After 150 Years, Is L.A. Ready to Remember the Chinese Massacre?

Long Buried, the Bloodiest Night in the City’s History Surfaces Amid a New Wave of Violence

It’s hard to tell a city’s story. In many cities, there’s a tension between pointing with pride and bowing in shame.

Los Angeles—where I have lived and worked for most of my life, including my years as an elected official—has long preferred the civic booster side of its identity, promoting itself as a city of the future. But L.A. also struggles to face the dark, violent, and racist episodes in its past.

One of the bloodiest nights in Los Angeles history took place 150 years ago, on October 24, 1871, when at …

MAK Center for Art and Architecture Director Jia Yi Gu | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

MAK Center for Art and Architecture Director Jia Yi Gu

It’s Between the Beach or Dim Sum

Jia Yi Gu is an architectural historian, curator, and designer. The director of the MAK Center for Art and Architecture and co-director of the architecture research and design studio Spinagu, …

Where I Go: The ‘Meandering, Beautiful, Dangerous’ Angeles Crest Highway | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Where I Go: The ‘Meandering, Beautiful, Dangerous’ Angeles Crest Highway

This Pacific Crest Trail Gateway Is Southern California’s Most Accessible Scenic Byway—When It’s Open, That Is

The Angeles Crest Highway winds thousands of feet above the Los Angeles basin, a meandering, beautiful, and dangerous road that leads to the hiking trails of the Angeles National Forest …

Meet the New Guards of L.A. Culture | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Meet the New Guards of L.A. Culture

New Faces, New Buildings, New Names, and More Are Coming

The cultural scene of Los Angeles is in the process of redrawing itself—in the last month alone, two institutions have announced their first female executive directors, Johanna Burton at the …

Patrick Soon-Shiong

What the 10 Richest Angelenos Tell Us About L.A. and Its Economy

From Aerospace to Apparel—These Billionaires’ Businesses Reflect the Entrepreneurship and Variety of the County

If you were trying to understand the economy of Los Angeles County during the first half of the 20th century—the period in which L.A. emerged as a modern metropolis—you’d do …

The Battle Over a Los Angeles Hilltop | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

The Battle Over a Los Angeles Hilltop

A Son of Abolitionist John Brown Continues to Stir Up Controversy From His Altadena Grave

The unmarked trail that leads to the gravesite of abolitionist Owen Brown is flanked by wild fennel and sage. The place has a quiet stillness, befitting a man who devoted …