Lost LA

It is often said that Los Angeles has buried much of its history. It has suppressed inconvenient reports, recast the plight of Mission Indians as a Spanish Romance, written entire cultures and communities out of its official historical narratives. But some of Lost L.A. literally lies buried beneath our feet, hidden long ago.

Long before Sandy Koufax threw Dodger Stadium's first pitch, and even before the first residents moved into Chavez Ravine, there were the Elysian Hills. Raised up by tectonic forces, and carved into deep ravines by the ancient precursor of the Los Angeles River, these hills have meant many things to many people.

The city of Los Angeles has a complicated relationship with its natural environment, including the weather phenomenon known as the Santa Ana winds and the grizzly bear, an animal once revered by peoples indigenous to Southern California but later targeted by Europeans as a threat to safety and security.

Americans have long looked at the California shore and seen the end of the continent, but that sandy edge is the beginning of a Pacific world -- one that has long influenced Los Angeles through not only geology and climate, but also the transoceanic flows of people, goods, technology, and cultural ideas.

Two underground guidebooks -- The Negro Travelers' Green Book and The Address Book -- reveal the hidden geographies many Angelenos had to navigate, exposing Los Angeles as a place of coded segregation and resistance.

Filmmaker Lois Weber rose to greatness in a nascent film industry that was open to women in creative leadership positions, while the Central Casting Bureau placed minorities in background roles and white actors in leading parts.

Wood, iron, steel, concrete: these materials gave form to Los Angeles and shaped its identity in the national imagination. But what of the city's cultural legacy and the environmental costs of its relentless growth?

Before Hollywood, Los Angeles was a real frontier town of gunslingers, lynch mobs, and locomotives. L.A. has been reckoning with that past by examining hanging trees, the massacre of eighteen Chinese immigrants in 1971 near what is now Olvera Street, and railroad promotional campaigns depicting Los Angeles as paradise.

Settlement of southern California began long before America's triumphant march westward from the Atlantic coast, as evidenced by the interconnected lives of three people who lived through California's transition from native land to Spanish colony and from Mexican province to American state.

From the 1910s and ‘20s, when early filmmakers built elaborately themed outdoor sets that often remained standing for months or years, Los Angeles has been the place where you can imagine something and then build it -- as exemplified by nearby Anaheim's Disneyland.

Venice Beach boasts a rich history, from its origins as a themed seaside resort -- Venice of America -- to international fame as a countercultural hub.

Some California dreams succeeded, creating megalopolis regions in the state’s north and south. Other dreams failed, leaving nothing but ruins: Bodie, a Mono County gold mining settlement that was preserved in time; Llano Del Rio, a socialist utopian community in the Mojave Desert; and Zzyzx, a former health spa on the way to Las Vegas.

Surfers, bodybuilders, and acrobats taught California how to have fun and stay young at the beach. The 1968 documentary "The Endless Summer" shared those ideas with the rest of the world.

California deserts have sparked imaginations 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 to create your dream.

From a land maintained by indigenous peoples, to its emergence as a tourist attraction, to the site of conflict over humanity's relationship with nature, Yosemite is ever-changing.

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.

Edwin Hubble, working with the world’s most powerful telescope in the mountains high above Los Angeles, discovered just how vast the universe truly is. Visit the underground vault of the Carnegie Observatories, where paradigm-shifting discoveries are annotated by hand on glass photographic slides, and the historic Mount Wilson observatory.

Although best known for designing the homes of celebrities like Lucille Ball and Frank Sinatra, the pioneering African-American architect Paul Revere Williams also contributed to some of the city's most recognizable civic structures -- all while confronting racial barriers.

Prohibition may have outlawed liquor, but that didn’t mean the booze stopped flowing. Explore the myths of subterranean Los Angeles, crawl through prohibition-era tunnels, and visit some of the city’s oldest speakeasies.

Despite the trauma of their incarceration during World War II, Japanese Americans built new lives while detained at incarceration camps like Manzanar. Three renowned photographers captured scenes from the camp: outsiders Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams and incarceree Tōyō Miyatake who boldly smuggled in a camera lens to document life from within it.

At more than 4,500 acres, Griffith Park is one of the largest municipal parks in the United States. Its founder, the controversial Griffith J. Griffith, donated the land to the city as a public recreation ground for all the people -- an ideal that has been challenged over the years.

