Legacy Online and Flash Exhibits in Library Special Collections

Check Ignition and May God's Love Be With You : David Bowie January 8, 1947-January 10, 2016

Exhibit by Julie Graham, Annie Watanabe-Rocco, and Caroline Cubé

Flash Exhibit inspired by Oscar nominee The Big Short 

by Doug Johnson

The Big Short sardonically explores the financial and legal shenanigans that made the U.S. housing market disastrously unstable. It's a very talky movie about real estate.

In Library Special Collections, you can get a glimpse of Los Angeles's history of fevered real estate speculation. You will also see a small town just getting on its way to being the megalopolis it is today.

These items from the Collection of Tract Maps and Cadastral* Maps of Southern California show how the city was literally divided up and offered for sale, with real estate developers tying the hopes of its inhabitants to the land.

*A cadastre is basically a county's real estate register. Yes, we had to look it up too.

This area around what is now Little Ethiopia goes on sale. The precise date is unknown, but the Hillcrest Country Club golf course opened in 1920 and 10th Street (or the ritzier-sounding Country Club Drive) was rechristened Olympic Boulevard in 1932. So between then and then.

Fashionable Westlake beckons with the promise of "pure mountain water" (date unknown).

In 1887, when lots around USC went up for sale, the neighborhood was apparently considered West Los Angeles, indicating how much the city's epicenter has shifted.

Early views of homes in Los Angeles from the 1940s, at the interesection of Franklin and Serrano Avenues in the Los Feliz neighborhood. (Picture Collection 99)

Real estate listing for the home of Dr. Henry S. Fendeler at 1155 Kagawa St. in the Palisades, near Will Rogers State Historic Park. Built in 1936, the house was listed for $5000. Mortgage payments would have been $27.50/month! (Picture Collection 99)

The Andres home at 765 Kohler Street in downtown Los Angeles, between Seventh and Eighth Streets, ca.1900. (Picture Collection 99)

Flash Exhibit inspired by Oscar nominee Bridge of Spies

by Doug Johnson

2015 offered a surprising number of espionage-themed films. In addition to the Oscar-nominated Bridge of Spies (directed by Steven Spielberg), we could see the Melissa McCarthy vehicle Spy, updates of the 1960s television shows The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Mission: Impossible, and a new James Bond picture, as well as several others. About fifty years ago, there was a similar eruption of spy films, many of which took place in Berlin, where two hostile superpowers resided in tense proximity. All lobby cards are from the Collection of Motion Picture Lobby Cards (Collection PASC 65).

The 1965 adaptation of John le Carre's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold starred Richard Burton as a cynical, world-weary agent who was a shocking contrast to the glamorous James Bond fantasy.

Funeral in Berlin (1966) was the second movie to feature Michael Caine as Harry Palmer, a character who was unnamed in Len Deighton's original novels. The Glienicke Bridge, the titular structure of Spielberg's film, can be found in the film's logo on the right of the lobby card.

The Quiller Memorandum (1966) used the divided city of Berlin to good effect, as George Segal's Anglo-American spy tried to uncover muerderous neo-Nazis.

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Flash exhibit inspired by Oscar-nominee Brooklyn

by Caroline Cubé

[The following text contains spoilers.] This exhibit is inspired by the Oscar-nominated film Brooklyn which is based on the  Colm Tóibín novel of the same name. Set in 1952, the film tells the story of young Eilis Lacy’s  immigration to Brooklyn from Enniscorthy, a small town in southeast Ireland. Traveling by sea between New York and Ireland was grueling in the 50s, and took about 7 nauseating days. In Brooklyn, Eilis suffers deep bouts of homesickness. However, her budding romance and eventual marriage to Brooklyn Dodgers fanatic, Tony Fiorello, from an Italian family, help Eilis transition to New York life. After her sister’s sudden death, Eilis sails home to Enniscorthy, where everybody seems to be conspiring to keep her from returning to Brooklyn. She is courted by 
Jim Farrell, who offers her a life that she could not have had before she left for Brooklyn. After torn feelings, Eilis is reminded of the small-town mentality from she had escaped and returns to Brooklyn and reunites with Tony.

