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“Never treat a war like a skirmish. Treat all skirmishes like wars.”— L. Ron Hubbard Scientology was established in Los Angeles in February of 1954. A religion started by a science fiction author-turned-prophet who taught that humans are infested by brainwashed alien spirits banished to earth by a galactic dictator named Lord Xenu 75 million years ago,…

Paul Williams, the trailblazing Black architect, was born in Los Angeles on Feb. 18, 1894. Orphaned young, he was raised by a family friend who marveled at the boy’s intelligence, telling him he could do anything. When he announced his ambition to become an architect, however, there was skepticism. Black people won’t be able to afford…

On Feb. 12, 2004, Gavin Newsom, then mayor of San Francisco, directed city clerks to issue the nation’s first marriage licenses to same-sex couples. His stand was a lonely one. A mere four years earlier, Californians had voted by a resounding margin to restrict marriage to one man and one woman. Some in the 36-year-old mayor’s inner…

East Coast — ivy-covered brick, formal spaces, brownstone stoops. West Coast — walls of windows, pergolas, outdoor rooms. California not only thinks different than other places, it looks different. While the state’s design aesthetic is no one thing — formed as it is by a diverse collection of actors — certain themes appear. Simon Sadler, a…

“He was a hero — the Jackie Robinson of Black politics.” William Byron Rumford, the first Black person elected to the state Legislature from Northern California, was born in February 1908. A pharmacist by training, Rumford became a pivotal figure in the fight to extend California’s prosperity to people of all races. Housing inequity had been cemented over decades…

Born in Cairo, Georgia, in 1919, Jackie Robinson was still a toddler when he moved with his family to Pasadena, where his single mother believed they would have more opportunity. But the affluent, mostly white city had its own version of Jim Crow. Minorities were only allowed to swim at the municipal pool Tuesdays, designated…

Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia, in 1919; while still a toddler, his family moved to Pasadena, where his single mother believed they would have more opportunity. But the affluent, mostly white city had its own version of Jim Crow. Minorities were only allowed to swim at the municipal pool Tuesdays, designated “International Day,”…

Paul Newman was a perfectionist, in acting, race car driving — and salad dressing. His wife, actress Joanne Woodward, told a story about the time they went for a meal at the exclusive Chasen’s in Beverly Hills. When waiters refused to comply with his request for olive oil, vinegar, chopped celery, salt, pepper, and mustard to make his…

Kobe Bryant seemed capable of summoning greatness at any moment. He could be a streaky player, but when he was hot, he was unstoppable. There was the outing in 2003 when he set an NBA record with 12 threes in a single game, nine of them consecutive. Or the nine-game tear he went on that same year,…

Above is a fantastic image of the Pike from its 1910 heyday, when a day at the seaside in Long Beach was an occasion for tailored suits and lavish, floral hats. In the early 1900s, it was boom times in Southern California, and the place to be on the weekend was the boardwalk in Long…

Junior Seau, football great and favorite son of San Diego, grew up in a tough neighborhood of Oceanside. The great-grandson of a Samoan village chief, he became a multisport phenom at Oceanside High, an All-American linebacker at USC, and, drafted by his hometown Chargers, a sports legend in San Diego. Spectacularly agile for his big…

It was an unknown photographer from New York, as much as anyone, who saved Yosemite from commercial exploitation. Carleton Watkins had come to California during the Gold Rush to seek his fortune, but turned instead to photography. In 1861, he strapped nearly a ton of camera equipment onto 12 mules — including giant glass plate…

If PG&E had its way, it would have built a nuclear plant atop the San Andreas Fault along a pristine stretch of the Sonoma coast. It was in 1961, a time of boundless optimism about the potential of nuclear energy, that the utility revealed plans for one of the world’s biggest nuclear generators on a…

In 1850s Los Angeles, justice stood little chance. Forged in violent conquest and riven by racial animus, the frontier city recorded a murder rate 50 times greater than that of New York City. Yet killers and thugs often escaped accountability as the city’s fledgling legal system was simply unable to keep up with the carnage.…

In the last few years, historians have explored parallels between President Trump and one of California’s native sons, Richard Nixon. The only president to ever resign from office was born in rural Yorba Linda in 1913. Like Trump, Nixon despised the press. Both men savaged their perceived political enemies, Trump in public lashings and Nixon mostly…

In the 1930s, a large dam proposal in Northern California promised a fresh bounty of power and water. But it was the labor required to build Shasta Dam, approved during the heart of the Depression, that captured the imaginations of workers across the West. Thousands of impoverished families flocked to the Redding area, where they…

The Gold Rush saw rates of homicide never equaled in American history. The reasons were myriad, among them feeble law enforcement, ethnic strife, and a bachelor cult of masculinity. Young men armed themselves to the teeth and died in brawls and raids by the thousands. In December 1854 one of the bloodiest bursts of violence erupted. Jonathan…

“As the heart is kindled and ennobled it pours out feeling and interest, first upon family and kindred, then upon country, then upon humanity. The home, the flag, the cross, these are the representatives or symbols of the noblest and most sacred affections or treasures of feeling in human nature.”— Thomas Starr King California was…