The City of Los Angeles currently has 29 Historic Preservation Overlay Zones (HPOZs), commonly known as historic districts, which provide for the review of proposed exterior alterations and additions to historic properties within designated parts of the city. The Los Angeles Conservancy will feature three of those HPOZs as part of its highly popular series of At Home with History tours.

The history of 20th century Los Angeles and the aerospace industry are inextricably linked. Despite the importance of this relationship to the region and the nation, the subject has attracted little attention from scholars. Enter the Aerospace History Project, an initiative of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West (ICW). The collaborative research and teaching enterprise’s latest undertaking is “Blue Sky Metropolis: The Aerospace Century in Southern California,” an exhibition opening at The Huntington Library this weekend.

Since launching Curating Los Angeles in September, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the process of building this online resource. In just a few short months, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know some fascinating local organizations, meeting others who are passionate about the city and enhancing life in southern California through their work and/or volunteerism, and then writing about these people and institutions so I can share what I’ve learned with you.

My name is Jim Gilbert and I publish this blog. A native Angeleno, I grew up in West Los Angeles, went to college in the Bay Area, grad school in LA and spent quite a few years living and working in Boston and Silicon Valley before moving back to southern California.  While my family and […]