Larkin, James. Ireland and the Irish in the USA (New York: Transport Workers Union of America, CIO), 1947 (Collection of Socialist and Labor Movement Pamphlets and Books, 1886-1962)

Let’s Keep The Dodgers in Brooklyn, 1957 - recorded by Phil Foster (pictured) and released on Coral Records a couple of months before Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” -  the song peaks in the second verse as Foster skips past land acquisition and transit issues to explain what really shatters a fan's heart: [without the Dodgers] “Brooklyn would be like a pair of socks that's holey.” (Sheet Music Collection PASC 147-M)

Homesick by Irving Berlin, 1922 (Sheet Music Collection PASC 147-M)

Map (rendered in Google Maps) of the trip between Brooklyn and Enniscorthy, Ireland. In the 1950s, this would have taken about 7 days by ship.

Flash Exhibit inspired by the Oscar-nominated film Mad Max

by Annie Watanabe-Rocco

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

In Mad Max: Fury Road, the fourth in the Mad Max series, we find that Max still inhabits the barren landscapes of post-Apocalyptic earth, driving his car aimlessly, his only goal to find that next tank of gas so that he can continue on this endless journey.

Within minutes, Max is captured and taken to the Citadel, a fortress ruled by Immortan Joe. Joe is as evil as they come—his kingdom is maintained by young sickly boys, his War Boys, and he enslaves women as breeders, the Wives. And if that weren’t enough, Joe controls the two most important natural resources needed to survive in this no-man’s land, gasoline and water. Gas is stored at stations but water is stored away and rationed out at intervals leaving the survivors wanting and needing more. Because of this, all that is left is a parched and barren landscape where nothing can grow.

Max serves as a ‘blood bag’ to Nux, a sickly War Boy, who like all the War Boys is more than willing to give his life to serve Immortan Joe and reach ‘Valhalla.’ Max’s chance to escape comes when it is discovered that the ‘breeders’ are missing, having been smuggled out of the Citadel in Imperata Furiosa’s semi, the War Rig, to be taken to the ‘Green Land’, the fertile place that Furiosa remembers. Max must accompany the War Boys in their hunt for Furiosa because his and Nux’s connection/transfusion is not yet complete.

Thus, the chase begins. Fury Road is basically one long badass chase to showcase badass characters, cars, stunts, and special effects, and it does an excellent job of it.

Along the way, Max, Furiosa and the Wives meet up with the Vulvinas, the ‘earth mamas’ who still remain at the ‘Green Place’ which is no longer green—it is as desolate as its surroundings. The Vulvinas accompany them back to the Citadel where they can begin again with ample water and supplies available there.

In the end, Immortan Joe is killed, Nux redeems himself by giving his life to save the others, and Furiosa, Max, the Wives, and the Vulvina women are welcomed to the Citadel by the rest of the War Boys and survivors. The first action taken is the release of water. As is Max’s way, he slips away, evading thanks, to return to the wasteland.

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Mad Max.  Music composed and conducted by Brian May, 1980. (Ronald Bohn Collection of Film and Television Music Sound Recordings - Collection 105)

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, 1985.  Promotional image with credits listing on reverse side, and Production Information packet.  (Collection of Motion Picture Press Kits - Collection 42)

A Room With No View: Captivity Narratives in Film and Literature

by Jane Carpenter

Lenny Abrahamson's film Room is both a captivity narrative and a fairy tale --- the story of "Ma," a young woman who has been held captive in a garden shed by her kidnapper of seven years, and her son Jack, who is turning five when the film opens. For Ma, the small room is a prison, with no windows except an unreachable skylight; for Jack, the 10x10 foot space he knows as "Room" is a boundless world that goes "all the way to the end." Because he has never known the outside world, Jack sees the room as a space of endless possibilities, and even beauty, limited only by his spirit and imagination.

