Author Archives: Nathan Marsak

The good folk at Esotouric—who, with the rest of the world, have been huddled in the collective basement these last couple years—are back with a vengeance! There are new tours to be had, and among the first is a walking tour of Bunker Hill. As in, sign up for the tour, meet the group nextContinue reading “Bunker Hill WALKING TOUR!”

Most of Bunker Hill’s lost houses are known, and beloved, for being Queen Anne. The Hill had some two-dozen first rate Queen Anne structures, famed for their asymmetrical facades and profusion of gingerbread. Bunker Hill’s “top five” (if their appearance and reappearance on those “Old LA” Facebook groups is any indication) are the Crocker, Rose,Continue reading “The Wills Mansion”

I hate to be that guy, but I mean, come on. The Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council passed a letter requesting City leaders to formally recognize the site of the Cooper Do-Nuts Riot, specifically, at 215 South Main: Irrespective of issues to be had with the alleged Cooper Do-Nut Riot (covered at length here andContinue reading “Cooper Do-Nuts, Pt. III”

While Bunker Hill was famously wiped clean, it does contain a small quantity of interesting archaeological sites. The telling soil contours at Second and Hill. A remaining bit of retaining wall at Fourth and Olive. Less known (or at least not as yet mentioned by me) is the retaining wall at Fourth and Hill. YouContinue reading “The Great Wall of Bunker Hill”

Googie architecture, in all its flamboyant space-age grandeur, has as its namesake the Lautner-designed 1949 Googies coffee shop at Sunset and Crescent Heights. There were four Googies in the coffee shop chain; the second of the four was designed by legendary coffee shop architects Armét & Davis, with all the atomic-era exuberance that had comeContinue reading “Bunker Hill GOOGIE!”

Gas up your jalopies, throw on your raccoon coat and make a beeline for USC—this Sunday!—where I’ll be beneath the statue of Tommy Trojan, signing books as part of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Among all that bibliomania, find the Angel City Press booth, #119, right here: Download your festival map here. SeeContinue reading “Book Signing!”

Last June I posted We Need to Talk About Cooper Do-Nuts regarding John Rechy and the famed, alleged uprising. Six months later theLAnd published this interview with Rechy wherein he states “There was no riot at Cooper’s.” Which is an important statement. Remember, Rechy is the sole, lone source of the story. It’s his story:Continue reading “Cooper’s Do-Nuts — Addenda”

You’re of course familiar with the Big Four—Crocker, Huntington, Hopkins and Stanford—well, the Big Five, actually, as people always forget Edwin Crocker, since he’s Charles’ brother. Similarly, when it comes to the great Bunker Hill photographers, there’s the Big Four—Hylen, Reagh, Connor and Hall—well, the Big Five, actually, as people always forget Nadel, since heContinue reading “Theodore Hall has a Finding Aid!”

How is it that, to go to the Greatest Los Angeles Film Festival of All Time, you have to go to Minneapolis? Proving once again that at being Los Angeles, we continually and embarrassingly fail. Thus, I lift a hefty Arbeiter Moneymaker and toast the greatness of Minneapolis, and the Trylon Cinema-in-conjunction-with-The Heights, the onlyContinue reading “Bunker Hill Film Festival!”

Europeans invented photography; it took Americans to perfect it, of course. It is therefore appropriate that a European immigrant/naturalized American produced a defining work in the medium, with a book titled, appropriately enough, The Americans. Robert Frank criss-crossed the United States in 1955-57, shooting some 27,000 images, famously capturing tensions of race and class againstContinue reading “Robert Frank Goes to Bunker Hill”