L.A. Meekly: A Los Angeles History Podcast

We declare this the XXXIInd episode of LA Meekly listenable! Settle in to hear about LA's two trysts with the Olympics in 1932 (7:29) and 1984 (37:12) and about our chances to make the third time the charm in 2024. It's a gold medal episode brought to you by two bronze gods.

March along with us to the beat of the stories of a few of LA's biggest parades! Including and limited to the PRIDE Parade (6:10), the Hollywood Christmas Parade (20:46), the Festival of the Chariots (36:51), La Fiesta de Los Angeles(42:53), the Rose Parade (1:03:50) and the Doo Dah Parade (1:20:23). No we do not have a permit for this episode.

In telling the stories of the two worst man made disasters in Los Angeles history, the St. Francis Dam (6:23) and the Porter Ranch gas leak (43:20), the LA Meekly boys inadvertently create the third worst man made disaster in Los Angeles history.

Here is our long overdue tourist guide on the city's most famous and recognizable landmarks. Whichever ones you're thinking of, they're in here. But not that one. Think of a better one. We'll cover the Hollywood Sign (4:45), the Walk of Fame (24:50), the Capitol Records building (42:15), the Hollywood Bowl (56:10), the Santa Monica Pier (1:16:14) and the Watts Towers (1:33:18).

Take a drive down Wilshire with us this month as we explore the two biggest assassinations in LA history; those of Robert F. Kennedy (5:57) and the Notorious B.I.G (38:09). One of these men were almost president when they died. You'd be surprised which one though. Unless you know who Robert F. Kennedy is.

What do we want? An episode about the biggest marches, protests and walkouts in the city's history! When do we want it? When we click download now! We'll cover the Garment Workers Strike of 1933 (5:06), the Chicano Movement and the Brown Berets (16:59), the LBJ protest in Century City (33:54), Ruben Salazar (49:14), the Black Cat (59:53) and the Immigration Reform Act protests of 2006 (1:15:01).

In this episode we are seeing Red and naming names as we tell you the story of the Hollywood 10 and the shameful Hollywood Blacklist of the 40s and 50s. How does a thing like that happen you ask? Well, just take a community built on pleasing the general public, add rumors of Communist ties and watch a city devour itself. We'll cover the Hollywood Blacklist round 1 (4:06) and round 2 (36:45).

Let us paint you the story of USC's Fisher museum (4:07). Let us sculpt you the history of the ever changing LACMA (16:01). Let us performance art you the saga of Norton Simon and his museum (1:01:39). Let us multimedia presentation you the struggle of MOCA (1:19:24). Let us art reference you the controversy of the Broad (1:36:10)! (Psst! This episode is about a few of the city's biggest art museu...

Ya better not pout, ya better not cry because we can't take any more suffering. Join us for our annual holiday episode as we check in to the Cecil Hotel to explore its horrific history and four of its most notorious guests. As always, it wouldn't be a haunted episode without paranormal audio issues so be warned. Your soul will be spared if you can spot the (very clear) mark in the episode when the...

Open wide for duck stuffed inside a turkey stuffed inside a podcast! Join us in giving thanks for the founding of Los Angeles as we explore the very beginnings of the city from the founding during the Spanish era (5:54), into the Mexican era and ending with the (almost) climactic battle against the American army as they took control...for now. (40:25)

Be not afraid. This episode will only scare the real estate developer inside of you. In this bonus we'll give you a brief rundown on one of the best kept Halloween secrets in town: Carroll Avenue.

We've got an inter-league double header for you folks tonight with a full history of the Dodgers all the way from Brooklyn to LA (3:41) followed immediately by the full history of the Kings (1:01:20) all the way from LA to slightly more north in LA. Play puck!

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks and we'll tell you the story of Los Angeles' baseball history before the boys in blue showed up including the upheaval in Chavez Ravine to make room for said boys in blue. We cover pre-Dodger baseball in LA (3:44) and the tragedy of Chavez Ravine (57:35).

Hop aboard for the twisting, turning, overcrowded story of the Los Angeles Railway yellow cars (LARy) (4:39) and the Pacific Electric red cars (PE) (40:23). All fares are non-refundable (NR). We are not joking (NJK).

Summer's here and you know what that means: History lessons about hot dogs! Listen up to the stories of a few of the most famous hot dog purveyors in the city. Ask for extra relish and see what happens. We cover Art's Chili Dog (5:21), Tail O' the Pup (12:31), Hot Dog On A Stick (19:43), Wienershnitzel (30:28), Carney's (38:13) and Pinks (43:50).

Put your hands and feet up and relax while we tell you the story of two of the most corrupt cops in LAPD history: Rafael Perez and the Rampart scandal (3:28) and Christopher Dorner (45:41).

Pull up a cantilevered stool and order a malt while we delve into the architectural style with the irritating name that defined the look of Los Angeles. We'll touch on the architects and establishments that made it possible from the eponymous Googie's itself to the legendary Armet and Davis. No substitutions. We'll cover a brief history of Googie as a style (5:01), Coffee Dan's and Googie's (27:28...

TV's wackiest lady does it again. Don't be a Mertz, come listen to the tall tale of Lucille Ball's inadvertent involvement in World War II.

We're gonna jazz on down to Central Avenue to go over the story of LA's local Jazz scene of the early 20th century and the history of the people and culture that made it all possible. Feel free to scat along with us. We'll cover the trailblazing black community of the city from the Central Avenue neighborhood to Bronzeville (4:05), the rich Central Avenue jazz scene (56:16) and the eventual downfa...

All great writers are capable of great endings. Here's the story of how F. Scott Fitzgerald met his own.

Chinatown episode leftovers are even better than the first time around. Here's the origin of another native Los Angeles dish: the Chinese chicken salad.

It's Chinatown. Take a non-offensive because they actually had them rickshaw ride through the atrocious history of old Chinatown and the Chinese community of Los Angeles all the way up to the present day new Chinatown or, as you know it, Chinatown. We go over the bad days of Old Chinatown, the unforgivable Chinese massacre, the dueling New Chinatown and China City, the many laws set to keep the Ch...

This month we explore two of your favorite American authors, one of your favorite heroes from the Old West and one of your favorite Beatles who all spent brief but memorable (and drunken) stays in Los Angeles. Hint: It's not Stephen King, John Ringo, Johnny Ringo or Ringo Starr. We've got William Faulkner (2:44), Wyatt Earp (27:06), F. Scott Fitzgerald (54:35) and John Lennon (1:31:45)

In this brief bonus episode we draw out our announcement of our new episode release schedule for the new year and share a few words about some new occurences around town.

Another year another fear. Our seasonally creepy and haunted look at LA's sordid history is back to take on ghostly hospitals, culty parks, lizardy people and more. Pray to baby Jesus and hold on to your yarmulke. We discuss the Galster Park Butcher in West Covina (1:00:12), the Gates of Hell known as Turnbull Canyon in Whittier (1:07:12), the ghost orderly at Linda Vista Communtiy Hospital in Boy...