Creating advocates for history through the stories of greater Los Angeles.
by Paul R. Spitzzeri When the San Gabriel Mountains became a major location for leisure and recreation activities by the end of the 19th century, when the Great Hiking Era (which lasted through the 1930s) began, access to the trails, camps and resorts there was by either by foot or animal transport. Not too many... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri Benjamin Davis Wilson (1811-1878) was one of the most prominent residents of greater Los Angeles for nearly four decades, but his settling in the region was an accident of omission. Wilson, a native of Tennessee, came to the area with the Rowland and Workman Expedition in fall 1841 and, he told... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri In 1872, greater Los Angeles was in the midst of its first sustained period of growth, which began not long after the conclusion of the Civil War and the end of a terrible period of flood and drought that wracked the regional economy. From about 1868, thousands of migrants came to... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri In the aftermath of the end of the First World War in November 1918, and, as noted in earlier posts here, one of the major issues facing returning service members was finding them jobs. In Los Angeles, the city created, within a couple of months, The Soldiers and Sailors Replacement Bureau,... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri Ten months after the American seizure of Mexican California, which ended with the Battle of Los Angeles on 9 January 1847 and two months after the fall of Mexico City, the New York Tribune of 20 November featured a few articles related to the aftermath of the war on the Pacific Coast.... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri It never ceases to amaze how a historical artifact, having surface content that is obvious on acquisition, can lead to wildly and widely ranging tangents on a little digging. I've found this to be the case many times over and a prime example is today's highlighted artifact, a letter written on... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri One of the many towns that sprung up at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains and along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe rail line that was the first direct transcontinental link to Los Angeles from the east, Azusa took its name from the rancho of that name, granted to... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri In the 19th century, fraternal orders were very popular and highly common in American society. They were heavily influenced by the masonic orders, of which William Workman and F.P.F. Temple, for example, were active members in Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley. The fraternities, masonic or otherwise, based their organizations... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri Next year marks the centennial of national Prohibition, enacted to stem the tide of alcohol production, distribution and consumption in America after decades of effort by a coalition of forces in the temperance movement. The Homestead will have exhibits and programs dealing with this remarkable social movement leading up to the... Continue Reading →
