Las Angelitas Docent Training at El Pueblo Starts Feb. 3

News from Las Angelitas, one of the over 150 L.A. Heritage Alliance members, announcing yet another way to be involved in local history and heritage:

New docent training classes for El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument will be held for nine Tuesdays from Feb. 3 through March 31, 2009. Classes are offered by Las Angelitas del Pueblo, the volunteer docent organization that conducts free walking tours of the “birthplace of Los Angeles.”

Classes will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Las Angelitas office, located at 130 Paseo de la Plaza next to the Old Firehouse and directly across from Union Station. The classes feature multi-media presentations of historic photos and lectures from El Pueblo curators and area history experts. Las Angelitas consists of sixty men and women who are history buffs with a passion for the history of Los Angeles, according to the organization’s president Kate Probst. “This is a wonderful group of volunteers who embrace LA history and want to share their knowledge with others,” says Frank Damon, past President, who leads the training classes.

The volunteer commitment is two weekday tours or one Saturday tour per month. The walking tours are fifty minutes long. Some tours are provided in Spanish and German. The historical timeline for the class begins prior to the founding of the city in 1781, when California was under Spanish rule. During the training sessions, everyone learns how to guide visitors around El Pueblo, which includes five museums, numerous historic buildings and the world-famous Olvera Street.

Las Angelitas, founded in 1966, is the oldest walking tour nonprofit organization in Los Angeles. “Our purpose since the beginning has been to provide educational and historically accurate walking tours of El Pueblo,” said Damon. More than ten thousand students, local residents and tourists are given free tours annually. To sign up for Las Angelitas docent training classes, visit www.lasangelitas.org and click “BE A DOCENT”, or call Jeanne Conklin at (310) 398-0269.

Preservation and Sustainability: An Evening with Richard Moe

As part of its 30th anniversary celebration, the Los Angeles Conservancy welcomes Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Mr. Moe will discuss the critical links between historic preservation and sustainability. A reception follows the discussion. Reservations required. For details, visit the L.A. Conservancy's website.

L.A. NOIR-chitecture Tour Sunday, November 9

The Los Angeles Conservancy presents a one-day-only tour of seven historic sites associated with Los Angeles noir fiction, from the Glendale Train Depot (scene of the crime in Double Indemnity) to the Parva-Sed-Apta Apartments in Hollywood (where Nathanael West lived while writing The Day of the Locust). The tour is Sunday, November 9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For details, visit the L.A. Conservancy's website.

3rd Annual Archives Bazaar

LA as a Subject will be hosting their 3rd annual Archives Bazaar on October 25th from 10am to 5pm at the USC Davidson Conference Center. This event showcases those groups preserving archive collections and allows for an up-close look at these documents. More info can be found at their website, and the flyer is available here.

So, what, you ask is LA as a Subject?  From their website:

What Is L.A. as Subject?

Hosted by the USC Libraries, L.A. as Subject is an alliance of research archives, libraries, and collections dedicated to preserving the rich history of the Los Angeles region. L.A. as Subject is working to increase the visibility of local archives and improve access to them for students, researchers, K-12 educators, and everyone else with a stake in Southern California history. L.A. as Subject promotes tools and mentoring to help its members with everything from preserving and cataloging materials in their collections to fundraising and public outreach.

Celebrate the 86th anniversary of the Egyptian Theatre!

Come join the celebration in honor of the Egyptian Theatre's 86th anniversary. On October 18th, attend a behind the scenes tour of the historic Hollywood Theatre built in 1922 by Sid Grauman. This tour of offered monthly; but this is the special 86th anniversary weekend, so don't miss it! 

To find out more about the tour, the anniversary, and to make a reservation, visit the American Cinematheque website.

Port Director to Speak on History: "From Shallow Bay to World-Class Harbor: San Pedro"

The LA City Historical Society will present  Dr. Geraldine Knatz, Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles, at their final lecture in their annual Marie Northrup Lecture Series on October 19th at 2pm at the Riordan Central Library. She will present a lecture on the history of the Port of Los Angele entitle "From Shallow Bay to World-Class Harbor: San Pedro." 

For more details on this free presentation, visit the LA City Historical Society Website.

SUNSHINE AND STRUGGLE: THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE IN LOS ANGELES, 1827-1927

From the The Historic Italian Hall Foundation, an ongoing exhibit through mid-November on the Italian contribution to Los Angeles:

The Historic Italian Hall Foundation in collaboration with El Pueblo Historical Monument will present SUNSHINE AND STRUGGLE: THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE IN LOS ANGELES, 1827-1927 through November 15, 2008 at the Pico House Gallery. The history of Italians in Los Angeles is a seldom-examined topic that when explored, provides a more meaningful understanding of the city’s rich history and unparalleled diversity.  While few reminders of Los Angeles’ long-disappeared little Italy remain, the Italian enclave was located in the heart of the city, in the areas surrounding El Pueblo Historical Monument, present-day Chinatown and Union Station, spreading eastward in the later years to Lincoln Heights. From the time of the first Italian settler’s arrival in 1827, Italian immigrants held important civic and entrepreneurial positions and played an instrumental role in the city’s economic development.  SUNSHINE AND STRUGGLE features dozens of never-before-published photographs and numerous historical artifacts pertaining to the Italian American presence in Los Angeles, an experience that both mirrors and contrasts from that of their counterparts elsewhere in the United States. It is written and curated by historian Mariann Gatto. The Pico House Gallery at El Pueblo Historical Monument: 424 North Main Street, Los Angeles, 90012.