Recently in History Category

Last week, the Daily Breeze's Sam Gnerre went through the archives and found photographs of old supermarkets, which inspired him to compile one of his many great Top 10 lists. He found the names of grocery stores that fed many households in the South Bay.

There was a time when supermarkets had names other than Ralphs, Vons or Albertsons, and a time when shopping at Whole Foods meant a whole year's salary and not just a whole paycheck.

Want to know whatever happened to such chains as Alpha Beta, The Boys and Smith's Food King? Their histories, along with other markets throughout North America, live on in Groceteria.

The site compiles a collection of photos and "commercial archaeology" from fans of grocery stores — a most ornery bunch. It also has a message board for fans to ask questions and share their own stories.

Grocery store fandom goes beyond Groceteria to the more photographically inclined. Flickr, the photo-sharing social network, has the group "Vintage Supermarkets, Grocery & Convenience Stores." It has a melange of old photos and present-day photos of older supermarkets extant and repurposed.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
— U.S. CONSTITUTION, ratified Sept. 17, 1787

Happy Constitution Day! In Philadelpha 221 years ago today, the United States' founders gathered to create a document that would guide the fledgling country from a motley collection of former colonies to a player on the world stage.

To help you celebrate the government's birthday, the National Endowment for the Humanities has assembled documents, background essays and a bibliography to help you deepen your understanding of the U.S. Constitution. Check out an interactive tour of Howard Chandler Christy's famous painting of the founders, which currently hangs in the U.S. Capitol; get an up-close look at the document itself (whose handwriting is that?); and even see George Washington's annotated draft.

For more primary sources, visit the National Archives' Charters of Freedom page. There, you can read a detailed history of the Constitution's creation, drama and all.

The Constitution is the foundation upon which our government is built, and in this election year, understanding it is more important than ever. In the words of founding father George Mason, "The Eyes of the United States are turned upon this Assembly and their Expectations raised to a very anxious Degree. May God Grant that we may be able to gratify them, by establishing a wise and just Government."

The memorial being built in a Pennsylvania field to the passengers and crew who died on United Airlines Flight 93 during the Sept. 11 attacks will be only about 40 percent finished by the time of the ribbon cutting on the 10th anniversary in 2011.
An Associated Press story says the memorial at the crash site is being built in three phases as a way to manage the funding for the new national park, with the first phase being done in three parts. The first part is not expected to cost more than $22.5 million and will be 40 percent of the project. That section will be ready by 2011, providing "a complete visitor experience" and able to accommodate the estimated 250,000 visitors annually, according to the National Park Service.
For more on the memorial project or to make a donation, go to the Flight 93 National Memorial.
The National Park Service also has a Web site on the memorial that includes a detailed description and artist renderings of such features as The Tower of Voices -- a 93-foot-high structure containing 40 large wind chimes "evocative of, and a tribute to, the sound of the wind and voices aboard the plane during its final moments" -- and The Field of Honor, an existing large bowl-shaped area that forms the heart of the memorial and park.

The creative folks at Los Angeles-based GOOD magazine have created an interactive infographic documenting "history's greatest journeys," including trips from travelers like Amelia Earhart, Ken Kesey, Columbus, and Jack Kerouac. Click on a journey for a quick introduction and to see the route plotted on a map of the world, then click "explore" to see historical photos and interesting facts along the way.

Two weeks ago, George Orwell started blogging.

Yes, the man who gave voice to the barnyard in the anti-Stalinist "Animal Farm" and created the original Big Brother in "1984" has joined the blogosphere -- even though he died 58 years ago.

The group behind The Orwell Prize, which honors political writing in Great Britain, is resurrecting its namesake's writings in real time, publishing Orwell's domestic and political musings exactly 70 years after they were written.

The blog is a handful of posts into the four years' worth of diary entries. The publication mirror the composition dates; Orwell's Aug. 9, 1938, entry went up on Aug. 9.

Orwell continued the domestic and political journals through October 1942, meaning the blog entries will cease in October 2012.

So far, Orwell has spoken of the weather, catching snakes, picking barley, ripening blackberries and the growth of a Sardinian mouflon sheep and an ass-zebra hybrid. And that's just his domestic fare. The political stuff comes Sept. 7.

And if you see a typo, don't go after the site administrator. The diaries are published exactly as Orwell wrote them, errors and all.

You don¹t have to be a word geek to appreciate Take Our Word For It (TOWFI). TOWFI has an amazing archive of word histories and usage and is an interesting place to find out the why of word meanings. The site has also won several awards as an outstanding educational resource. Click here for fun reading.

It's been a while since we've done a roundup of blog posts written by South Bay residents, so some of these are from a couple of weeks ago, but they are still worth a link.

