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Al Martinez: Bard of L.A.
Exhibitions
1 of 3
Al Martinez in his study. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
"Al Martinez Puts a Face on the City," newspaper ad from the Los Angeles Times, ca. 1970–75. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Al Martinez in front of store window advertising Dancing Under the Moon, 1992. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Past eventSat., March 17, 2012, 12 a.m.–Mon., June 25, 2012, 11:59 p.m.
Library, West Hall
The exhibition traces his career through a display of columns, letters, photographs, and memorabilia, including some special items borrowed for the show.
Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Al Martinez is the focus of a new exhibition
“Editors and publishers come and go, typefaces change, formats shift, columns move from here to there. I endure, writing the words and singing the songs, prowling like an old alley cat through the lives of those I father into my paragraphs.”
–Al Martinez, I’ll Be Damned If I’ll Die in Oakland
Newspaperman and columnist Al Martinez has prowled the paths and byways of Los Angeles for 40 years—and of Oakland and the Bay area for 20 years before that—searching out stories to inform, delight, and move his readers. Always fascinated by people, he writes about the human condition, railing with righteous anger at the unjust and inhumane or celebrating the miracle of a grandchild’s birth or the quiet courage of an unsung hero. His columns in the Los Angeles Times earned Martinez three Pulitzer Prizes, a National Headliner Award for best feature column in the U.S., and scores of other awards.
A native of Oakland, Martinez attended San Francisco State College before serving in the U.S. Marine Corps as a rifleman and war correspondent during the Korean War. In 1952, he enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley, but left to begin his career in journalism at the Richmond Independent, moving on to the Oakland Tribune by 1955. In 1971, he headed south to join the Los Angeles Times, where he was offered his own column in 1984. For the next 23 years, his columns appeared regularly, earning Martinez a loyal fan base along with numerous honors. In 2007, as part of its downsizing, the Times laid him off, unleashing an angry outcry from readers. He was reinstated, only to be cut loose 18 months later, this time for good. Far from retiring, however, Martinez continues to write, producing columns for the Los Angeles Daily News and the Topanga Messenger, as well as a blog.
The Huntington celebrates Martinez with a special exhibition drawn from the archive of his papers donated to the Library in 2006. “Al Martinez: Bard of L.A.” opens March 17 in the West Hall of the Library and continues through June 25.