Captivity narratives were an early genre of American literature, providing a means of educating European settlers about the strange and "savage" culture of Native Americans, and justifying the westward expansion of settlers into Indian lands. These first-person accounts, usually by a woman, of abduction, bondage, adaptation, and deliverance, portrayed Indians as cruel barbarians, and settlers as civilized, educated, and righteous, who were resuced as a result of their strong religious faith.

Lauren Dudley's artist's book "In Captivity" began its life as an original painting in tempera on mulberry paper, created when the artist and her family were living in a rented house while thier home was undergoing a major renovation as a result of toxic mold. The family pets were boarded during this time, and Dudley would visit them "in captivity" every week. As she grew to hate living in the temporary house, she, too, felt that she was living in captivity. As she worked on creating the artist's book that was inspired by her experience, Dudley found that the concept of being "In Captivity" came to mean much more than living in the hated rented house or identifying with her "captive" pets in the kennel.

Flash Exhibit inspired by the Academy Award Best Picture nominee, The Revenant

by Caitlin Denny

James P. Bechwourth (b. 1798 - d. 1866) was a well-known fur trader, explorer and pioneer during his lifetime. He held the position of sub-chief for the Crow Nation tribe in Montana. As told by Charle G. Leland, Beckwourth became a sub-chief by killing a bear that had wandered into the Crow Nation's land. Beckwourth lived with the Crow Nation for six to eight years and married a member of the tribe, Pine Leaf.

This printed account is a message from the President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, communicating the discoveries made in exploring the Missouri, Red River, and Washita by Captains Lewis and Clark, Doctor Sibley, and Mr. Dunbar in 1806. Seen here are the statistical accounts of various Native American tribes. On the right-hand page is an account of the Crow Nation, of which famour fur trader, James P. Beckwourth, was a sub-chief.

Man in The Wilderness is a 1971 film based on the same events that inspired the 2015 Oscar-nominated film The Revenant. Richard Harris stars as Zachary Bass, the guide for a fur-trapping expedition in the early1800s. After being mutilated by a bear, the group leaves him behind as a goner. John Huston co-stars as Captain Henry, the leader of the expedition. This advertising ephemera was used to pitch the film to theaters as a profitable choice --- "it has everything super-hits are made of."

Holling Clancy Holling (b.1900 - d.1973) was a book illustrator, educator, and advertising artist. He illustrated a series of Quaker Oats (then Quaker Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice) boxes in 1935, using famous pioneers as a his subjects. This advertisement is geared toward grade school teachers, encouraging them to use the boxes as educational materials. This ad has been annotated with corrections, namely, the mistaken identities of Champlain and John Smith. Holling is known for his illustrations for The Book of Indians (1935), The Book of Cowboys (1935). He also authored and illustrated the classic Paddle-to-the-Sea in 1941.

Flash Exhibit inspired by the Academy Award Best Picture nominee, The Martian

by Russell Johnson

Tom Corbett was a popular character on radio and television and in comic strips in the early 1950s. In his first book, Stand By for Mars! (1952), Tom and two other “rocketeers” at the Space Academy undergo “the arduous training of Space Cadets, climaxed by a tactical training cruise among the distant worlds of space and a crash landing on Mars. Their desperate adventures on that planet of burning deserts and endless canals end with a thrilling rescue and their triumphant return to the Academy as seasoned veteran spacemen.

In 2010, the UCLA Library acquired an unused Space Shuttle “high-temperature reusable insulation" or “HIRSI” heat shield tile, as part of NASA’s program to share pieces of technology and space history, “to preserve the program's history and inspire the next generation of space explorers, scientists and engineers.” The NASA shuttle tile is available for short-term loan to UCLA classes and laboratories. Faculty should contact Library Special Collections/History & Special Collections for the Sciences (speccoll-medsci@library.ucla.edu).

Our Space Shuttle tile (LSC-Biomed Museum 1.2011.1) is housed in a facsimile Tom Corbett Space Cadet Lunch Box, in a nod to astronaut Steve Robinson, who carried his tools for an August, 2005 Space Shuttle Discovery spacewalk in his original 1954 Tom Corbett Lunch Box.

