In 1978, Los Angeles agreed to host the 1984 Summer Olympics and, as described in the official report of the games, a small, secretive organizing committee formed to oversee the delivery and ...

Surfrider Beach was the domain of a small, rag-tag group of surfing pioneers—until a teenager nicknamed "Gidget" burst onto the scene.

13 of the best noir films set in Los Angeles Laced with corruption in the 1940s and ’50s, LA became the birthplace for the literary and cinematic style ...

These 1920s apartments inspired one of the best noir films ever made For the set of In a Lonely Place, director Nicholas Ray recreated one of his first Hollywood homes ...

In the summer of ’63, black students led protests against the South Bay’s white-only neighborhoods Thousands of demonstrators flooded Torrance—and were confronted by angry white homeowners ...

The Wilmington Oil Reserve is one of the largest in the country. It was discovered in the 1930s. Debates over what to do with the black gold under Long Beach raged for years. Residents wanted the ...

Architecturally, it’s just another nondescript, drab corner strip mall, fronted by a wide parking lot dotted with pigeons (and their droppings). It happens to be on the gray corner of Hollywood ...

In just a few short months, Metro's Expo Line extension will begin operation, making it Los Angeles's one and only train line to reach the Pacific Ocean. The Purple Line, if it can get past Beverly ...

More than half a century after publishing the collections that established her reputation as a gimlet-eyed cultural critic—Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album—Joan Didion continues ...

Urban Light: The story of LA’s great landmark for the 21st century How the installation became a Los Angeles icon ...

For those looking to shake up their Halloween routine, may we suggest a leisurely cemetery tour. While all of LA’s graveyards have their fair share of celebs interred, Hollywood Forever Cemetery ...

An illustrated guide to SoCal breeze blocks Get to know one of the grooviest features of midcentury modern architecture ...