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Peek in the Stacks

Detail of a stone fireplace with a cat seated on it, Stone Houses of the San Fernando Valley Collection

The Stonehurst Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ) is a historic district located in the northeast San Fernando Valley. It consists of 60 to 70 quaint bungalows and a few commercial buildings built in the 1920s for a developer by the name of “Pep” Rempp who was later arrested for embezzlement. Significantly, the homes were all built using native river rock from the local Tujunga Valley area. A considerable amount of the structures were built by local Native American resident Dan Montelongo, whose children were central to helping Albert Knight reconstruct the history of the neighborhood. The Stone Houses of the San Fernando Valley Collection documents Mr. Knight's historical reseach into the neighborhood. 

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Liberated civilians during World War II

Major William J. Lodge served as a Statistical Officer in the VIII Fighter Command, 417th Night Fighter Squadron, of the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. He kept copies of propaganda leaflets and newsletters dropped over Germany and occupied Europe during the last several months of World War II....

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Typical Section for Route 64, illustration demonstrating the width of the future highway

With the passage of the 1947 Collier-Burns Highway Act, the completion of a few early L.A. freeways (the Arroyo Seco Parkway, Ramona Boulevard, and the Cahuenga Pass), and the growing dependence on cars, freeways became massive construction projects in the 1950s and began transforming the L.A. landscape. The Albert Zoraster Collection contains correspondence, articles, editorials, reports, maps, telegrams, presentations, and aerial photographs regarding the proposed CA-64 Malibu-Whitnall Freeway

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Cassius Clay, (soon to be Muhammad Ali) points to a chalk board that reads "Moore in 4, Next Champ Cassius Clay" at an event leading up to his boxing match against Archie Moore at the Sports Arena, November 15, 1962,  Harry Adams Collection. ID: 93.01.HA.B4.N120.605.1

The Tom & Ethel Bradley Center contains over 100 images of the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Louisville, Kentucky on January 17, 1942. His life changed forever when he told Louisville police officer and boxing coach Joe Martin that he was going to “whup” whoever stole his bicycle

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