The LA History & Metro Studies Group fosters the study and understanding of southern California history and the history of metropolitan areas more broadly. Through seminars on scholarly works-in-progress, book lectures, and panel discussions on contemporary issues facing southern California and American cities, our goal is to promote urban history scholarship as a means of enriching the field and informing policy-making toward a more just, equitable future for our urban regions.
Events
Friday September 19, 2025, 10:30am – pre-circulated paper – virtual
“Towards the Creative City: West Hollywood between 1984 – 1990”
Gus Wendel, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Friday October 17, 2025, 10:30am – dissertation workshop – short, pre-circulated papers – virtual
“‘Democrats! Now is the Time”: Latino Candidates for Statewide Office in 1970s California”
Daniel Castaneda, Ph.D. candidate, Department of History, UC Davis
“Beauty, a Spatial Injustice? Examining Segregation through Feminine Body Aesthetics in Los Angeles”
Alexandre Pires, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Social Sciences, Université Paris Cité
Friday November 14, 2025, 10:30am – pre-circulated paper – San Gabriel Valley Humanities Center, 2nd floor conference room, 414 S. Mission Drive, San Gabriel – changed to virtual.
“The Debt of Guilt: National Lead Industries and Exide 1970-2015,”
Oscar Gutierrez, Assistant Professor, Loyola Marymount University
Tues. January 27, 2026, 7:00pm – pre-circulated paper –Autry Museum of the American West
** Joint session with The Autry Museum of the American West
“A Historian’s Case for Repatriation”
Stephen Aron, Director and President, The Autry
Friday February 27, 2026, 10:30am – roundtable – Seaver 1-2, Huntington Library
“Healing, Hope, and Commemoration: Artistic Responses to the Los Angeles Fires”
Asher Bingham, Artist, Home Sketching Project
Kate Sullivan and Nancy Larrew, Artists, Keychain Project
Sunny Mills, Tintype Photographer, Altadena in Ashes
Maya Brattkus, Artist, Lost Home Project
Friday April 17, 2026, 10:30am – moderated book discussion – Seaver 1-2, Huntington Library
“In Conversation: Japanese Culture, Work, and Community in Postwar Los Angeles”
Anne Soon Choi, Assistant Vice President, Faculty Programs and Initiatives, Cal State Northridge, L.A. Coroner: Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood (2025)
Oliver Wang, Professor of Sociology, Cal State Long Beach, Cruising J-Town: Japanese American Car Culture in Los Angeles (2025)
Friday May 1, 2026, 10:30am – Clark Davis lecture – Seaver 1-2, Huntington Library
“Natural Attachments: The Domestication of American Environmentalism, 1920–1970”
Pollyanna Rhee, Assistant Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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If you would like to receive announcements for these sessions, please fill out the form at http://tinyurl.com/LAMetroList.
Announcements will be emailed two weeks prior to each session, with logistical and RSVP information as well as links to pre-circulated papers (we are unable to distribute papers earlier than this). At that time, you can also access the paper via a link posted on the ICW website. We request that participants read the papers if attending.
If you’d like to attend, you must RSVP for each session. All sessions will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the specified location. This year, our locations include:
Seaver Classrooms in the Munger Building at The Huntington Library
The San Gabriel Valley Humanities Center, 414 S. Mission Drive, San Gabriel
The January 27 session will take place at The Autry at 7 p.m.
See schedule for more details. Parking is free at all locations.
For more information, email the co-coordinators—Kathy Feeley, Oscar Gutierrez, Becky Nicolaides, Caitlin Parker, and Andrea Thabet—at LA.History.Group@gmail.com.
* Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/LAHistoryMetroStudiesGroup
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Image credit: Building being demolished, U.S. Post Office, Los Angeles, Calif., 1937, Dick Whittington Studio, USC Libraries Special Collections.
Recorded Sessions
Selected sessions from “#TIMESUP” to “Election 2018: The Political Landscape in LA and California” have been recorded and are available for viewing.
RSVP to a meeting
If you would like to receive announcements for these sessions, please fill out the form at the RSVP link above.
For Zoom sessions: We will include Zoom sign-in information in the e-announcement. Please sign in on time. Please keep your video on and your audio muted until introductions and/or discussion begins. For those new to Zoom, please watch this video on etiquette (aimed at a student audience, but mostly apropos): https://spark.adobe.com/video/IzGAneJs8BNJr.
For in-person sessions: All sessions will begin at 10:30am in Seaver Classroom 3, in the Munger Building, Huntington Library, unless otherwise noted. Please check e-announcements for exact location of sessions. Parking is free.
For more information, email the co-coordinators — Kathy Feeley, Oscar Gutierrez, Becky Nicolaides, Caitlin Parker, and Andrea Thabet — at LA.History.Group@gmail.com.
Archived Schedules
Schedules by year as well as a cumulative list of all presenters and papers are available for review.