Martian Life is a plush toy in a series of more than 120 offerings (LSC- Biomed Collection no. 302) from GIANTmicrobes, which asks: “Are we alone? Maybe not! Mars Rock ALH 84001 produced rampant speculation after bacteria-like shapes were discovered inside. And if life does exist on other planets in the solar system, it probably looks like this!”

Edward Ezell’s article, “Humans to Mars: The mission that NASA did not fly,” appeared in the July/August issue of Planetary Report (UCLA SEL/EMS QB 600 P54 v.8-9) published by the Planetary Society, of which Carl Sagan was the President. A copy of this article also was saved in Collection of Research Materials for the HBO Television Series, “From the Earth to the Moon” (LSC-YRL Collection 561).

Rinehart S. Potts wrote Library Service for the Martian Exploration Expedition (May 1963) as a “Science-Technology Literature” class assignment as he pursued a Masters degree in Library Service at Rutgers University; he gave copy #100 of his typescript to the UCLA Library. He surveyed and received responses from an impressive variety of experts, from Dr. Werner von Braun and directors at NASA to leaders of Arctic and Antarctic exploration programs. The introduction to the final section, “Works for Landing Party Only,” hints at a mission outcome which informs the 2015 motion picture, The Martian.

And The Winner Is: Spotlight

by Julie Graham and Simon Elliott

Journalism and the lives of journalists have long been favorite themes for screen writers and film-makers. These motion pictures represent investigative journalism at its best.

Spotlight

In 2001, a group of reporters at the Boston Globe began investigating reports of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. The Spotlight team, as it was known, ultimately discovered that the abuse had been happening for years — and that Boston church leaders were not only aware of the abuse but were involved in covering it up. The Boston Globe  reporters won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their coverage.

All The President's Men

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward of The Washington Post helped to uncover illegal actions by Nixon and his colleagues that resulted in the Watergate scandal. The investigation is described in Berstein and Woodward's 1974 book, All the President's Men, which, in 1976, was adapted as a film bearing the same name.

Killing Fields

Depicts the relationship between New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg and his Cambodian interpreter Dith Pran (portrayed by the late Dr. Haing S. Ngor, who won a Best Supporting Actor Award). Set in Cambodia during themid-1970s, when the Khmer Rouge, under Pol Pot, began their genocide, Pran saves Schanberg from execution but is forced to stay in Cambodia until he escapes several years later.

Frost/Nixon

A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and President Nixon in the Summer of 1977.

by Jen O'Leary and Courtney Dean

In anticipation of the 88th Academy Awards ceremony, we have compiled photographs of past Academy Awards ceremonies from the 1950s-1970s as covered by the Los Angeles Times.

All images can be found in the Los Angeles Times Archival Photographs Collection.

Bukowski To The Curb

by Kelly Besser

Sculptor and poet Linda King picked this Charles Bukowski painting off the floor of his bungalow when they lived in the same East Hollywood complex on De Lonpre Avenue. King and Bukowski shared a tumultuous romanitc relationship in the 1970s which led to her prominence in Taylor Hackford's documentary Bukowski and appearance as "Linda Vance" in Bukowski's novel Women.

Los Angeles-based poet, performance artist, and publisher S.A. Griffin met Linda King when she approached him after a Wednesday night reading at The Water Gallery in Hollywood at Santa Monica and Hudson around 1981 or 1982. Griffin has been best friends with King for decades as well as with her son, Scott, who sold him this piece for $400. Linda King framed the piece and created its letter of provenance.

The S.A. Griffin collection of underground poetry, Scott Wannberg, and The Carma Bums (collection 2248) is Library Special Collections's largest holding of Charles Bukowski materials. This collection contains monographs, serials, manuscripts, correspondence, ephemera, audiovisual material, artwork, and memorabilia reflective of Griffin's extensive connections to the Beat poets and performance, including the Venice West Beat scene. The collection also includes the papers of fellow poet Scott Wannberg.

