Following is a series of useful resources and links to web-sites that the Los Angeles Planning History Board of Directors has recommended. If there are any suggestions for additional links, please forward a request to info@larphg.org.
HISTORY OF PLANNING
- American Planning Association http://www.planning.org/
- Society for American City and Regional Planning History http://www.sacrph.org/
- International Planning History Society http://www.planninghistory.org/
- US Planning History timelines
- Journal of Planning History http://jph.sagepub.com/
- Los Angeles History timeline http://www.discoverlosangeles.com/blog/historical-timeline-los-angeles
GENERAL REFERENCE
- City of Los Angeles (official website) http://www.lacity.org/index.htm
- City of Los Angeles Planning Department http://cityplanning.lacity.org/
- County of Los Angeles (official website) http://lacounty.info/wps/portal/lac
- County of Los Angeles Regional Planning Department http://planning.lacounty.gov/
- Los Angeles Almanac, a comprehensive source of facts and statistics about Los Angeles County http://www.laalmanac.com/
- Los Angeles Almanac’s index of historical data about the city, county, and region http://www.laalmanac.com/history/index.htm
- Los Angeles Public Library http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/web-resources/los-angeles-local-resources
PLACES & PRESERVATION
- Los Angeles Conservancy, the largest local preservation group in the US http://www.laconservancy.org/
- Los Angeles Conservancy’s Historical Research Guide https://www.laconservancy.org/resources/guide/historical-research-guide
- SurveyLA, the city’s first comprehensive historic resources survey http://www.preservation.lacity.org/survey
- Preserve LA, preservation-related news in Los Angeles http://www.preservela.com/
- California State Historical Landmarks in Los Angeles County http://ceres.ca.gov/geo_area/counties/Los_Angeles/landmarks.html
- USC Professor Philip Ethington’s website Los Angeles and the Problem of Urban Historical Knowledge http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/history/historylab/LAPUHK/index.html
- Society of Architectural Historians, Southern California Chapter http://www.sahscc.org/site/
- Southern California Architectural History blog and website http://so-cal-arch-history.com/
- LA Past, Present, Future— selected historic sites and places http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/historic/
- Downtown LA / Bunker Hill-related articles and research http://www.onbunkerhill.org/
- You Are Here: architectural photography of buildings, sites, and neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles http://www.you-are-here.com/index.html
- Los Angeles in the (early) 1900s: miscellaneous events, people, places, culture http://www.ulwaf.com/LA-1900s/index04.html
- Los Angeles streets in 1904 http://www.ulwaf.com/LA-1900s/SpecialReports/Streets.html
- A Visit to Old Los Angeles: miscellaneous essays http://www.csulb.edu/~odinthor/essalist.html
MAPS & IMAGES
- US Library of Congress’s Los Angeles Mapped online exhibit http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lamapped/
- Perry-Castaneda collection of historical maps of California state, cities, and places http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/california.html
- LA Public Library’s map collection for Los Angeles http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/visual-collections/map-collection
- Historical maps of Southern California http://www.scvresources.com
- USC Professor Philip Ethington’s analytical and interactive maps of Los Angeles http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/history/historylab/LAPUHK/Maps/Maps.htm
- CSUN Professor William Bowen’s American Cities Atlas Project for Los Angeles http://130.166.124.2/lA_1.html
- Historic topographic maps of Los Angeles County http://130.166.124.2/latopoh.htm
- Historic highway maps and photos http://gbcnet.com/ushighways/
- Los Angeles City Archive’s online photo collection
- Los Angeles Public Library’s online photograph collection (searchable by term or topic) http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/photosearch_pageADV.jsp
- USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/index.htm
- Cal State University, Northridge Library’s online photograph collection (searchable) http://digital-library.csun.edu/SFV/
- Historical Los Angeles photos at Skyscraper City http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=416008
- Skyscraper City’s massive collection of Los Angeles images, historical and otherwise http://www.skyscrapercity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=427
ARCHIVES & RECORDS
- US National Archive, Pacific Region http://www.archives.gov/riverside/
- Online Archive of California http://www.oac.cdlib.org/
- Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder and County Clerk http://www.lavote.net/
- Los Angeles City Records (scroll to bottom of City Clerk page) http://cityclerk.lacity.org/
- LA City Planning Department’s property records search engine http://zimas.lacity.org/
- LA as Subject: an alliance of archives, libraries & collections dedicated to the Los Angeles region http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/arc/lasubject/
- UCLA University Archives http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/universityarchives/7238.cfm
- UCLA Library Special Collections http://www.library.ucla.edu/specialcollections/researchlibrary/index.cfm
- USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/index.htm
- USC Regional History Collection http://www.usc.edu/libraries/collections/regional_history/
- Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University http://www.lmu.edu/libraries_research/lcsla.htm
- Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research http://www.socallib.org/
- Los Angeles Public Library collections & materials http://www.lapl.org/resources/
- Huntington Library http://www.huntington.org/
- Downloadable historical documents and educator resources http://www.lahistoryarchive.org/index.htm
- Urban Archives Center at California State University, Northridge http://library.csun.edu/Collections/SCA/UAC/About
- Seaver Center for Western History Research at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County http://www.nhm.org/site/research-collections/seaver-center
- Studio for Southern California History http://www.socalstudio.org/
HISTORICAL SOCIETIES
- LA Almanac’s extensive list of organizations http://www.laalmanac.com/history/hi10.htm
- Historical Society of Southern California http://socalhistory.org/
- Los Angeles City Historical Society http://www.lacityhistory.org/
PEOPLE, GENEALOGY & FAMILY HISTORY
- Southern California Genealogical Society http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/index.php
- Biographical information on prominent Angelenos http://socalhistory.org/online-resources
- Death Indexes: online genealogy guide for finding obituaries, cemetery burials and death records http://www.deathindexes.com/california/index.html
- Linkpendium: online guide for genealogy and family history http://www.linkpendium.com/genealogy/USA/CA/Los_Angeles/
- California vital records: information on where to write http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w/california.htm
- US GenWeb project: keeping internet genealogy free http://theusgenweb.org/ca/losangeles/
- Los Pobladores: Descendants of the founders of El Pueblo de Los Angeles http://www.lospobladores.org/
- Cyndi’s List: genealogy-related links and resources http://www.cyndislist.com/
Los Angeles Planning History Group 