L.A. Heritage Day Flyer: Details & Free Admission

For details and free admission to L.A. Heritage Day, just click on the image below to pull up the full-sized flyer you can print and bring with you on April 11, 2010. It also includes details about the entertainment, food (Pink's Hot Dogs!), and day-of events!

Pink’s will be there, so bring some hot dog money, too! There will be tours of fantastic historic homes, a scavenger hunt, and a variety of presentations, readings, performances, and even cooking lessons!

“In an area sometimes perceived as having no ‘real’ history, L.A. Heritage Day is an opportunity for people of all ages to learn about and enjoy the fascinating people, places and events that have shaped Southern California,” said Cindy Olnick, spokesperson for the Los Angeles Conservancy. “It is also a chance to learn about the incredible variety of local preservation groups, museums, libraries and historical societies serving today throughout Los Angeles County.”

Participating organizations include (with more adding each day!):

Art Deco Society of Los Angeles, Alhambra Preservation Group, Associated Historical Societies of Los Angeles County, Beverly Hills Historical Society, Boyle Heights Historical Society, Burbank Historical Society, California Preservation Foundation, Canoga-Owensmouth Historical Society, Culinary Historians of Southern California, Culver City Historical Society, Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum, Eagle Rock Valley Historical Society, El Publo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, Friends of La Laguna, Friends of the Southwest Museum, Grier Musser Museum, Heritage Square Museum, Highland Park Heritage Trust, Historic Adamson House/ Malibu Lagoon, Historical Society of Centinela Valley, Historical Society of Long Beach, Historical Society of Southern California, Hollywood Heritage, Inc., Lanterman House, Las Angelitas del Pueblo, Latino Hertage, Long Beach Heritage, Los Angeles City Historical Society, Los Angeles Conservancy, Los Angeles Historic Theater Foundation, Los Encinos Docent Association, Lummis Day Community Foundation, Monrovia Historic Preservation Group, Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Museum of the San Fernando Valley, Office of Historic Resources, Olmsted District Preservation Association / Save Old Town Torrance, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena Heritage, Pasadena Museum of History, Pomona Heritage, Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site, Rose Park Neighborhood Association, San Fernando Valley Historical Society, San Gabriel Historical Association, San Marino Heritage, San Marino Historical Society, Santa Monica Conservancy, Southern California Genealogical Soc & GSHA, Studio City History Project, The Studio for Southern California History, The Venice Historical Society, West Adams Heritage Association, Western Educators, Shooters and Troopers, The Whittier Conservancy, Willmoore City Heritage Association, Windsor Square-Hancock Park Historical Society,

Workman-Temple Homestead Museum, Yesteryears Dancers

L.A. Heritage Day 2010: April 11th!

Will you be joining over 100 heritage groups, preservationists, historical societies, and museums from across LA on April 11th at the 3rd Annual L.A. Heritage Day? If not, you'll miss out on the largest heritage celebration in Los Angeles that celebrates local history from across the county.

Don't miss out; it's free to attend (when you bring a flyer) and heritage non-profits only have to pay a small registration fee.

Contact LAHeritage@gmail.com for more information or check back to this site for updates.

See you there!

Pasadena Museum of History February '10 Events

From the Pasadena Musuem of History...

Pasadena Museum of History

Calendar of Events: February 2010

470 W. Walnut Street, Pasadena, CA 91103; Free Parking.

Information/Reservations: 626.577.1660, ext. 10, or at www.pasadenahistory.org.

Thursday, February 16, 7:30 pm at Pasadena Museum of History

Southern California Story: Seeking the Better Life in Sierra Madre

Lecture & Book Signing with author/historian Michele Zack -- Who knew land scout Daniel Berry first investigated Sierra Madre's turf in seeking a site for the Indiana Colony (which grew into Pasadena) — but rejected it as too expensive? Or that the San Gabriel Valley Orange Grove Association sold the "wasteland" of Altadena for a song at $5 an acre the same year Lucky Baldwin fetched $40 an acre for the more remote site of the same size that became Sierra Madre? Or that the quest to reach the top of Mt. Wilson with a transportation system was the space race of its day?

Explore the rivalries, hierarchies, and inter-relatedness of San Gabriel Valley communities — and their part the greater Southern California Story: Seeking the Better Life in Sierra Madre, with author Michele Zack. Reception and book signing immediately following lecture. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

TICKETS: $5 general public; Free for Museum members. Reservations: (626) 577-1660, ext. 10.

