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