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Four surfers stand in front of their boards- black and white

Beach Culture

Season 3 Episode 3
26:39
Bodie

Ghost Towns

Season 3 Episode 4
26:40
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Venice

Season 3 Episode 5
26:40
Fantasyland Banner

Fantasyland

Season 3 Episode 6
26:40
Young men walking with a view of Griffith Observatory | Courtesy of the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California Library

Griffith Park - The Untold History

Season 4 Episode 1
26:48
Who Killed the Red Car?

Who Killed the Red Car?

Season 5 Episode 1
26:46
Winemaking

Winemaking

Season 5 Episode 2
26:41
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Lost LA

Desert Fantasy

Season 3 Episode 2

California’s deserts have sparked the imaginations of millions of people around the world. From the famously alien landscape of Joshua Tree to the wide expanses of seemingly empty land, the desert has been seen as a place of reinvention, a blank slate on which the visitor creates his or her own dream. This episode explores the man-made natural disaster that created the Salton Sea, the efforts to preserve Joshua Tree National Park, and how commercial interests and real estate developers created a desert utopia like Palm Springs.

With long-time Joshua Tree resident and artist Kim Stringfellow, we discuss the complicated history of the desert and how it’s often misunderstood. We also visit archivist and former park ranger Joe Zarki, where we explore a photo album that served as the “pitch deck” for Minerva Hamilton Hoyt’s quest to preserve Joshua Tree State Park. Palm Springs is visited, with a discussion with Michael Stern, who authored a book about legendary photographer Julius Shulman. We also meet Tim Bradley about how the Salton Sea came about, and Tao Ruspoli about efforts to revive a once-popular resort area with the Bombay Beach Biennale.

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Season
Tiki Bars and Their Hollywood Origins
26:40
Tiki culture isn’t a Polynesian import — it’s a Hollywood creation.
Tuberculosis: The Forgotten Plague
26:49
Archives reveal the “forgotten plague” that shaped Southern California: tuberculosis.
Eternal City: Los Angeles Cemeteries
26:50
Visit Hollywood Forever, Evergreen and Forest Lawn, where L.A. reinvented the cemetery.
Hiking Trailblazers
26:40
The hiker-activists who led Angelenos into their hills and onto the trails.
Historic Filipinotown
26:39
How Filipino Americans in Southern California are making their heritage more visible.
Fast Food and Car Culture
26:47
Iconic fast-food chains from McDonald’s to Taco Bell were born in SoCal.
From Little Tokyo to Crenshaw
26:37
After internment camps, Japanese Americans made L.A.'s Crenshaw neighborhood their home.
German Exiles
26:04
During WWII, L.A. became a sanctuary for Europe’s accomplished artists and intellectuals.
Prehistoric Landscapes
26:46
Dig deep into Southern California’s past to reveal lessons for our climate-changed future.
Winemaking
26:41
Explore a forgotten age when winemaking was Southern California’s principal industry.
Who Killed the Red Car?
26:46
Why did Los Angeles dismantle one of the greatest rail transit systems in the nation?
Shindana Dolls | Still from "Lost LA" S4 E6: Shindana Toy Company
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.
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