Maxie Floyd: A Life with a Camera

March 11, 2025

The Maxie Floyd Photograph Collection contains thousands of images as well as news clippings and ephemera that document Floyd’s life and his multiple pursuits. Maxie Lee Floyd, Jr. was a self-taught Black photographer, born in Temple, Texas in 1934, who moved to Los Angeles during his childhood. While a college student, Floyd joined the Sparksmen, an interracial social club of young men who attended UCLA, USC, Los Angeles Southwest College, and Compton College. Floyd’s schooling occurred during a period of tense racial relations in L.A., with racially restrictive covenants in place on housing (eventually banned in Shelly v. Kraemer in 1948), segregation in public spaces, little political representation, and ongoing racial discrimination. The Sparksmen strengthened and enlivened their community by hosting dinners and “dance-a-ramas" for their peers, such as “Holiday in Rhythm” with Buddy Collette at the Los Angeles Breakfast Club and “Ivy Leaguers in a Latin Vein” with Bobby Amosito at Chase Hotel in Santa Monica. Floyd was Vice President. Prints, ephemera, and news clippings depict their activities and members. During the mid-1950s, Floyd served in the US Army as a military policeman at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington. The collection also contains a photo album documenting his time in service.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Floyd worked in the alcohol distribution industry, acting as a salesman for the Milford Company and the National Distribution Company. He boosted advertising and sales at local liquor stores, including Happy Time Liquors on La Brea Ave in Inglewood (still operating), owned by Sheri and Bob Kawaduchi. He actively participated in Hucksters International, an association of liquor salesmen that held social events, engaged in community service, and hosted the annual “Man of the Year” Awards. He was elected President in 1974. News clippings, ephemera, company records, and prints collected from a scrapbook offer a snapshot into this phase of his career.

As a jazz aficionado, Floyd frequently attended and photographed live jazz performances. His longstanding favorite was the Monterey Jazz Festival, which began in 1958 and continues to this day. His photography spans six decades of the festival. It attracted big names such as Etta James, Dizzy Gillespie, and Sarah Vaughan, as well as up-and-comers and youth orchestras. In the same vein of famed and beloved festivals of Floyd’s is the Playboy Jazz Festival (now Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival). Originally held in Chicago and founded by Hugh Hefner in 1959, the festival secured its permanent venue at the Hollywood Bowl in 1979. Included with his jazz photography are records documenting his jazz exhibits at various L.A. venues as well as signed exhibit prints of renowned jazz musicians, such as Patrice Rushen and Gerald Wilson.

Another interest of Floyd’s was track and field. At Francis Polytechnic High School in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he ran track and played football. Later in life, he became a strong advocate of track and field and co-founded L.A. Track Nuts in 2000. According to an L.A. Sentinel article from April 27, 2000, the organization’s slogan was “Track is Back” and it aimed to revive participation, support, and attendance of the sport in Los Angeles, especially among youth, so as to regain its popularity found in the 1950s to 1970s. A recurring track event that Floyd attended along with the Track Nuts was the Mt. SAC Relays Invitational held at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. It is prominently featured in the collection’s track and field series with prints, negatives, and news clippings. There is also a large print of track athlete Florence Griffith Joyner (nicknamed Flo-Jo), a popular Olympic gold medalist and L.A. native who attended CSUN and UCLA.

Floyd was a member of the Black Photographers of California and the Jazz Photographers Association in the 1980s to the 2000s. Other members (who were Floyd’s close friends) and their photography can be found in the Bob Douglas Jazz Photograph Collection and the Roland Charles Collection. Floyd died in 2019.

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Post tagged as: bradley center, archives, photographs, los angeles