Los Angeles Midwinter

Traditionally published around the start of each year, topics covered included everything from industry, agriculture, entertainment, and rapid urban development. Annual issues were packed with a comprehensive amount of articles and advertising.

The publication that began as early as 1907 was hailed by its contemporaries as a “fine piece of journalism.” Published by the Times-Mirror company, early issues ran over 80 pages, with half-tone illustrations or engravings devoted to California, Arizona, and Sonora.

Like the rays from a center diamond in a cluster of magnificent jewels, the annual Midwinter Number of the Los Angeles Times reaches forth across the continent, attracting thousands of readers to “the garden spot of the world.”

St. Louis Republic, 1910.

And perhaps giddy because that particular issue featured images from the garden of hometown brewer Adolpho Busch, the paper continued its praise, “After devouring the fascinating, artistically arranged stories in the Times with avidity, one is struck with the wonder at the herculean accomplishment of its editor Harrison Grey Otis, and a deep longing for the warm breath of the Pacific.”

In 1916, General Harrison Gray Otis gave his Wilshire Blvd. home, The Bivouac, and its grounds to the city. Located in Westlake Park, the site became the Otis Art Institute, which officially changed its name in 1946 to the Los Angeles County Art Institute. The art school had 400 students at the time.

Noted artist, designer and teacher Millard Sheets was appointed director of Los Angeles County Art Institute in 1953 — a position he held until 1959. The name reverted to Otis Art Institute to avoid confusion with the County Museum of Art, which opened in 1965.