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Lost LA
Dream Factory
Season 2
Episode 4
Los Angeles is often identified with Hollywood, but there's more to the entertainment industry than its facade of movie stars and blockbuster films. This episode explores the career of Lois Weber, a filmmaker who rose to greatness in a nascent film industry that welcomed women into creative leadership positions; as well as a Central Casting Bureau that capitalized on the city's segregated ethnic enclaves when filling background roles.
Lesson Plan: In what ways fif the entertainment industry impact African Americans in Los Angeles during the early 1900's?
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26:40
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Visit Hollywood Forever, Evergreen and Forest Lawn, where L.A. reinvented the cemetery.
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The hiker-activists who led Angelenos into their hills and onto the trails.
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How Filipino Americans in Southern California are making their heritage more visible.
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Iconic fast-food chains from McDonald’s to Taco Bell were born in SoCal.
26:37
After internment camps, Japanese Americans made L.A.'s Crenshaw neighborhood their home.
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During WWII, L.A. became a sanctuary for Europe’s accomplished artists and intellectuals.
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Dig deep into Southern California’s past to reveal lessons for our climate-changed future.
26:41
Explore a forgotten age when winemaking was Southern California’s principal industry.
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Why did Los Angeles dismantle one of the greatest rail transit systems in the nation?
26:40
Explore the lasting impact of the Shindana Toy Company, created out of the need for community empowerment following the 1965 Watts uprising, whose ethnically correct black dolls forever changed the American doll industry.