Methane gas bubble emerging at La Brea Tar Pits (2004)
The La Brea Tar Pits is an active
paleontological research site in urban
Los Angeles.
Hancock Park was formed around a group of
tar pits where natural
asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; brea in Spanish) has seeped up from the ground for tens of thousands of years. Over many centuries, the bones of trapped animals have been preserved. The
George C. Page Museum is dedicated to researching the tar pits and displaying specimens from the animals that died there. La Brea Tar Pits is a registered
National Natural Landmark. (Full article...)
There's no question that California, in the last three or four years, has been privileged to add disproportionately to the economic growth of America, and to contribute to its technological productivity.
Chastain developed an interest in acting from an early age and made her professional stage debut in 1998 as
Shakespeare's
Juliet. After studying acting at the
Juilliard School, she was signed to a
talent holding deal with the television producer
John Wells. She was a recurring guest star in several television series, and took on roles in several stage productions. After making her film debut at age 31 in the drama Jolene (2008), Chastain had her breakthrough in 2011 with six film releases, including the dramas Take Shelter (2011) and The Tree of Life (2011). She received Academy Award nominations for playing an aspiring socialite in the period drama The Help (2011) and a CIA analyst in the thriller Zero Dark Thirty (2012). (Full article...)
Before becoming an astronaut, Young received his Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the
Georgia Institute of Technology and joined the U.S. Navy. After serving at sea during the
Korean War he became a naval aviator and graduated from the
U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. As a test pilot, he set several world time-to-climb records. Young retired from the Navy in 1976 with the rank of
captain. (Full article...)
Image 4
Norton,
c. 1871–72
Joshua Abraham Norton (February 4, 1818 – January 8, 1880) was a resident of San Francisco, California, who in 1859
proclaimed himself"Norton I., Emperor of the United States", commonly known as Emperor Norton. In 1863, after
Napoleon IIIinvaded Mexico, he took the secondary title of "Protector of Mexico".
For the first few years after arriving in San Francisco in 1849, Norton made a successful living as a commodities trader and
real estate speculator. However, he was
financially ruined following a failed bid to corner the rice market during a shortage prompted by a famine in
China. He bought a shipload of
Peruvian rice at 12 cents per pound (26 ¢/kg), but more Peruvian ships arrived in port, causing the price to drop sharply to three cents per pound (6.6 ¢/kg). He then lost a protracted lawsuit in which he tried to void his rice contract, and his local prominence faded. (Full article...)
Brady was born an American citizen in
Tientsin, China, and traveled frequently as a child, spending time in
Los Angeles, California,
British Columbia, and
Austin,
Texas. She studied in the
University of California system, receiving her bachelor's and master's degrees, and her
Ph.D. in 1935. She next became an English instructor at that university's College of Agriculture, and worked as an
assistant professor of languages and literature at Berkeley from 1941 to 1946. The following three years were spent at the University of Pennsylvania, until, at the end of 1949, Brady moved to teach at
Central Oregon Community College; her resignation due to "ill health" was announced a few months later. After being named the 1952–53
Marion Talbot Fellow of the
American Association of University Women and writing two articles, Brady's scholarship ceased for a quarter of a century. In 1979, and posthumously in 1983, her final two articles were published. (Full article...)
Image 6
Perry in 2023
Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is known for her influence on modern
pop music and her
camp style, being dubbed the "
Queen of Camp" by
Vogue and Rolling Stone. At 16, Perry released a
gospel record titled Katy Hudson (2001) under
Red Hill Records, which was commercially unsuccessful. She moved to Los Angeles at 17 to venture into
secular music, and later adopted the stage name "Katy Perry" from her mother's maiden name. She recorded an album while signed to
Columbia Records, but was dropped before signing to
Capitol Records.
Perry rose to fame with One of the Boys (2008), a
pop rock record containing her debut single "
I Kissed a Girl" and follow-up single "
Hot n Cold", which reached number one and three on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100 respectively. The
disco-influenced pop album Teenage Dream (2010) spawned five U.S. number one singles—"
California Gurls", "
Teenage Dream", "
Firework", "
E.T.", and "
Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"— the only album by a female singer to do so. A reissue of the album titled Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection (2012) subsequently produced the U.S. number one single "
Part of Me". Her empowerment-themed album Prism (2013) had two U.S. number one singles, "
Roar" and "
Dark Horse". Both their respective music videos made Perry the first artist to have multiple videos reach one billion views on
Vevo and
YouTube. The
electropop album Witness (2017) featured themes of feminism and a political subtext, while Smile (2020) was influenced by motherhood and her mental health journey. Afterwards, she embarked on her Las Vegas
concert residency titled
Play (2021–2023), receiving critical acclaim and commercial success. (Full article...)
Alfred Manuel Martin Jr. (May 16, 1928 – December 25, 1989), commonly called "Billy", was an American
Major League Baseballsecond baseman and
manager who, in addition to leading other teams, was five times the manager of the
New York Yankees. First known as a scrappy infielder who made considerable contributions to the championship Yankee teams of the 1950s, he then built a reputation as a manager who would initially make bad teams good, before ultimately being fired amid dysfunction. In each of his stints with the Yankees he managed them to winning records before being fired by team owner
George Steinbrenner or resigning under fire, usually amid a well-publicized scandal such as Martin's involvement in an alcohol-fueled fight.
