist remarks. Word is Richards doesn't apologize any better than he delivers stand-up. Kyle Doss and the other African Americans who were at the Laugh Factory show on Friday probably won't be satisfied - Defamer - UPDATE: CBS News has posted a clip of the interview on their site......

In a novel way to combat gang-related crime, the Federal government is currently trying four members of the Avenues gang for conspiring to kill African Americans so as to intimidate other black families out of Highland Park. Typically prosecution comes from the city or state level, but the LA Times today reports that the Constitution is being thrown at the gang members. Authorities are using a federal hate-crime law based on the amendment to......

A rumor started earlier this week running from email to email, IM window to IM window, phone to phone amongst the Southern California black community that the freeway shootings are gang related and that the "Mexican Mafia" is targeting black men wearing white tee shirts in retaliation for stolen drugs. Yesterday, it expanded to include specifics about attacks happening on Cinco de Mayo at area high schools. Despite the LAPD's assurances that they've found......

On Saturday, December 11th, Santa Monica Museum of Art will exhibit "Black Belt," a group show of artwork, curated by the Studio Museum of Harlem, exploring the intersection between African American and Asian American cultures from the 1970s and 1980s. The forty five works in different mediums by nineteen contemporary American artists interpret political and philosophical connections among people of color, pop culture, and urban life. When the show opened in New York last......