We are celebrating another achievement today: our Flickr online photo gallery has clocked 1.5 million views after just three years since we began offering up our digital images to the public. It was exactly nine months ago that we celebrated hitting the 1,000,000 mark. On…
Category: Primary Resources
Primary Resources
148 Bike Paths, Trails, Lanes & Shared Routes: The 1975 Los Angeles County Bikeways Plan
This month, the County of Los Angeles released it’s long-awaited Bicycle Master Plan (214p. PDF), along with extensive technical appendices (195p.) This comprehensive approach to accomodating bicycle transportation throughout the County led us to dust off a very early predecessor.…
Researching L.A. 101: Step-By-Step Instructions For Finding Historical Information About The Los Angeles Area
This past weekend, the Metro Transportation Library & Archive participated in the 6th Annual LA as Subject Archives Bazaar. The annual event brings together more than 80 exhibitors showcasing their collections, answering questions, networking amongst each other, and attending educational workshops,…
No More Play: Conversations On Open Space And Urban Speculation In Los Angeles And Beyond
In No More Play: Conversations on Urban Speculation in Los Angeles and Beyond, American architect Michael Maltzan traces the transformations that have taken place in the city of Los Angeles since the early 1990s. This is a beautifully produced book full…
40 Years Ago Today: DASH Debuts As Mini-Bus In Downtown Los Angeles
The Mini-Bus, the predecessor to Los Angeles’ downtown DASH system, was launched forty years ago today. The Southern California Rapid Transit District‘s mini-bus rolled out for test runs on October 13, 1971, with public boardings beginning five days later. …
Los Angeles History Comes Alive All Day, All In One Place: Next Week’s LA As Subject Annual Archives Bazaar Will Be Largest Ever
History comes alive once again on Saturday, October 22, as more than 80 of Southern California’s rare and archival collections come together at the 6th Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar. The daylong event is hosted by the USC Libraries and…
25 Years Ago Today: Los Angeles’ Red Line Subway Breaks Ground
Today marks an auspicious anniversary: 25 years ago today, leaders across the region came together to celebrate the groundbreaking for Los Angeles’ modern Metro Rail subway system. After years of planning, ground was broken on September 29, 1986 at the site of the future…
50 Years Ago Today: Passenger Projections & Financial Feasibility Report For An LAX Monorail Project
Whether considered for alignment following the Los Angeles River, or connecting the San Fernando Valley to Long Beach, Los Angeles’ historic monorail proposals each have their own fascinating story. Fifty years ago today, transportation consultant Arthur C. Jenkins submitted his Preliminary Report On A…
Grid / Street / Place: Essential Elements Of Sustainable Urban Districts
Today’s urban resident is seeking a more flexible, sustainable environment — representing a unique, diverse, vibrant and responsible way of living — as an alternative to the typical development patterns of suburban and semi-urban sprawl. Can urban design help create…
19 Streetcar Models From Los Angeles Railway: Rarely Seen 1940s Photography And Construction Specifications
Archives are anything but static warehouses of historic resources — the are dynamic, organic things. New items are added, while the collection is sometimes reorganized to maximize research potential. And sometimes, you come across something that may have been there all…