Napoleon, Cleopatra and the Magic Isle: Sarah Bernhardt in Los Angeles, 1911

Napoleon, Cleopatra and the Magic Isle: Sarah Bernhardt in Los Angeles, 1911

Legendary French actress Sarah Bernhardt visited Los Angeles in the middle of April, 1911 as part of a tour that included a four day engagement at the Mason Opera House, one of Downtown’s most majestic theaters. This was Sarah’s third visit to Los Angeles but only the second time she appeared Downtown and, at the time, was Bernhardt’s longest engagement in our city. Sarah’s first two visits to L.A. were shaped by time constraints and exterior stressors that were well beyond her control.

The Great Wall of Los Angeles

The Great Wall of Los Angeles

If you thought there was only one Great Wall in the world, you would be sadly mistaken. There is another great wall that is important to us in the City of Angeles, and that is the Great Wall of Los Angeles, which is one of the longest murals in the world. For years, I have driven past this

FREDERICK MADISON ROBERTS

FREDERICK MADISON ROBERTS

You never know what you are going to learn about someone when you start doing historical research; that’s what happened to me when I began to write about the Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights.  I came across the name Frederick Roberts and accidentally discovered that there was more to his history than meets the eye.  Not only was he the great-grandson of the enslaved Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson (3rd President of the United States), but Frederick was the first African-American to be elected to the California State Assembly in 1919.  But as you will read, there were other firsts for the Roberts family.