December 2012 Roundup Photos

Please enjoy this collection of images from the Los Angeles Corral of Westerners’ December 2012 Roundup.

All images courtesy Steve Crise.

Roundup: March 13, 2013

Almansor Court – 700 S. Almansor, Alhambra, CA
Social Hour: 5:00PM
Dinner: 6:00PM

Speaker: Glen Creason
Subject: “As the City Grew”

Glen Creason has been the map librarian for the Los Angeles Public Library for the past 23 years and a reference librarian in the History department since 1979. Here is more on his biography:

He was a co-curator of the landmark map exhibit “Los Angeles Unfolded” in 2008 and 2009 and in October of 2010 he published the book “Los Angeles in Maps” for Rizzolli International. He has written about local history, maps, and popular culture for local publications including the Downtown News, Mercators World, the Public Historian, the Communicator the Los Angeles Times, and one tasty article for Edible Ojai. He has been a regular writer on entertainment and food for the Los Cerritos Community News for nineteen years and currently blogs on maps for Los Angeles Magazine. He is a native Angelino, born and raised in South Gate and now living in Glassell Park.

The program “As the City Grew” is a selection of maps that demonstrate the growth and identity of Los Angeles from the founding of the pueblo to the metropolis of today. Included are the Ord Survey, the first surveyed map of Los Angeles, a signed copy of the Kirkman-Harriman maps showing Indian villages, the first topographic map of the area, a 1903 automobile road map by Thurston, one of the few copies existing of Laura Whitlock’s depiction of the Pacific Electric streetcar lines and the dazzling Jo Mora pictorial map from 1942.

Glen will also comment on the greatest map gift ever made to the Los Angeles Public Library. The John Feather’s collection was in a private home in Mount Washington destined for a demolition until realtor Matthew Greenberg contacted Glen setting in motion an adventure that ended in over one hundred thousand maps being added to the library’s collection. The Feather’s map house story has been featured in national newspapers, NBC television, NPR’s Morning Edition, and on Dick Gordon’s “the Story” on American Public Media.

Larry L. Boerio
Deputy Sheriff

 

Roundup: February 12, 2013

Almansor Court – 700 S. Almansor, Alhambra, CA
Social Hour: 5:00PM
Dinner: 6:00PM

Speaker: Michele Zack
Subject: “Southern-minded Southern California”

Fellow Westerner, Michele Zack has given us two talks in the past five years and is familiar with many of us.  Michele is an award-winning writer/journalist with 25+ years experience as a foreign correspondent and a renowned local historian since her return to the States some years ago.  Recent of her book publications have been recognized for “excellence” by the American Association of State and Local History, and have won the Donald Pflueger Award for local history.  In 2012, she was named Altadena Citizen of the Year for her activism on the Town Council and her work with Altadena Heritage over the years.

At this meeting, she will discuss California’s legacy of slavery, a couple of 19th Century Civil Rights leaders, and the role of the stat win the run up to the Civil War.  She will focus mainly on Southern California, but also provide some often-missing context to explain why California is generally left out of Civil War history even though the state was an important cause of the war.  That our state’s Congressional representatives regularly voted with slave states through the tumultuous 1850s is seldom noted.

Michele’s role at the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West for many years has been to connect the dots from local to national history.  Her investigations of the San Gabriel Valley and Los Angeles history have led her current research/book project on Los Angeles and the Civil War.  This talk will share her understanding of California’s importance in our country’s most traumatic conflict, and why it is not well understood of included in most narratives of the war.

Larry L. Boerio
Deputy Sheriff 

Roundup: January 9, 2013

Almansor Court – 700 S. Almansor, Alhambra, CA
Social Hour: 5:00PM
Dinner: 6:00PM

Speakers: Dr. Elizabeth Pomeroy & Nick Curry

Los Angeles Westerners will have two of its own members speak in a dual presentation on the history of the city of San Marino, home of the Huntington Library. Dr. Elizabeth Pomeroy will be pursuing some theories about what makes San Marino the city that it is, tracing the arc of history starting with the land and its promises.  From the rare topography to the arrival of Henry Huntington and the aura of his estate, this small city has followed a singular path — and managed its own identity along the way.  A handful of vignettes will bring out some special characters in the story.
Nick Curry will add further anecdotes and connections, linking San Marino characters to the wider Southern California picture. Nick is a historical researcher and compiler and a long time member of Westerners.

Both Elizabeth and Nick are long time Southern California residents. Elizabeth recently published the book “San Marino, A Centennial 1913-2013” and Nick helped extensively with its research. Elizabeth additionally has published other material about the San Gabriel Valley including columns in local newspapers.

Joe Cavallo
Deputy Sheriff

November 2012 Roundup “Hat Night” Photo Gallery

The Westerners Los Angeles Corral November 2012 Roundup, held, Wednesday, November 14, 2012, included “Hat Night,” and here is a collection of images taken by Steve Crise to document the event’s attendees.