Addams Family

by Melissa Haley

The original Addams Family television series, based on cartoons by Charles Addams, only aired for two seasons (1964-1966) but the show has had a long afterlife. One of the forces behind the Addams Family's enduring popularity is its catchy theme song, penned by composer Vic Mizzy. UCLA's Library Special Collections holds a significant collection of Mizzy's original compositions, including scores written for television, made-for-TV movies, and film, as well as popular songs. The collection also contains personal papers and photographs, artifacts, and audiovisual material.

Black Sparrow Press

Founded in 1966 by John Martin, Black Sparrow Press helped to put literary Los Angeles on the map. While they are best known for publishing the works of Charles Bukowski, Black Sparrow also published experimental poetry and prose by lesser-known writers like Mina Loy, George Oppen, and Wanda Coleman. The Coleman papers (Collection 2282) are currently being processed and will be available to the public soon. In addition to original drafts and manuscripts of Coleman's poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and screenplays, they also include a wealth of correspondence that illuminates Coleman's experience as a working-class black woman writing In Los Angeles. Coleman's "note to self" regarding her relationship with John Martin and Black Sparrow, displayed here, is one such example.

Coleman's first book of essays, Native in a Strange Land: Trials & Tremors, published by Black Sparrow, charts this experience, with particular emphasis on the Watts Riots of 1965 and the South Central Insurrection of 1992.

Mina Loy was a modernist, feminist, and futurist writer and artist who was too avant-garde even for the avant-garde circles she ran in. Black Sparrow helped with the rediscovery of her work with the publication of Insel, her previously unpublished novel.

George Oppen, an important Objectivist poet, stopped writing poetry for over thirty years to pursue activism, and fled the United States in 1949 when he came under investigation by the Un-American Activities Committee for his affiliation and work with the U.S. Communist Party. He resumed writing in 1962, and Primitive (1978) was his last publication.

Parking at UCLA

by Kali Lawrie

As the Spring Quarter begins and campus parking lots fill up, let's take the time to recognize parking at UCLA as a tie that binds us to the past. Whether you were a student in the 1930s demanding action and parking on the steps of Royce Hall, in the 1960s objecting to parking tickets, in the 1970s and 1980s seeking alternative transportation , or in the 2010s hoping to get a permit, your struggle is known.

As you try to find the last available spot, lets these highlights from UCLA University Archives's Student Activism Collection, Photograph Collection, Subject Files Collection, and Artifacts, Ephemera, and Memorabilia Collection remind you: we're all in this together.

The Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 in Photographs

by Giulia Rose Marinos

April 18th, 2016 is the 110th anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. On January 2016, the last known survivor of the earthquake, William A. Del Monte, died at the age of 109. 

The earth began quaking on April 18th, 1906, at 5:13 am. It was a Wednesday. The quake lasted for only a minute but was followed by massive fires that burned for 3 days and 3 nights. The estimated 7.8 magnitude quake was felt as far away as Los Angeles. An estimated 500 city blocks were destroyed, more than 3000 people died, and 400,000 people were left homeless. 

The photographs from the Picture Collection (Collection 99) document the quake's aftermath. They include images of smoking buildings, long lines for aid and food, camps of makeshift relief shelters, a church congregation meeting outdoors, and a woman cooking outside of her home because cooking inside houses was prohibited.

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"Do It Yourself" Tattoos

by Kelly Besser

Dr. Willard L. Marmelzat practiced dermatology in Beverly Hills and wrote extensively on the history of medicine. Marmelzat's interest in tattoos dates back to his early childhood when he was "accidentally tattooed" three times.

This exhibit includes photographs he took of his patients from 1957-1958 and an article, "Tattooing: A Historical Note," published in 1962.

The Willard L. Marmelzat Collection (Biomed Mss. 429) contains his manuscripts, subjects files, correspondence, clinical files, publications, professional society files, education files, awards, honors, and memorabilia. This collection will be available soon and may be accessed through UCLA Library Special Collections for Medicine and the Sciences (Biomedical Library).

Prince Rogers Nelson (1958-2016)

by Lauren Buisson, Courtney Dean, Neil Hodge, Katharine Lawrie, and Ann Watanabe-Rocco | text by Lauren Buisson and Neil Hodge

Ageless, continually creating, Prince, as more than one person said, appeared nothing less than immortal. The confirmation of his untimely death last week at 57 was met with utter disbelief and genuine sadness. He was so far ahead of his time that he seemed to transcend it.

