{"id":547,"date":"2022-11-30T18:41:55","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T18:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/icw\/?page_id=547"},"modified":"2026-01-20T16:56:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T16:56:53","slug":"la-history-metro-group-studies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/icw\/la-history-metro-group-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"LA History & Metro Studies Group"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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\n\n \n 2025-2026<\/span>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Friday September 19, 2025, 10:30am <\/strong>\u2013 pre-circulated paper \u2013 virtual<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cTowards the Creative City: West Hollywood between 1984 – 1990\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Gus Wendel, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor<\/p>\n

Friday October 17, 2025, 10:30am <\/strong>\u2013 dissertation workshop \u2013 short, pre-circulated papers \u2013 virtual<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201c\u2018Democrats! Now is the Time\u201d: Latino Candidates for Statewide Office in 1970s California\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Daniel Castaneda, Ph.D. candidate, Department of History, UC Davis<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cBeauty, a Spatial Injustice? Examining Segregation through Feminine Body Aesthetics in Los Angeles\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Alexandre Pires, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Social Sciences, Universit\u00e9 Paris Cit\u00e9<\/p>\n

Friday November 14, 2025, 10:30am \u2013 <\/strong>pre-circulated paper \u2013 San Gabriel Valley Humanities Center, 2nd<\/sup> floor conference room, 414 S. Mission Drive, San Gabriel – changed to virtual.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cThe Debt of Guilt: National Lead Industries and Exide 1970-2015,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Oscar Gutierrez, Assistant Professor, Loyola Marymount University<\/p>\n

Tues. January 27, 2026, 7:00pm<\/strong> \u2013 pre-circulated paper \u2013Autry Museum of the American West<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 ** Joint session with The Autry Museum of the American West<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cA Historian\u2019s Case for Repatriation\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Stephen Aron, Director and President, The Autry<\/p>\n

Friday February 27, 2026, 10:30am <\/strong>\u2013 roundtable \u2013 Seaver 1-2, Huntington Library<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cHealing, Hope, and Commemoration: Artistic Responses to the Los Angeles Fires\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Asher Bingham, Artist, Home Sketching Project<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Kate Sullivan and Nancy Larrew, Artists, Keychain Project<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Sunny Mills, Tintype Photographer, Altadena in Ashes<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Maya Brattkus, Artist, Lost Home Project<\/p>\n

Friday March 6, 2026, 10:30am <\/strong>\u2013 Seaver 1-2, Huntington Library<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cRevisiting Space to Lead: A Century of Civic Leadership in L.A.<\/i>“<\/p>\n

This session will discuss a pre-circulated new\u00a0foreword for Space to Lead<\/i>, a civic leadership report authored by Andrea Thabet, Bill Deverell, and Shawn Landres, commissioned by Future of Cities: Los Angeles (FOC:LA) in 2017. The report was distributed to local civic leaders working in public agencies and foundations, and to independent high schools in greater L.A. When Space to Lead<\/i>\u00a0was published, FOC:LA issued a call to encourage thoughtful and historically informed civic leadership in Los Angeles that embraced our common ground as we moved into a new century. Our case studies mined one hundred years of civic leadership in L.A. – both triumphs and<\/i>\u00a0stumbles – for lessons on what shaped successful civic leadership as Los Angeles grew from outpost to metropolis.<\/p>\n

Nearly a decade on, Los Angeles has reckoned with all-but-seismic shocks to its system: from a divisive political climate, to a global pandemic, to the most destructive wildland-urban interface fire in U.S. history to date, Angelenos have responded to these extraordinary challenges in ways, for better and worse,\u00a0that have borne out the veracity and urgency of the five Principles for Civic Leadership we identified in the pages of Space to Lead<\/i>. Our purpose in revisiting the report is to highlight once again the power of past lessons in helping shape our approach to civic problem solving, but with an updated framework for acknowledging our changing world and how we see the evolving role of civic leadership in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Participants should read the introduction in the original report (p. 4-10) and the new foreword. Our discussion will pivot around the following questions: which examples of recent successes and failures in the new foreword resonate most with you? What examples of civic leadership are missing? How can LA\u2019s civic leaders best serve the needs of L.A. in the 21st<\/sup>\u00a0century?<\/div>\n
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Friday April 17, 2026, 10:30am<\/strong> \u2013 moderated book discussion \u2013 Seaver 1-2, Huntington Library<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cIn Conversation: Japanese Culture, Work, and Community in Postwar Los Angeles\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Anne Soon Choi, Assistant Vice President, Faculty Programs and Initiatives, Cal State Northridge, L.A. Coroner: Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood<\/em> (2025)<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Oliver Wang, Professor of Sociology, Cal State Long Beach, Cruising J-Town: Japanese American Car Culture in Los Angeles<\/em> (2025)<\/p>\n

Friday May 1, 2026, 10:30am \u2013 <\/strong>Clark Davis lecture \u2013<\/em> Seaver 1-2, Huntington Library<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cNatural Attachments: The Domestication of American Environmentalism, 1920\u20131970\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Pollyanna Rhee, Assistant Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/em><\/p>\n

If you would like to receive announcements for these sessions, please fill out the form at http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/LAMetroList<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>. We request that participants read the papers if attending.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to attend, you must RSVP for each session.\u00a0 All sessions will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the specified location. This year, our locations include:<\/p>\n

Seaver Classrooms in the Munger Building at The Huntington Library<\/em><\/p>\n

The San Gabriel Valley Humanities Center, 414 S. Mission Drive, San Gabriel<\/em><\/p>\n

The January 27 session will take place at The Autry at 7 p.m. <\/em><\/p>\n

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See schedule for more details. Parking is free at all locations.<\/p>\n

For more information, email the co-coordinators\u2014Kathy Feeley, Oscar Gutierrez, Becky Nicolaides, Caitlin Parker, and Andrea Thabet\u2014at LA.History.Group@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com\/LAHistoryMetroStudiesGroup<\/a><\/p>\n

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Image credit: Building being demolished, U.S. Post Office, Los Angeles, Calif., 1937, <\/em>Dick Whittington Studio, USC Libraries Special Collections.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n

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\n \n \n Recorded Sessions\n\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n \n \n
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Selected sessions from “#TIMESUP” to “Election 2018: The Political Landscape in LA and California” have been recorded and are available for viewing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div>\n \n

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If you would like to receive announcements for these sessions, please fill out the form at the RSVP link above.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

For more information, email the co-coordinators \u2014 Kathy Feeley, Oscar Gutierrez, Becky Nicolaides, Caitlin Parker, and Andrea Thabet \u2014 at LA.History.Group@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div>\n \n

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\n \n \n Archived Schedules\n\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n \n \n
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Schedules by year as well as a cumulative list of all presenters and papers are available for review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \n \n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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