Easy Fiend blogger Denis Faye wrote a comic book with an artist he met at the comic shop he frequents in Manhattan Beach. It's called The Monocle and Jimmy Specs. Here's the synopsis from a new blog he set up to promote it:

The Monocle and Jimmy Specs is the story of an aloof crimefighter whose life takes a tragic turn when his prejudices prevent him from accepting the truth about his young sidekick. Inspired by the golden age of illustration and the pulp era of short fiction, The Monocle harkens back to a time when superheroes didn't wear spandex and life was much simpler -- or so they thought.

MaryRuth at Where's the Bubbler has found a little bit of the Midwest in the Sprouts grocery store in Torrance:

Usinger's is a old Milwaukee institution--started in 1880. The factory-store is something out of the Old World. On the walls inside the store are murals depicting the sausage-making elves. I actually toured the factory once. My sister's father-in-law worked there for many years, and when he retired, the company threw him a party and we all got to tour the plant. It was pretty interesting to see how it is done. And no...nothing scary either.

Manhattan Beach Confidential did an ode to a favorite walkstreet, complete with tons of photos that will make you daydream about living there:

Seventh Street in the South End is one of those fabled Manhattan Beach walkstreets. As much or more than others, this one is a kid's paradise.

7th is a flat stretch that goes all the way from Crest to Valley - no break at Ingleside. On a recent stroll we counted no fewer than 3 playhouses, 4 basketball hoops (of varying sizes) and a tetherball post in the walkstreet. It's a playground.

Westchester Parents blog posted an item about a series of exhibits exploring the history of Playa del Rey.

In a series of four exhibits portraying different time periods, Dukesherer will speak about about Playa del Rey (Beach of the King, in Spanish), Playa Vista and later Westchester. The first of four planned exhibits exhibits coincide with the launch of his book (pictured above) will run through March 2009. Each exhibit will consist of a collection of historical photos and memorabilia from various sources.

If you know of a South Bay blogger that we ought to know about, send us a note.

RELATED POSTS:
Girls' Guide to San Pedro
L.A. Farm Girl on where to get the best produce in the South Bay
Q&A with MaryRuth, a South Bay blogger and foodie
Meet Easy Fiend blogger Denis faye
Snail torture and secret MB streets

The National World War II Museum, formerly known as the D-Day Museum, is the only museum in the United States that covers all of the amphibious invasions or "D-days" of World War II. It honors the more than one million Americans who participated with extensive military exhibits. If you can't make it to Louisiana to visit in person, do the next best thing and take a virtual tour.

Forty years ago, Robert F. Kennedy gave a speech in the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He thanked his supporters for giving him a crucial win in his journey to become the Democratic party's candidate. As he made his way through the service area of the hotel, Sirhan B. Sirhan opened fire and shot the senator in the head and in the body, and wounded 5 others. Kennedy was taken to the Good Samaritan Hospital where he died the following day.

To see a video of Robert F. Kennedy's last speech in the Ambassador Hotel's ballroom, go to YouTube and enter "Robert F. Kennedy, Ambassador" in the search field.

The Ambassador Hotel was purchased by LAUSD who is building 3 schools on the site. The school complex will be in honor of Robert F. Kennedy, including a library built in the exact geometry of the ballroom. For more information on the Ambassador Hotel, click here or here.

If graduation time has you reminiscing about your final days in high school, but you just can't seem to find that yearbook you stashed in the back of a closet, here are a couple of possible solutions to your nostalgic predicament.

You can buy old high school yearbooks at www.elementaryschoolyearbook.com, so, as their Web site says, you can "make fun of people just like in the old days." Recently among the inventory included a 1987 San Pedro High book for $100 and a 1975 book from Torrance's North High for $90.

If the yearbook you are looking for is not among the 2700 or so they have in stock, they'll hunt it down for you for a $4.95 fee that will be credited toward the cost of the yearbook.

If you want to look for it yourself, www.ourclassreunion.com/wantedlist.html, has a list of resources to help, including a list of links to yearbooks grouped by state that are offered for sale on eBay, and a tutorial explaining how to find yearbooks on the Web.

If, however, you are among those who value a little cash over those memories, you can also try selling your yearbook at www.ourclassreunion.com/wantedlist.html, where you'll find a list of public and private school, high school, military, alumni or college yearbooks wanted in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada. Scroll down the page and click on the state where you went to high school. For example, someone out there is searching for a long-lost 1986 Banning High yearbook.

Another option for local high school graduates looking for yearbooks is the Katy Geissert Civic Center Library in Torrance, which has the following yearbooks available for viewing: Bishop Montgomery (1968-1994); North High (1956-59, 1961-63, 1966-67, 1972-73, 1977-90, 1993); Hawthorne High (1991); South High (1960-62, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1976-88, 1990); Torrance High (1950, 1959, 1961-62, 1964-66, 1968-71, 1973-2001, 2003) and West High (1964-68, 1971-72, 1974-87, 1992).

And just how often do people look at their yearbooks? If our online graduation poll is any indication, not all that much: 56 percent said "rarely" and 12 percent said "never," while 11 percent said "frequently" and 13 percent said "at least once a year." Nine percent did not respond to the question.