Thursday, February 25, 4:30 & 7:30 pm at Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 Theater, 673 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena

The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club

Special benefit screenings of The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club, a 64-minute feature documentary about the extraordinary life of Florence "Pancho" Barnes (1901-1975): adventurer, stunt pilot, bar owner, and one of the top female aviators of the 20th century. Born into one of Pasadena’s most prominent families, Pancho was the granddaughter of Thaddeus Lowe, a famed Civil War balloonist, co-founder of CalTech and builder of the famed Mount Lowe Railway. Yet Florence refused to conform to Victorian high society and its rules. Her gender-bending antics broke all stereotypes. This Pasadena minister's wife was once quoted as saying “Flying makes me feel like a sex maniac in a whorehouse with a stack of hundred dollar bills.” Her feats in aviation were no less exhilarating, from becoming Hollywood’s first woman stunt pilot, to breaking Amelia Earhart’s speed record in 1930, to hosting the best pilots in the world at her “Happy Bottom Riding Club” guest ranch in the 40’s and 50’s. A stunning force of nature, Pancho lived wildly, fully, and without an ounce of fear.

The film features interviews with astronaut Buzz Aldrin, test pilots Bob Cardenas, Bob Hoover and Chuck Yeager, and biographers Lauren Kessler and Barbara Schultz. Narrated by Tom Skerritt, with Kathy Bates as the voice of Pancho. Directed by Amanda Pope, and written and produced by Nick Spark. Produced in affiliation with KOCE-TV, PBS of Orange County California.

Reception: In conjunction with these screenings, there will be a reception beginning at 5:00 pm in Vroman's Bookstore, adjacent to the theater, featuring an appearance by the filmmakers at 6:00 pm.

TICKETS: $15 - 4:30 pm Screening; $20 - 7:30 pm Evening Screening.

Purchase tickets online at www.legendofpanchobarnes.com (click on the "Screenings" link and then click on the Pasadena Screening button to be directed to Paypal). Please note that a $1.00 surcharge per ticket will be added for online purchases.

For telephone reservations and information, please call Heritage Square Museum, at 323.225.2700, ext. 221, or Pasadena Museum of History at 626.577.1660, ext. 15. Proceeds from these special screenings of The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club benefit Heritage Square Museum, the KOCE-TV Foundation, and Pasadena Museum of History. Ticket purchases are non-refundable.


Currently on Exhibition

A Pasadena Patron: The Life and Legacy of Eva Scott Fenyes

In an era when well-to-do families took a special interest in creating significant and valuable collections Pasadena’s Eva Scott Fenyes devoted her discriminating tastes, vast knowledge, and ample funds to surround herself with fine furniture, textiles, china, silver, jewels and art. The Fenyes Mansion is filled with art and furnishings assembled by Eva and her second husband, Dr. Adalbert Fenyes, from their travels worldwide.

A Pasadena Patron, now on display in the History Center Galleries, offers an in-depth examination of the life and legacy of one of early Pasadena’s most prominent and influential women. Themes covered in this special exhibition include Fenyes family history, Eva as an art patron and watercolorist, the influence ofEurope, the East Coast, and travel itself on her thinking, and the social milieu she created here in Pasadena. Exhibition highlights include items from the Fenyes collection never before on public display.

Hours: open 12:00-5:00 pm Wednesdays through Sundays through August 2010

Tickets: $5 general; $4 students & seniors; free for children under 12.

Art Deco Architecture in Los Angeles

American Cinematheque and the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles co-present...

Art Deco Architecture in Los Angeles Lecture

at the Eqyptian Theatre

Saturday, January 30 - 4:00 PM

6712 Hollywood Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90028

(east of Highland Avenue)

Between 1920 and 1940 the population of Los Angeles grew by more than 1 million. To meet the needs of this explosive growth, the architects of the day were called on to build a vast number of structures, most of them in the prevailing art deco style. More a style of decoration than a type of architecture per se, art deco developed its own unique look as it blossomed in L.A. Palm fronds, grape clusters, sunbursts, and ocean waves, all symbols of the California arcadia, adorn the buildings of Los Angeles. The lecture will include a synopsis of the metamorphosis of architectural style into what we now call Art Deco; plus a virtual tour of a dozen buildings in the Historic Core including the William Fox, Eastern Columbia, Title Guarantee & Trust and Oviatt Buildings, as well as works by architects Parkinson & Parkinson, Styles O. Clements and Claude Beelman. Lecture by Jeffrey Bissiri A.I.A., architect, member of the ADSLA preservation committee. Special ticket price for Art Deco Society Los Angeles and Cinematheque Members: $5 all others $7.