Having given eye-opening “urban history” presentations in San Francisco, Oakland and Detroit, Rick Prelinger now draws on his vast archive to offer a cultural history of greater Los Angeles in pictures. The archivist, writer, filmmaker and UC Santa Cruz professor combines excerpts from long-dated “ephemeral” sources—yesteryear’s home movies, newsreels, educational, industrial and amateur films, even studio “process plates”—into a richly detailed socio-topographical study of L.A.’s bygone cityscapes, and in the process casts the contemporary terrain in a new light. Viewers, meanwhile, are invited to supply the soundtrack, with their own commentaries, questions and discussions. Founded in 1983, the Prelinger Archive is among the largest repositories of its kind in the world.

In person: Rick Prelinger