We are thrilled to announce that the Ann Peppers Foundation has recently granted LASA $20,000 in furtherance of our plans for our fifth year of student outreach. We are immensely grateful for this pledge of support and philanthropic acknowledgment of our work and program. Thanks as well to colleagues in USC’s Corporate and Foundation Relations office, especially Christopher Wiedey and …
LASA Works A Shift at the LA Food Bank
On Saturday, April 16th, we all gathered early in the morning at the LA Public Library. Our bus whisked us to the City of Vernon, amidst all the industrial, packing, and other warehouses of this gritty interior core of LA County. For the second year in a row, we worked a long shift at the Los Angeles Food Bank. Our …
Our huge, and hugely important, Los Angeles Harbor
Our huge, and hugely important, Los Angeles Harbor On Saturday March 19th, LASA learned about the Los Angeles harbor. Our day began “in college.” Bill lectured to us (at us?) for an hour or so, telling us about the history of the “Free Harbor Fight” in the 1890s. The story was wrapped up in a package of ambition, secrecy, hydrology, …
Getting Around LA
February 20, 2016 On the 20th of February, we turned our attention to transit. How do people get around the vastness of the LA metropolis? How do decisions about transit, transit systems, and the future get made? How are the huge infrastructural projects, like light rail and the colored lines of Metro’s trains, paid for? As usual, we had the …
LASA Explores LA Art and Entertainment
LASA Explores LA Art and Entertainment On the 9th of January, LASA investigated the LA art and entertainment scene. We started our day with LA Times reporter Carolina Miranda, who joined us at The Huntington to talk about her beat and her work. Carolina, who has had a fascinating career mixing freelance and institutional journalism, talked about her work and …
LASA Learns Law Enforcement
LASA Learns Law Enforcement On Saturday, November 14th, LASA pursued our annual exploration of law enforcement in the City of Angels. Our morning began with Police Commissioner Robert Saltzman. Rob, the senior member of the 5-person civilian oversight body, gave us a fascinating view of the work that the Police Commission does, and he helped us all understand how complex …
LASA Learns Business
October 17th For our exploration of business in Los Angeles, LASA was very fortunate to be joined by two speakers, Rick Wartzman and Ivar Chan. The former business editor of the Los Angeles Times and the head of the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate School, Rick guided LASA students through a big-picture overview of the extensive Los Angeles economy. With …
LASA Learns Sports
LASA, September 19th Our day started with baseball. We jumped aboard our bus for Dodger Stadium first thing. Our tour guide was wonderful – lots of nooks and crannies inside the huge spaces of Dodger Stadium, and lots of tidbits of Dodger and L.A. history. We loved being on the field (and watching it be prepared for a game later …
LASA Kicks Off Year Four in Summer Institute
We just finished a great week of our new LASA year. On Monday, August 3rd, we welcomed our new class to The Huntington Library, where we got to know one another a bit and talked of the year ahead. Our annual “make a map of Los Angeles” exercise was fun for all (with the usual creative cartography at work!). Don’t …
LASA Goes to LACMA
For our final day of the year, LASA traveled to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), one of the world’s great art museums. The artist Chris Burden, whose work so epitomizes both LA and LACMA, had only recently passed away, and the obituaries and testimonials about his life, work, and influence surrounded our day. We saw a vernacular …