Frenchtown Confidential

Beaudry Street, named for the Beaudry brothers, still exists. Victor Street, named for Victor Beaudry, still exists (although it was bisecte...

Bernard Street is in Chinatown. That is, the short block of Bernard Street that concerns today's entry is in Chinatown.  Bisected by the...

If you were on the Esotouric bus on September 7 , you were probably just as horrified as I was to see the French Hospital behind demolition...

Regular readers may recall that 11 months ago, I received word that Jeanne d'Arc, who had stood guard outside the French Hospital/Pacifi...

One of the most frustrating things about digging through Los Angeles history is finding out something with character, charm, historical sig...

If you couldn't make it to my September 2017 LAVA Sunday Salon, it's now available on Youtube . As always, much love to Kim and Rich...

How do you make a nerdy history blogger panic? Make her favorite landmark disappear. A couple of days ago, I reported that the Jeanne d...

ENGLISH Missing:  One French national hero. Female, age 54. Approximately 10 feet tall including the base. Last seen in front of the for...

Neon blade sign at Philippe the Original. Philippe Mathieu started out working in a deli in his native France. By the time he retired, h...

Whenever I'm asked about my blog, one question always pops up: how did I start on this journey? In the spring of 2013, I was doing two...

History should be presented fairly and honestly. Otherwise, we'll never learn a damn thing from it. I strive to do that on this blog (...

The Pacific Alliance Medical Center, formerly the French Hospital , is closing next month . Putting aside the fate of one of the last surv...

Last weekend, I gave a presentation on the French in Southern California at San Diego Mensa's Regional Gathering in Palm Springs (video ...

Moving on to another of LA's older neighborhoods... The French community was, as I've noted previously, originally concentrat...

I have been seriously researching Los Angeles' Frenchtown for two and a half years. I created this blog to share its stories and keep th...