LA History

A piece of LA history is on the 2025 list of most endangered historic places in the US

This year, the annual list from the National Trust for Historic Preservation includes a mysterious castle, flooded communities in Florida and North Carolina, historic hotels and a gigantic turtle.

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What is May Day? A brief history of LA’s labor rallies

International Workers' Day, also known as May Day, has grown to have an immigrant and workers' rights focus in Los Angeles.

A wide view of dozens of people with medium skin tones as they carry bright protest signs, including an orange butterfly that says May Day, in English and Spanish calling for investment into jobs and education instead of deportations. In the front are people with The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights.

For SoCal’s Vietnamese community, Black April tethers generations to the fall of Saigon

“ I wouldn't be here if it weren't for my family, who suffered through months in refugee camps.”

A family hosts street food in a Vietnamese street food market.

Why is there a SoCal freeway with a 40-mile gap?

Route 90 covers only a few miles today, but 1950s freeway planners meant for it to connect inland Orange County to Pacific Coast Highway in Marina del Rey.

A green street sign showing the 90 freeway, with the word EAST and an arrow below it in white. In the background is a highway with palm trees and a blue sky

A forced good-bye: LA’s iconic Pacific Dining Car demolished after fire

The famed steakhouse was torn down Thursday.

A black and white photo of the railroad car in a field of grass. "Pacific Dining Car No. 1" is painted on the side.

Before the internet, how the LA Public Library helped readers pick their next novel

The Los Angeles Public Library stores thousands of index cards with staff reviews of books dating back to the 1920s. A librarian explains how they were used and what we can learn from them today.