"Greetings from Los Angeles" by Peter Moruzzi

ABOUT THE PRESENTATION: Author Peter Moruzzi will present a rollicking slide talk on the history of Los Angeles as told through vintage postcards, photographs, and brochures. Featured are rare glimpses of the city’s early years as a dusty pueblo; Chinatown’s evolution; the miraculous orange empire; backyard oil wells; Venice of America; roaring 1920s and corrupt 1930s; colorful evangelists; glamorous Wilshire Boulevard; fabulous nightclubs; movie studios and lavish stars’ estates; and theme parks such as Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, and Marineland of the Pacific. Witness the birth of midcentury modernism, futuristic Googie coffee shops, and space-age LAX.  Recall a postwar suburban paradise of drive-ins, bowling palaces, beach parties, Dodgers baseball, hotrod culture, and mushrooming tract developments.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:  Historian Peter Moruzzi was born in Concord, Massachusetts, raised in Hawaii, and now resides in Palm Springs. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and later attended the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. In 1999 he founded the Palm Springs Modern Committee (PS ModCom), an architectural preservation group. Moruzzi is the author of Greetings from Los Angeles, Palm Springs Paradise: Vintage Photographs from America’s Desert Playground, Classic Dining: Discovering America’s Finest Mid-Century Restaurants, Palm Springs Holiday: A Vintage Tour from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea, and Havana Before Castro: When Cuba Was a Tropical Playground.

ABOUT THE CLUB: Founded in 1925, the Los Angeles Breakfast Club still thrives with food, friendship, and fun. Our meetings are held in our clubhouse, Friendship Auditorium, located at 3201 Riverside Drive, near the corner of Los Feliz Boulevard, in Griffith Park. Best described as a variety show, attendees enjoy a catered breakfast, silly songs, club traditions, and an interesting presentation from a guest speaker.

TICKETS: Sales on LAbreakfastclub.com close 48 hours before breakfast. Non-members are $25 and Members receive a 25% discount when logged into their Membership Portal. 

Please arrive between 6:45 - 7:00 AM sharp! Doors close at 7:15 AM. Your admission includes a buffet breakfast, enjoyment of our 97-year-old club traditions, plus a special presentation from our Speaker of the Week!

COVID-19 SAFETY:

- Surgical disposable face masks or medical-grade masks (i.e., KN95, KF94, N95) must be worn at all times unless actively eating or drinking.

- Cloth masks may only be worn if they sit on top of surgical disposable masks.

- Masks must cover the nose and mouth completely, and must not have any exhalation valves, vents, or holes of any kind.

- Remain 6 feet physically distanced wherever possible.

- The Los Angeles Breakfast Club requires proof of full vaccination, along with a government or education issued photo ID, upon arrival. Per the guidelines set by the CDC, full vaccination means that at least 14 days have passed since receiving the final dose of an FDA-authorized or WHO-listed COVID-19 vaccine. For anyone who is eligible, the LABC also requires attendees to have received booster shots. A one-month (30 day) grace period is given to those eligible but have not yet received booster shots.

• People ages 12 years and older are recommended to receive one updated Pfizer or Moderna (bivalent) booster. This includes people who have received all primary series doses and people who have previously received one or more original (monovalent) boosters.

For more information, please see the CDC’s guidance on boosters: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/booster-shot.html.