ABOUT US

Explore the legacy of the Los Angeles Fire Department through our extensive collection of artifacts and stories. Visit the Hollywood Museum & Harbor Museums to see and experience the rich history.

A LITTLE ABOUT OUR HOLLYWOOD MUSEUM:

The Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society (LAFDHS) is a volunteer led nonprofit organization with the mission to memorialize Los Angeles Fire Department’s fallen firefighters, preservation of historical apparatus, and educating the public on fire and life safety.

On October 13, 1960, Los Angeles Fire Department Fireman Bob Foster (Truck 17-B) was appointed the department’s official historian by the Board of Fire Commissioners. In 1981, Acting Chief Engineer Alan R. Evanson created a committee to further support archiving history of the department. Two of the firefighters originally named to the committee were LAFD firefighters Don Dodd and William Dahlquist. The committee then evolved into a formal organization which was initially named “Olde 23s” because of the expectation that the organization would restore old Fire Station 23 and move into that facility. That never happened. In 1998, the organization became a non-profit public benefit corporation 501c(3) and was formally named the Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society (LAFDHS).

LAFDHS was in need of a new home. Fire Station 27 in Hollywood had withstood significant damage during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. In 2001, a new fire station was completed next door, and the old building was slated to become a community center. With some dedicated commitment on the part of a number of local officials, Society members, and LAFD management, the LAFDHS received a long-term lease on the building. In the years that followed, the Society developed an inventory of more than 30 pieces of firefighting apparatus significant to Los Angeles, thousands of artifacts (some dating back to the 1880s), and hundreds of hours of film and video.

Since taking over old Fire Station 27 in Hollywood, the LAFDHS has opened it to the public as a museum, and has also opened a smaller, but no less impressive museum in San Pedro.