Nathan Masters
Nathan Masters is host and executive producer of Lost L.A., an Emmy Award-winning public television series from KCET and the USC Libraries. The show explores how rare artifacts from Southern California's archives can unlock hidden and often-surprising stories from the region's past. Nathan’s writing has appeared in many publications, including Los Angeles Magazine and the Los Angeles Times. He also helps manage public programs and media initiatives at the USC Libraries, home to the L.A. as Subjectresearch consortium.
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Photographs reveal the celebrations surrounding the birth of L.A.'s Union Station, but also present the indiscernible loss of "Old Chinatown," a neighborhood lost to make way for the railroads.
In the late 1800s, Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe dreamed of a luxury airship that would conquer the skies. But what Lowe had in ambition he lacked in financial investment.
In the late 1800s, logging and grazing in the San Gabriel Mountains threatened the irrigation-based societies in the valley. President Harrison had a solution. Reserving 555,520 acres of the San Gabriel Mountains, effectively creating Angeles National Forest.
At the height of World War II, Southern Californians navigated nights in complete darkness as defense authorities imposed severe dimout restrictions on the region, ordering residents to turn of all lights that could be seen from sea at night.
As Los Angeles expanded, a need to clear up confusion for citizens came when duplicate numbered streets and avenues appeared throughout the city.
In 1916, the proposed establishment of the Sierra Madre National Park laid in the hands of conservationist Stephen Mather. But an underfunded national park system and the area's lack of "nationally significant" monumental scenery meant a swift end to the plan.
Edgar Lucien Larkin came to Southern California in 1900 to work the Lowe Observatory's 16-inch refracting telescope and discuss science with tourists. But what made him stand out and draw crowds up the mountain night after night was the way he explained astronomy as a kind of magic, bridging ancient mystery and modern science.
Discover the Angels' humble beginnings as a then-minor-league club playing out of Chutes Park, an all-dirt stadium part of a larger family entertainment center that included attractions like bowling alleys and an 85-foot-tall water ride.
Before Dodger Stadium, there was Mount Lookout — one of the best vantage points for sweeping views of Los Angeles.
The transportation hub has hardly stood still since it emerged from the bean fields of Westchester in the late 1920s.
For the Fantasyland episode, I met an Imagineer, sat down with the director of the Walt Disney Archives and went through photos of Universal's original studio tour. We also visited the restaurant that inspired Walt Disney's fantasy theme.
Venice has been in a state of perpetual renaissance since tobacco heir Abbot Kinney founded the seaside resort town in 1905. And yet traces of its past stubbornly persist in street names, artworks and the built environment.