After internment camps, Japanese Americans made L.A.'s Crenshaw neighborhood their home. The host visits Kristen Hayashi, Ph.D., the collections manager at the Japanese American National Museum.

During WWII, L.A. became a sanctuary for Europe’s accomplished artists and intellectuals. The host tours Villa Aurora, a Pacific Palisades house that hosted spirited literary salons.

Dig deep into Southern California’s past to reveal lessons for our climate-changed future. The host sifts through an archive of climate change with Emily Lindsey (Assistant Curator and Excavation Site Director, La Brea Tar Pits and Museum) and Sean Campbell (Preparator, Rancho La Brea).

Explore a forgotten age when winemaking was Southern California’s principal industry. The host picks grapes from the oldest vines in Los Angeles with Michael Holland at Villa Adobe.

Why did Los Angeles dismantle one of the greatest rail transit systems in the nation? The host rides a restored streetcar with Southern California Railway Museum co-founder Harvey Laner.

The host explores some of the oldest tiki bars in Southern California, discovering the Hollywood origins of Don the Beachcomber and learning how postwar American pop culture appropriated the rich traditions of the South Pacific.

Archives reveal the "forgotten plague” that shaped Southern California: tuberculosis. California’s fresh air and sunshine drew "consumptives" to local sanatoriums, but the life of a TB patient held stark realities.

Visit Forest Lawn, Evergreen and Hollywood Forever to see how L.A. reinvented the cemetery. The host visits the gravesites of the rich and famous and learns how racial segregation once divided the dead.

Meet the hikers who led Angelenos onto their local trails, including early wellness guru Paul Bragg. The host explores the origins of Los Angeles hiking, from the Indigenous people who first walked the land to activists like WalkGood LA’s Etienne Maurice, who blaze new paths over familiar terrain.

Filipino Americans work to make their heritage more visible in Los Angeles. The host explores the yo-yo's surprising origin story, tours Historic Filipinotown in a Jeepney, and tastes classic Filipino street foods.

From McDonald’s to Taco Bell, many of the world’s most iconic fast-food chains were born in SoCal. Car culture and the restaurant industry collided in the LA region, forever shaping the way Americans dine and drive.

Uncover Disney’s LA roots and how the city became the birthplace of modern animation.

Trace the devastation of the 1928 St. Francis Dam collapse and its deadly flood.

How Cold War vigilance and secrecy shaped Southern California culture.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour’s journey is traced from its origins.

Meet the personalities who bring year-round color to California’s landscape. Hunt for native wildflowers in the Santa Monica Mountains, visit San Diego to learn how horticulturalist Kate Sessions colorized the Golden State, stop by Whittier for a debate on the controversial jacaranda tree and see how Burbank’s annual Rose Parade float comes together.

Host Nathan Masters examines old crimes like a 1950s Burbank murder and how these moments shaped the true crime genre. Featuring author Michael Connelly, former prosecutor Marcia Clark, podcaster Kate Winkler Dawson and historian William Deverell, the episode explores how Los Angeles' crimes have influenced storytellers and the city’s cultural identity.

Boldly go into the heart of science fiction storytelling and discover its deep roots in Los Angeles. From UC Riverside’s vast sci-fi collection to author Octavia Butler’s Pasadena, host Nathan Masters explores how Southern California became a launchpad for stories that imagine new worlds—and reflect our own hopes and fears.

Explore Southern California’s century-long love affair with car racing. Once a major form of entertainment, racing drew crowds and shaped the region’s car culture. Nathan visits the Auto Club of Southern California’s archives, watches land speed racers in the high desert, tours the Petersen Museum’s vault and uncovers the hidden racing history of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Nathan explores the early history of Hollywood, tracing the unexpected places where the entertainment industry began.

Art is everywhere in Los Angeles, even in places you might overlook. From the century old Judson Studios to glowing neon signs and a massive mosaic saved from demolition, Nathan traces how artists and craftspeople have shaped the city’s visual identity across generations, revealing how art, design, and architecture intersect across Southern California.

Southern California was built on agriculture. Nathan visits the Parent Washington navel orange tree and traces the rise of the Hass avocado.

Planes, trains and autos shape the way people move through the city as population grows. Walk through Surfridge, lookout over the Tehachapi Loop and visit the Thomas Guide. Trace how transportation reshaped the region and where it is always documented.