Prince, as he is universally known, produced his first album, For You, in his teens. Even at that young age, he wrangled complete artistic control from his record company; his most recent work was released in late 2015.

Prince's artistry existed somewhere beyond platitudinous phrases like 'uncompromising genius' and 'original.' In interviews, Prince would often claim that he was no different than anyone else --- but no one was fooled. Legions of self-styled 'artists' willfully attempt to challenge audiences, but how many succeed in doing so for nearly forty years? And who, in so doing, succeeds in making the world nod, dance, whoop, and scream along to their singular vision?

Many of us looked forward to the continuous stream of genius that would delight us for years to come. He had given so much already and yet had so much more to give (four full-length albums in the last 18 months of his life, anyone?). Not only was he a genre-melding composer and monster guitarist, but he was also a sensitive, soulful vocalist and a funky keyboardist. Citing the need to keep challenging himself, Prince's last shows were intimate performances equipped with just a piano and microphone where he pushed familiar material into new territories and was as inventive as ever.

Prince defied convention and eschewed the binary, uniting audiences of seemingly disparate generations, orientations, races, and classes. He was an audacious, global phenomenon of protean talent: singer, musician, showman, songwriter, dancer, and an un-heralded promoter of women rock musicians. We were fortunate to have him for as long as we did.

Soul Sanctuary: A Tribute to Prince

Exhibit by Caroline Cubé and Annie Watanabe Rocco | Text by Caroline Cubé

Prince wore 5-inch heels that never touched the ground. Soul lifted him up, propelled him in2 the purple ether. 

Appropriately, everything in this exhibit, humbly presented by myself and my colleague, Annie, has been culled from research materials in the Soul Publications, Inc. Records (Collection PASC 342). 

SOUL was a Los Angeles-based enterprise founded by Regina and Ken Jones in 1966. SOUL Magazine was initially established 2 create greater visibility for Black artists in the music industry but later provided a space 4 critical engagement with Black artistic expression and social issues.

Prince, as we all know, was a lovesexy legend.

Rolling Stone Magazine (April 28, 1983)

Rolling Stone Magazine (August 30, 1984)

Hessercolor

by Caitlin Denny and Jen O'Leary

Edwin Bower Hesser was a veteran of the Canadian Army, an inventor and a photographer. After WWI, he moved to New York City and established his portrait photography studio. In the years following, he worked between Los Angeles and New York City primarily photographing actresses and models. He developed a significant number of military inventions throughout his lifetime, but most notably invented a photography and color printing process he dubbed "Hessercolor." The process took him years to develop, testing out different chemicals as well as various paper and celluloid products. The Hessercolor system consisted of three negatives that each captured one color value (yellow, cyan, magenta) that was then printed onto three corresponding gelatin transparencies. Those transparencies were then layered and adhered to a waterproof paper backing. This printing process made the Hessercolor prints extremely thick and fragile. Hessercolor was in direct competition with Kodak and Technicolor in the 1930s and 1940s, and therefore was unable to break into popular usage.

This exhibition displays prints and transparencies from different stages of the Hessercolor process, correspondence with Du Pont Film Manufacturing Corporation, documentation of Hessercolor experimentation and advertisements for Hessercolor. The photograph displayed on the top level, center, is Mr. Hesser's wife, Eve, a former model and collaborator in the Hessercolor process.

Hollywood Park, 1938-2013

by Julie Graham

The Hollywood Turf Club (later changed to Hollywood Park), was officially off and running on June 10, 1938. Constructed on close to 315 acres, it was built to accommodate 30,000 people and 1,250 horses. The race track itself was an oval one mile distance and 90 feet wide. Knows as the Track of Lake and Flowers, it served as home for a number of talented horsemen and eminent thoroughbreds, among them: horses Seabiscuit, winner of the inaugural Hollywood Gold Cup in 1938, three-time Gold Cup champions Native Diver and Lava Man, Triple Crown winners Citation, Seattle Slew and Affirmed, Great Communicator, Landaluce, and Zenyatta; jockeys Eddie Arcaro, Jerry Bailey, Jerry Lambert, Donny Longden, Laffit Pincay, Jr., Bill Shoemaker, Mike Smith, Gary Stevens, and George Woolf; and trainers Charlie Whittingham, Barrera Lax, Bob Baffert, and Doug O'Neill. Hollywood Park closed December 22, 2013, ending 75 years of continuous racing in the Southern California region. It was demolished to make way for residential development.

