Join us Sunday, April 6th, 2025, at 2 p.m. at the Mark Taper Auditorium in the Central Library.
The first lecture in the 2025 Marie Northrop Lecture Series will be a discussion with author Todd Lerew on his new book, Also On View: Unique and Unexpected Museums of Greater Los Angeles (Angel City Press), featuring photographs by Ryan Schude.
Book signing after presentation.
About the Book
With in-depth features of 64 singular institutions, Also On View: Unique and Unexpected Museums of Greater Los Angeles celebrates LA’s most fascinating and underappreciated collections, from the deeply culturally significant—such as the Garifuna Museum—to the highly specific and unusual, like the City of Los Angeles’s Streetlight Museum. There are more than 750 museums in the greater Los Angeles area, many of which lie beyond the beaten path and may not be familiar to even the most seasoned explorers. With striking photographs and a staggering range of critical, curious, and incredible histories, Also On View presents an unparalleled survey of all the diversity and wonder that Los Angeles has to offer.
Todd Lerew is Director of Special Projects for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, curating eclectic exhibitions and programs in support of the Los Angeles Public Library. He is a composer of experimental music and inventor of acoustic instruments such as the Quartz Cantabile, which converts heat into sound. He was winner of the 2014 American Composers Forum National Composition Contest and has had his work performed across the US and Europe. He received the 2022 National Outstanding Eagle Scout Award, and has served as a volunteer fire lookout at Keller Peak in the San Bernardino National Forest since 2016. He holds a BFA from Hampshire College and an MFA from CalArts, and collects library cards, pictorial maps, and all-black postcards that claim to depict a certain location at night.
Ryan Schude is an editorial, advertising, and fine art photographer. Had it remained viable, he might still be working at the rollerblade magazine that shaped his formative years, but a pivot into commercial photography happily funded his personal projects for the past two decades. Often employing a staged narrative approach akin to theatrical tableaux, environmental portraiture remains integral to his work, connecting him with artists, educational institutions, and just about any character willing to engage in the process. He recently moved to a small town just outside of Los Angeles with his wife, Agatha, daughter Antonia, and mother-in-law, Jessie. Ryan teaches photography and media arts at the Ojai Valley School.
Location
This lecture series is co-sponsored by Los Angeles City Historical Society and the History Department of the Richard J. Riordan Central Library. Lectures are held in the Mark Taper Auditorium, on the first floor of the Central Library, 630 W. 5th Street, Los Angeles. For ADA accommodations, call (213) 228-7430 at least 72 hours prior to event.
Parking
The library garage is located on the east side of Flower Street, just south of 5th Street. Flower Street is one-way, south. Parking is $1 from 1:00-5:00 with a library card. (Anyone arriving too early or choosing to stay in the garage past 5:00-5:15 would be charged $8.00 for the day.)
About the Marie Northrop Lecture Series
In 1992, the Los Angeles City Historical Society president Patricia Bowie and board member Michael Engh, reflected on how the LACHS could promote greater interest in Los Angeles history among its members and the general public. The two – both professors of history at Loyola Marymount University – decided on an annual program of three lectures to be delivered by established writers, historians, and educators.
LACHS decided to name the lecture series in memory of Marie Northrop, a longtime member of LACHS and widely respected genealogist who had specialized in tracing the lineage of early settlers of the original El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles.
