L.A. in Focus: Images from the LAPL Photo Collection 
Saturday, June 9 @ 2:00 p.m.
Mark Taper Auditorium, Central Library


David Davis, author of Showdown at Shepherd’s Bush: The 1908 Olympic Marathon and the Three Runners Who Launched a Sporting Craze, presents images of the 1932 & 1984 Los Angeles Olympics from the LAPL Photo Collection. From Babe Didrikson, Eddie Tolan and Buster Crabbe to Carl Lewis, Joan Benoit, Michael Jordan and Mary Lou Retton. Just in time for this summer's London Olympics.

O.J. Simpson carries the Olympic torch before the start of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Credit: Javier Mendoza

Coming This Weekend!

Painting, Bombing and Buffing L.A.'s Freeway Walls: The Birth, Life and Slow Death of the Olympic Festival Murals 1983-2012.

Sat. May 12 @ 2 pm. 

Mark Taper Auditorium, Central Library 

Stefano Block will discuss the murals based on in-depthethnographic research conducted on the graffiti community and historical research conducted on L.A.’s Chicano and mainstream muralist traditions. Bloch argues that two decades of bad policy, belligerent graffiti abatement, and combative freeway bombers conspired to turn aesthetically inviting freeway walls into alienating beige eyesores. He will also be showing images from the Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection and sharing excerpts from his personal archive of interviews, images, and reflections that focus on the appearance of L.A.’s public walls.