{"id":25697,"date":"2012-10-01T19:50:34","date_gmt":"2012-10-01T19:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=25697"},"modified":"2012-10-01T20:08:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-01T20:08:00","slug":"the-l-a-scene-teaching-race-and-popular-music-in-the-1950s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=25697","title":{"rendered":"The L.A. Scene: Teaching Race and Popular Music in the 1950s"},"content":{"rendered":"

The L.A. Scene: Teaching Race and Popular Music in the 1950s<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Organization of American Historians Magazine of History<\/a>
\nVolume 26, Issue 4<\/a>
\npages 17-20
\nDOI: 10.1093\/oahmag\/oas030<\/a><\/p>\n

Luis Alvarez<\/a><\/strong>, Associate Professor of History
\nUniversity of California, San Diego<\/em><\/p>\n

In 1956, Little Julian Herrera had one of the biggest rhythm and blues hits of the year in Los Angeles<\/a>. His soulful, doo-wop<\/a> style ballad, \u201cLonely Lonely Nights,\u201d turned Herrera into an overnight sensation. He was soon known across the city for spectacular live performances that later drew comparisons to a young James Brown<\/a>. He became a teen idol and heartthrob among Mexican American girls on the Eastside<\/a>. What many of his fans may not have known, however, was that Herrera was neither Mexican American nor from L.A. He was an East Hungarian Jew who had run away from his <\/strong>Massachusetts<\/strong><\/a> home at age eleven.<\/strong> His given name was Ezekiel, though his probation officer knew him as Ron Gregory. After hitchhiking to Southern California<\/a>, he was taken in by a Mexican American family in the Boyle Heights<\/a> neighborhood of East L.A. and eventually took their surname as his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cLonely Lonely Nights\u201d was produced by the legendary Johnny Otis<\/a>. Born the son of Greek immigrants in Vallejo, California<\/a>, Otis came of musical age as a drummer and bandleader playing African American jazz and blues joints along Central Avenue in L.A. By the mid-1950s when he helped launch Little Julian Herrera into local stardom, Otis already was a formidable figure in the L.A. music scene who soon became known as the \u201cGodfather of Rhythm and Blues.\u201d He produced records, hosted radio and television programs, and organized dances and concerts. He was also regularly harassed by local authorities for creating and promoting music whose performers and audiences often crossed racial lines.<\/strong> Otis, in fact, considered himself \u201cblack by persuasion.\u201d He once remarked, \u201cGenetically, I’m pure Greek. Psychologically, environmentally, culturally, by choice, I’m a member of the black community\u201d.<\/strong> In a scenario emblematic of the racial diversity of L.A.’s 1950s…<\/p>\n

Read or purchase the article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The L.A. Scene: Teaching Race and Popular Music in the 1950s Organization of American Historians Magazine of History Volume 26, Issue 4 pages 17-20 DOI: 10.1093\/oahmag\/oas030 Luis Alvarez, Associate Professor of History University of California, San Diego In 1956, Little Julian Herrera had one of the biggest rhythm and blues hits of the year in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,24,459,6,20],"tags":[455,9270,12211,787,12210,12209,1392,12208],"class_list":["post-25697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-arts","category-history","category-new-media","category-usa","tag-california","tag-johnny-otis","tag-julian-herrera","tag-los-angeles","tag-luis-alvarez","tag-magazine-of-history","tag-music","tag-organization-of-american-historians-magazine-of-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25697\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}