Olivia Smith is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and media consultant. She has worked on stories for several media organizations. Check out some of her clips here.
Tour the Crescenta Valley speakeasy that was a hotbed of illegal activity during prohibition
With Hidden History, ABC7 explores local history and hidden facts in our communities. The series highlights extraordinary details in neighborhoods you may otherwise overlook.
Verdugo Lodge, a speakeasy from 100 years ago, sat hidden in plain sight in the Crescenta Valley during prohibition.
The star-studded history behind the Annenberg Community Beach House
With Hidden History, ABC7 explores local history and hidden facts in our communities. The series highlights extraordinary details in neighborhoods you may otherwise overlook.
This Santa Monica beachside space was once a sprawling mansion for actress, producer and philanthropist Marion Davies and media tycoon William Randolph Hearst.
Now, only the guest house and main pool survive from the original architecture. Volunteers from the Santa Monica Conservancy give free public tours at the Guest H...
The huge impact of neon art on Los Angeles history
With Hidden History, ABC7 explores local history and hidden facts in our communities. The series highlights extraordinary details in neighborhoods you may otherwise overlook.
Neon signs and art pieces have decorated Los Angeles since the 1920s, according to officials from the Museum of Neon Art.
The museum, located in Glendale with a warehouse in Pomona, works to collect and maintain neon art. The glass art traveled from Paris to New York before making an appearance in L...
How Altadena's Christmas Tree Lane came to be an iconic lighting spectacle every holiday season
Christmas Tree Lane has been lighting up more than 100 trees each holiday season for over a century, according to local volunteers and the Altadena Historical Society. The large deodars span nearly a mile on Santa Rosa Avenue in Altadena.
Uncovering what really happened to the Los Angeles streetcar system
We're exploring local history and hidden facts in our communities. ABC7 highlights extraordinary details in neighborhoods you may otherwise overlook.
Streetcars once ruled the streets of Los Angeles, stretching across the county from one corner to another. Some may know these cars as trolleys, but the technical term for them is streetcars.
Experts told ABC7 the yellow and red cars were largely created and subsidized by real estate developers who wanted to provide easy access to transportation...
Take a tour of the Beverly Hills Witch's House for spooky Halloween thrills
We're exploring local history and hidden facts in our communities. ABC7 highlights extraordinary details in neighborhoods you may otherwise overlook.
The Beverly Hills storybook abode at the corner of Carmelita Avenue and Walden Drive looks more like a movie set than a house. And, in fact, that's what it was before it moved to this location.
The protected landmark was built 100 years ago in Culver City for Willat Studios. Its exterior originally served as a set while the interior held offices...
These LA apartments were once the historic 28th Street YMCA designed by legendary Black architect
We're exploring local history and hidden facts in our communities. ABC7 highlights extraordinary details in neighborhoods you may otherwise overlook.
On 28th Street and Paloma in southeast Los Angeles are the 28th Street Apartments. The building was originally a YMCA, designed by Paul Revere Williams, the first African American member of the American Institute of Architects.
Williams helped build modern Los Angeles and his signature is on 3,000 buildings in L.A.
MORE: Nearly 200-year-old Sant...
Nearly 200-year-old Santa Monica cemetery has history dating back to cattle ranches
Tucked away on a small, quiet street in Santa Monica Canyon is a cemetery that has been there much longer than the rows and rows of luxury homes surrounding it. The Pascual Marquez Family Cemetery is one of the oldest burial grounds in Los Angeles.
How this LA canyon filled with oak trees went from an oasis to a parking lot
There was once a canyon in Montrose, Calif., that had a natural spring. In the 1920s, the canyon was turned into a recreation center known as Indian Springs.
La Canada High Schoolers are serenading their town from a distance
LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE (KABC) -- "We missed human interaction," said 19-year-old Will Chant. "We just wanted to walk around and play some guitars."
That's how the band Rose Avenue, made up of mostly past and present La Canada High School (LCHS) students, started performing live music for their community in late April.
Chant said he and band member Langdon Dearborn, a senior at LCHS, were walking around playing guitars when a couple asked them to play Jack Johnson.
As a former LCHS student mysel...
Herstory Lessons: Female pilot was prepared to give her life to stop the 9-11 attacks
Herstory Lessons
Meet the fearless labor activist who coined the positive protest slogan 'Si Se Puede'
Herstory Lessons pays tribute to women whose accomplishments are hidden from history, but who have made an impact on the world. In celebration of Women's History Month, "GMA" is highlighting these hidden female figures who have made a critical contribution to our culture.
Your guide to a perfect night's sleep
Sleep has a public relations problem in the U.S.
"We really view it as a luxury; we view people who like to sleep or get a lot of sleep as lazy, and that’s just not true," said ABC News Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton. "We, in fact, can be referred to as a sleep-deprived society."
We tried the American-made cheese named the world's best for 1st time
or the first time in American cheese history, an Oregon-made blue was named the world's best.
Rogue River Blue was named World Champion Cheese at the 32nd annual World Cheese Awards in October in Italy.
Mindy Kaling: 'Don't let where you're from keep you from where you’re going'
From "The Office" to motherhood, Mindy Kaling opened up about what she's learned from being a woman in comedy.