Martin was born in a working-class section of
Berkeley, California. His skill as a baseball player gave him a route out of his home town. Signed by the
Pacific Coast LeagueOakland Oaks, Martin learned much from
Casey Stengel, the man who would manage him both in Oakland and in New York, and enjoyed a close relationship with Stengel. Martin's spectacular catch of a wind-blown
Jackie Robinson popup late in Game Seven of the
1952 World Series saved that series for the Yankees, and he was the hitting star of the
1953 World Series, earning the Most Valuable Player award in the Yankee victory. He missed most of two seasons, 1954 and 1955, after being
drafted into the Army, and his abilities never fully returned; the Yankees traded him after a brawl at the
Copacabana club in New York during the 1957 season. Martin bitterly resented being traded, and did not speak to Stengel for years, a time during which Martin completed his playing career with various teams. (Full article...)
Image 9
Milk in June 1978
Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised in New York, where he acknowledged his homosexuality as an adolescent, but chose to pursue sexual relationships with secrecy and discretion well into his adult years. His experience in the
counterculture of the 1960s caused him to shed many of his conservative views about individual freedom and the expression of sexuality.
Milk moved to San Francisco in 1972 and opened a camera store. Although he had been restless, holding an assortment of jobs and changing addresses frequently, he settled in
the Castro, a neighborhood that at the time was experiencing a mass immigration of gay men and lesbians. He was compelled to run for city supervisor in 1973, though he encountered resistance from the existing gay political establishment. His campaign was compared to theater; he was brash, outspoken, animated, and outrageous, earning media attention and votes, although not enough to be elected. He campaigned again in the next two supervisor elections, dubbing himself the "Mayor of Castro Street". Voters responded enough to warrant his running for the
California State Assembly as well. Taking advantage of his growing popularity, he led the gay political movement in fierce battles against anti-gay initiatives. Milk was elected city supervisor in 1977 after San Francisco reorganized its election procedures to choose representatives from neighborhoods rather than through city-wide ballots. (Full article...)
Publicity photo of Anna May Wong from Stars of the Photoplay, 1930
Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first
Chinese American film star in
Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese American actress to gain international recognition. Her varied career spanned
silent film, sound film, television, stage, and radio.
Born in Los Angeles to second-generation
Taishanese Chinese American parents, Wong became engrossed with films and decided at the age of 11 that she would become an actress. Her first role was as an extra in the movie The Red Lantern (1919). During the silent film era, she acted in The Toll of the Sea (1922), one of the first films made in color, and in
Douglas Fairbanks' The Thief of Bagdad (1924). Wong became a fashion icon and had achieved international stardom in 1924. Wong had been one of the first to embrace the
flapper look. In 1934, the Mayfair Mannequin Society of New York voted her the "world's best dressed woman." In the 1920s and 1930s, Wong was acclaimed as one of the top fashion icons. (Full article...)
Image 12
Knight in June 2007
Marion Hugh "Suge" Knight Jr. (/ʃʊɡ/SHUUG; born April 19, 1965) is an American record executive who is the co-founder and former CEO of
Death Row Records. Knight was a central figure in
gangsta rap's commercial success in the 1990s. This feat is attributed to the record label's first two album releases:
Dr. Dre's The Chronic in 1992 and
Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle in 1993. Knight is currently serving a 28-year sentence in prison for a fatal hit-and-run in 2015.
Reagan was born in New York City. After her parents separated, she lived in
Maryland with an aunt and uncle for six years. When her mother remarried in 1929, she moved to Chicago and later was adopted by her mother's second husband. As Nancy Davis, she was a Hollywood actress in the 1940s and 1950s, starring in films such as The Next Voice You Hear..., Night into Morning, and Donovan's Brain. In 1952, she married Ronald Reagan, who was then president of the
Screen Actors Guild. He had two children from his previous marriage to
Jane Wyman and he and Nancy had two children together. Nancy Reagan was the first lady of California when her husband was
governor from 1967 to 1975, and she began to work with the
Foster Grandparents Program. (Full article...)
Image 14
Dr. Dre in 2013
Andre Romell Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American record producer and rapper. He is the founder and
CEO of
Aftermath Entertainment and
Beats Electronics, and co-founded and was the president of
Death Row Records. Dre began his career as a member of the
World Class Wreckin' Cru in 1985, and later found fame with the
gangsta rap group
N.W.A. The group popularized explicit lyrics in
hip hop to detail the violence of street life. During the early 1990s, Dre was credited as a key figure in the crafting and popularization of
West CoastG-funk, a subgenre of hip hop characterized by a
synthesizer foundation and slow, heavy production.
... that Sigismund Danielewicz's career in the California
labor movement ended after he delivered an 1885 speech advocating against the persecution of Chinese people?
Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division/Carol M. Highsmith
Mann's (formerly Grauman's) Chinese Theatre is the ultimate Hollyood tourist attraction, with crowds often jamming the patio to inspect handprints of movie stars. The opening of Grauman's in 1927 was the most spectacular theater opening in film history, 7 April 2005
Industry (or City of Industry) is a city in the
San Gabriel Valley section of
Los Angeles County,
California,
United States. It was incorporated June 18, 1957. The population was 777 at the 2000 census. The city was incorporated to prevent surrounding cities from annexing industrial land for tax revenue.
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