A Street of Memory
Olvera Street: Street of Memory – 1937
MORE ...California the Golden
If you were taking a sea cruise from the Eastern Seaboard to the West Coast via the Panama Canal, this might be the film you’d see before disembarking in San Diego, Los Angeles, or San Francisco. An exquisite travel film documenting the magnificent landscape and locales of pre-WWII California, this film showcases classic school California, […]
MORE ...The Terrible Truth
“Most teenagers start off with marijuana then decide to see if heroin has any kick. It does.” The Terrible Truth is a 1951 educational film directed by Sid Davis that tries to deal with the dangers of teenage drug abuse and its consequences. The film, which was produced by the Los Angeles-based Coronet Films was […]
MORE ...Amos Milburn: Bad Bad Whiskey
Originally from Texas, Amos Milburn moved to Los Angeles and soon became a fixture in the Central Avenue music scenes thriving in Watts during the 1940’s and 1950’s. As you can hear from his piano style, Milburn would be a great influence on Fats Domino. He wrote many hits during his day, and was also […]
MORE ...Griffith Park Fire Disaster Protest
A newsreel marking the protest over the Griffith Park fire disaster of 1933, where 29 workers were killed while widening roads in Los Angeles. The fire was one of the worst in the city’s history at that time.
MORE ...Charlie Williams: Long Black Veil
In this clip, Charlie Williams, backed up by Joe Maphis, performs a solid rendition of Long Black Veil, made famous by Lefty Frizzell and Johnny Cash, on Town Hall Party in 1959. Born in Texas in 1929, and the underrated Williams got his start in radio, taking up residencies in Tupelo, Fort Worth, Pasadena, Los Angeles, San […]
MORE ...Skeets McDonald & Joe Maphis: Mona Lisa
From a live broadcast in 1959 on KTTV in Los Angeles, Skeets McDonald and Joe Maphis perform a countrified version of Nat King Cole’s Mona Lisa. Performing on Town Hall Party, a show broadcast over radio and television during the 1950s, became something of a hometown Grand Ol’ Opry for the large community of Okies […]
MORE ...Jimmy Pruett: Boogie Woogie
Born in 1925, Jimmy Pruett, a lifelong resident of Los Angeles, California, grew up blind. In his youth, he learned both guitar and piano, developing his own unique style by the age of nine. It was around then that country artist Stuart Hamblen discovered Pruett and gave him a spot on his radio show on […]
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