Did you know...

• During WWII, Hollywood Park was closed and used as headquarters for anti-aircraft artillery base?
• In May 1949 flames swept Hollywood Park, severely damaging the original grand stand and Club House?
• In September 1983, the Police headlined a 4-bill rock concert?
• Three legendary horses, Landaluce, Native Diver, and Great Communicator were interned at the race park? 

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Muhammad Ali: GOAT

by Doug Johnson, Annie Watanabe-Rocco, and Caroline Cubé | text by Doug Johnson

Muhammad Ali was widely reviled early in his career. Less than a month after he, still known as Cassius Clay, took the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston in 1964, boxing's governing body was seeking to strip him of the championship for, among other things, "setting a very poor example for America's youth" (Los Angeles Times, March 22, 1964). This was before he embraced the Nation of Islam, before he declared himself a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, before he was banished from boxing entirely.

Yet somehow he persevered to become perhaps the most  recognizable and beloved person on the planet. It took the world a while, but eventually we agreed that he was what he claimed to be from the beginning: the Greatest Of All Time.

Celebrating James Joyce's Ulyssess: The Odyssey of Leopold Bloom through Dublin

Bloomsday, June 16, 1904

by Octavio Olvera

"Bloom's day" was first celebrated in 1924. Every year since then, readers have commemorated June 16, 1904, the day on which the action of Ulysses unfolds, with readings, reenactments, pub crawls, and pilgrimages through Dublin.

Displayed here, in celebration of Joyce's masterpiece, are notable editions of Ulysses from the holdings of Special Collections, as well as an artist's book by Margery Hellman which was inspired by the novel.

Ulysses first appeared in print as monthly installments in issues of the American avant-garde magazine The Little Review. The magazine succeeded in publishing only the first 14 of the 18 episodes of the novel  — up through "Oxen of the Sun" — in the issues between March 1918 and Sept/Dec 1920.

Notable editions on exhibit include the true first edition of 1922; the first American editions, both unauthorized and authorized; and the illustrated edition with etchings by Henri Matisse.

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James Joyce. Ulysses: with ... illustration by Henri Matisse.
New York: The LImited Editions Club, 1934.

The etchings and drawings of this limited edition of 1500 copies were created by Henri Matisse, although he claimed never to have read Joyce's great work. Instead, Matisse took his inspiration from that other Ulysses, the Odysseus of Homer. The six soft-ground etchings, printed separately from the text in a process which produces the effect of lines drawn with a soft pencil or chalk, represent the six episodes of "Calypso," "Aeolus," "Cyclops," "Nausicaa," "Circe," and "Ithaca." This copy is signed by Matisse.

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Margery S. Hellmann. Wavewords. Seattle, Washington, 1966.

The artist's book explores the breakdown of conventional language and the redefinition of conventional book structure by incorporating words and phrases from James Joyce's Ulysses into a "book" in which the "pages" are rows of overlapping paper waves attached to an accordion-fold binding. Inspired by Joyce's experimentation with language and narrative structure, Hellmann sought — in her words — "to use innovative book structures and unconventional placement of words and letters to create a dimension beyond the text, an added visual language."

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James Joyce. Ulysses.
New York: Random House, 1934; and Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1927 [i.e. 1929]

The minute the ban on publishing Ulysses was lifted with the New York District Court's decision of Dec. 6, 1933, Bennett Cerf at Random House began work on printing the first authorized American edition of Joyce's novel. However, he unknowingly based his 1934 edition — the first authorized American edition — on a copy of a 1929 forgery by publisher Samuel Roth of the legitimate 1927 Shakespeare and Company edition. Since the text of the forgery was corrupt, and full of errors, the Random House edition perpetuated those errors. Although Random House sought to correct the text in subsequent editions, numerous errors persisted, making American trade editions unreliable for many years.

