Angel City Press

Angel City Press Angel City Press at the Los Angeles Public Library is dedicated to the publication of high-quality nonfiction books about SoCal and LA!

Have you ever had to have your car checked for produce while moving to and from areas in and out of California? It may s...
01/12/2026

Have you ever had to have your car checked for produce while moving to and from areas in and out of California? It may seem strange, but it’s more important than you might think! Southern California and the bounty of its agricultural products are vulnerable to invasive pests. To limit the spread of such pests when they get in, quarantines would often be established, as seen here from when CalTrans workers installed Mexican fruit fly quarantine signs along the Long Beach Freeway in South Gate in 1983.

There is currently a quarantine against the invasive Caribbean fruit fly in the greater Los Angeles area since October 2025, primarily affecting parts of Montebello and surrounding areas.

You can learn more about the delicate and special ecosystem of Southern California agriculture in “From Cows to Concrete: The Rise and Fall of Farming in Los Angeles” by Judith Ge**er and Rachel Surls.

Please join Ruth Nolan, contributing writer to “Writing the Golden State”, as she speaks to the Highland Park Ebell Club...
01/10/2026

Please join Ruth Nolan, contributing writer to “Writing the Golden State”, as she speaks to the Highland Park Ebell Club.

Nolan will be reading from her essay “Cima Dome, East Mojave National Preserve” and speaking about her time as a wildland firefighter and the impact that wildfire can have on people and communities.

Free to attend! We hope to see you there!

Bullock’s Wilshire, an icon of the era of department stores in the US, has had its gorgeous Art Deco building repurposed...
01/09/2026

Bullock’s Wilshire, an icon of the era of department stores in the US, has had its gorgeous Art Deco building repurposed by Southwestern Law School. Designed by John Parkinson and Donald B. Parkinson in 1929, photos of this amazing architecture can be found in “Art Deco Los Angeles” by Robert Landau.



Photographed 2003 by Robert Landau.

The Los Angeles area has made it through this last round of storms in what has turned out to be a wetter than normal win...
01/08/2026

The Los Angeles area has made it through this last round of storms in what has turned out to be a wetter than normal winter!

The Santa Monica Pier has weathered many weather events, but El Niño made a strong statement during the winter of 1983. Storms destroyed many of southern California’s piers and severely damaged the Santa Monica Pier, and caused damage that necessitated reconstruction efforts due to numerous storms.

The Santa Monica Pier, like the rest of Los Angeles, is resilient and not going to be defeated by storms, no matter how strong! To learn more of the story of storms and strength of the Pier community, pick up a copy of “Santa Monica Pier: America’s Last Great Pleasure Pier” by James Harris.

Pann’s Restaurant is an icon for some coffee and a dose of Googie architecture. “An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angel...
01/06/2026

Pann’s Restaurant is an icon for some coffee and a dose of Googie architecture. “An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles” by David Gebhard, Robert Winter, and Robert Inman highlights it as a Googie classic designed by the firm of Armet and Davis, whose work is the subject of another of our amazing books: “Googie Modern: Architectural Drawings of Armet Davis Newlove” by Michael Murphy and Alan Hess.

If you love Googie architecture check out both of those books and learn all about it!

If you are familiar with downtown Los Angeles, you of course would be familiar with the Biltmore Hotel! This iconic hote...
01/05/2026

If you are familiar with downtown Los Angeles, you of course would be familiar with the Biltmore Hotel! This iconic hotel was built in 1923 and is located right next to Pershing Square. The architectural style is a mix between Mediterranean Revival and Beaux Arts styles, and the hotel has had multiple owners over the years.

You can see some of the architectural details in the illustration of the hotel on this wonderful cocktail napkin! You can find more cocktail napkins and their awesome design in “Bar Keeps: A Collection of California's Best Cocktail Napkins” by Patrick Quinn.

Neon signs and bowling go hand in hand! Pictured here is a beautiful image of the Sunset Bowling Center which boasted 52...
01/02/2026

Neon signs and bowling go hand in hand! Pictured here is a beautiful image of the Sunset Bowling Center which boasted 52 lanes, the largest bowling alley at the time, along with a coffee shop and cocktail lounge! Note the amazing full columns of neon and the neon bowling pins!

See this exemplary neon sign in “Hollywood Signs” by Kathy Kikkert, and catch some more bowling history in “Bowlarama: The Architecture of Mid-Century Bowling” by Chris Nichols and Adriene Biondo.

Image credit: Nathan Marsak Collection

“An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles” is an indispensable guide to Los Angeles by David Gebhard, Robert Winter, an...
12/29/2025

“An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles” is an indispensable guide to Los Angeles by David Gebhard, Robert Winter, and Robert Inman, as it delves through the entire span of the greater Los Angeles Area highlighting architectural points of interest.

The book features lesser known gems such as the Wild Beast Pavillion on the campus of CalArts. This coppery, snakeskin-like performance pavilion is unique and striking. Designed in 2009 by Hodgettes and Fung, it stands out against the rest of the campus with its unconventional appearance.

The orange and California are inextricably linked, as proved in “The Orange and the Dream of California” by David Boulé....
12/26/2025

The orange and California are inextricably linked, as proved in “The Orange and the Dream of California” by David Boulé. Taking a lively, literary, and extraordinarily visual look at the symbiotic and highly symbolic relationship between the Golden State and its "golden apple", the book features numerous orange advertisements like this one from Sunkist!

Note the Arts and Crafts style influences on the home in the advertisement, a popular style at the time in California that helped to blend the natural wonder of the state with the environment that homes were being built in, further enforcing the narrative of a “golden land” filled with prosperity!

Angel City Press at Los Angeles Public Library wishes you a happy and restful holiday season! Pictured is “Fairyland” ph...
12/24/2025

Angel City Press at Los Angeles Public Library wishes you a happy and restful holiday season!

Pictured is “Fairyland” photographed by George Fiske and featured in our book “A Country Called California: Photographs 1850s to 1860s” by Stephen White. This image is of the Yosemite Valley in 1910, depicting the winter wonderland that the Sierra Nevada transforms into during winter! Really goes to show you how wild and spectacular our state is, and puts you in the holiday spirit!

This restaurant layout gives us all the cozy vibes we could want! This napkin from The Clock Steakhouse shows a sunken c...
12/22/2025

This restaurant layout gives us all the cozy vibes we could want! This napkin from The Clock Steakhouse shows a sunken cocktail pit where guests could mingle around a fire. What a way to socialize! Check out some lovely graphic design and much more in “Bar Keeps: A Collection of California's Best Cocktail Napkins” by Patrick Quinn by following the link in our bio.

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Santa Monica, CA
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