The Big Read this year is The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu. A few of the themes running through this award-winning novel about an Ethiopian immigrant are displacement, cultural…
Have you been by the corner of First Street and Olive recently? Remember that ugly structure where you parked when you had jury duty? Familiarly referred to as the Erector Set or Tinker Toy garage…
When the gleaming “new” Central Library opened its doors on October 3, 1993, seven years after the devastating fires of 1986, it touted the latest innovations in computer automation. The now familiar…
“Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.”—Trees by Joyce Kilmer Hard as it might be to imagine now, a majestic tree once stood on this forlorn strip of concrete wedged between…
In 1920s Los Angeles, insurance companies considered black Americans to be either uninsurable or extremely high risk. As a result, black people were routinely denied coverage or charged exorbitant…
“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.” ―Charles M. Schulz.While making a living selling chocolate and candy making supplies in Toronto, Charles See dreamed of…
Welcome back, Olivet and Sinai.The two orange and black 16-seat wooden cars named for the biblical mountains will resume climbing up and down Bunker Hill tomorrow. Angels Flight first began making the…
May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, a month in which we celebrate the culture, traditions, accomplishments, and history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. It is…
“A library card is the start of a lifelong adventure.”—Author Lilian Jackson Braun Did you nab one of the artist-designed library cards? Designed by street artist and library supporter Shepard Fairey…
If you drive through the neighborhood around the intersection of Adams and San Pedro Street today, you will see a strip mall and on the opposite corner a clothing store. Everywhere you look, there are…