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The Little Review (March 1918-Sept/Dec 1920)

It was Ezra Pound who arranged for Ulysses to be serialized in The LIttle Review, the "little" magazine of the arts, started by Margaret Anderson in 1914 in Chicago. The first episode appeared in the March 1918 issue of The Little Review, with other episodes following. Several issues were confiscated by the U.S. postal authorities, and with the July-August 1920 issue, which contained part of the "Nausicaa" episode, a formal complaint was filed by the New York Society for the Prevention of Vice. Anderson and her co-editor Jane Heap were brought to trial and fined $50 each.

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James Joyce. Ulysses.
Paris: Shakespeare and Co., 1922

Although Ulysses was deemed to be too pornographic to publish, it was thanks to a young American woman, Sylvia Beach, proprietor of the Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris that Joyce's complete masterpiece finally appeared in 1922. Displayed here is a copy of the true first edition, issued in blue wrappers in an edition of 1000 copies, 100 of which were signed by Joyce. Sylvia Beach's own copy, no. 2., is in the James Joyce Collection at the University of Buffalo. UCLA Library Special Collections has no. 29. 

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The Highest Intelligence in the Freest Body: Fostering the Duncan Legacy

by Kelly Kress

Millicent Hamburger (1903-2004) was raised in New York, graduated from Smith College and received her M.A. in English from Columbia University. Wile at Columbia, she studied with Ethel Mandell, a student of the Isadora Duncan School, and later accepted a teaching position in dance at the settlement houses in New York City. In 1941, Hamburger relocated to Lafayette, California, where she taught English and directed the modern dance group at Acalanes High School for three decades. The Acalanes Dance Group gave two performances a year, in the winter and spring, and was well-loved by generation of Acalanes dancers. Though she retired and returned to New York in 1970, Hamburger nonetheless returned annually to Lafayette for dance reunions with her former students.

Sandra Humble Bagnall was a student of Millicent Hamburger and a member of the Acalanes Dance Group. Her documentary film about these experiences, When I Dance, was completed in 2002.

Select Killer Metallica Memorabilia

by Annie Watanabe-Rocco and Caroline Cubé

Since erupting on the Metal scene in the early Eighties, Metallica has been killing 'em all in the most riff-rocking way --- no other band has mastered its metal-puppets nor ridden the lightning as unequivocally as Hetfield (vocals, guitar), Hammett (guitar), Burton (RIP, 1986), Newsted (bass - until 2001), and Trujillo (bass).

It is only fitting that we have chosen to introduce LSC's Heavy Metal Collection with select killer Metallica memorabilia to tantalize our unwitting patrons into binging and purging from the collection's symphonic offerings. Please enjoy.

Genevieve Haugen: Woman with Wings

by Melissa Haley, Processing Archivist

The newly-processed Genevieve Haugen Papers (Collection 1967) combines two prominent elements of local history: aviation and movie-making.

The high-flying Haugen (1911-1968) received her pilot's license in 1932 at the age of 20. Her flight logbook documents the actions as she barrel rolls and loops around Los Angeles, giving numerous friends and strangers their first airplane rides along the way.

Please see the corresponding blog post for more information and images: Genevieve Haugen: Woman with Wings.

Exhibit by Kelly Kress, Processing Archivist

Though minimalist composer La Monte Young has lived and operated out of New York City since 1960, he absorbed much of his musical education and inspiration in the American west. Born in an Idaho log cabin in 1935, his earliest aural memories were the sound of the wind blowing around the corners of the cabin, the hum of transformers on telephone poles, and his aunt singing cowboy songs. When Young was 7, his father bought him a saxophone, which provided some consistency as the family moved between Idaho, Utah, and Southern California. By 1953 they were back in LA, with Young about to enter John Marshall High School in Los Feliz.