Recent Tour:

West Adams Golden Legacies: Golden State Mutual Life and Landmarks of African American History

Saturday, June 4, 2011, Noon to 4 p.m.


WAHA presented a Spring Tour celebrating a century of accomplishments of African Americans who have contributed to Historic West Adams' civic and cultural legacy.

Our tour goers visited the iconic Golden State Mutual Life Insurance building, designed by architect Paul Williams in 1947 for the first African American-owned insurance company established west of the Mississippi. The Late Moderne building with its notable integrated murals by artists Charles Alston and Hale Woodruff is on the road to becoming Los Angeles's newest Historic Cultural Monument. The murals, depicting scenes of African Americans' contributions to California history, are endangered, threatened with removal. This might have been the public's last chance to view them.