Explore the Era

Delve into the postwar Los Angeles art world in this online archive, which provides additional material related to the exhibitions on view at the Getty Center. Learn about hipsters and happenings, and the venues across the city where all the action took place through images from the archives and first-hand accounts with the artists.

From the Archive

John Altoon, ca. 1963

John Altoon smoking, ca. 1963. Image courtesy of Larry Bell. Photo by Dennis Hopper and © The Dennis Hopper Trust

Historic Map Locations

Works of Art

  • Ocean Park Series

    Ocean Park Series, 1962, John Altoon. Oil on canvas. 72 x 84 in. Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA: Museum purchase with additional funds provided by Dr. James B. Pick and Dr. Rosalyn M. Laudati, Mr. Ward Chamberlin, Mrs. E.G. Chamberlin, Patricia Fredericks, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Neisser, Mr. and Mrs. John Martin Shea, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Goldstein, Zada Taylor, Mr. David H. Steinmetz, and Mrs. Bernard McDonald. Permission courtesy of the Estate of John Altoon and Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Photo by Gene Ogami

Explore the Archive

  • Video: Irving Blum and Billy Al Bengston on John Altoon

    Video: Irving Blum and Billy Al Bengston speak about the work of John Altoon, 2010-11

  • Artists outside the Ferus Gallery

    Artists outside the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, 1959. Clockwise from top: Billy Al Bengston, Irving Blum, Ed Moses, and John Altoon. Photo by William Claxton. Courtesy Demont Photo Management, LLC.

  • Los Angeles artists at Culture Day at LACMA, 1968

    Several Los Angeles artists at Culture Day at LACMA (L.A. County Museum of Art), 1968. Photo by and © Julian Wasser.