Los Angeles County, California Genealogy

United States &gt; California &gt; Los Angeles County

County Courthouse
County Courthouse

Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration 500 W. Temple St. Los Angeles, CA 90012 (county seat)

Parent County
18 February 1850: Los Angeles County was created, one of 30 original counties from the California lands. Prior to the creation of the county, the records were either at city or mission places. County seat: Norwalk

Populated Places

 * Cities: Beverly Hills, Burbank, Compton, Los Angeles, Whittier, more cities...
 * Communities: Hacienda Heights, South Whittier, Topanga, Universal City, East Los Angeles, more...

Neighboring Counties

 * Kern
 * Orange
 * San Bernardino
 * Ventura

Cemeteries
Woodlawn Memorial Park 1715 Greenleaf Boulevard Compton, CA 90220 Phone; 310/637-1766

The original records have been distroyed over the years. The California State Cemetery and Funeral Bureau revoked the cemetery's Certificate of Authority in 1994, and ultimately suspended it in 2000. The Genealogical Society of Utah microfilmed existing records in 1956. That film has the most correct information. More than 700 internments have been recorded for Woodlawn Cemtery at FindAGrave.com.

Church History and Records
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Adams
 * alhambra
 * alta vista
 * Arlington
 * Baldwin Park
 * Bellflower
 * Belvedere
 * Beverly Hills
 * Boyle Heights
 * Brentwood (Santa Monica)
 * Burbank
 * Centinela (Hawthorne)
 * Compton
 * Compton Center
 * Downey
 * El Monte
 * El Segundo
 * El Sereno
 * Elysian Park
 * Firestone Park
 * Fullerton (Long Beach)
 * Garvanza
 * Gate S.
 * Glendale
 * Glendale E.
 * Glendale W.
 * Grant (Bell Gardens)
 * Hollywood
 * Hollywood N.
 * Huntington Beach
 * Huntington Park
 * Inglewood
 * La Brea (Los Angeles)
 * La Cienega
 * La Mirada
 * Lancaster
 * Las Flores (Temple City)
 * Lennox (Hawthorne)
 * Lomita
 * Long Beach
 * Long Beach N.
 * Los Angeles
 * Manchester (Los Angeles)
 * Mar Vista
 * Matthews
 * Maywood
 * Mission Park (Wilmar)
 * Monrovia
 * Montebello
 * North Hollywood
 * Ocean Park
 * Park View (Long Beach)
 * Pasadena
 * Pasadena S.
 * Pomona
 * Redondo Beach
 * Rosemead
 * San Fernando
 * San Pedro
 * Santa Ana (Long Beach)
 * Santa Monica
 * South Gate
 * Studio City (Hollywood)
 * Sunset (Burbank)
 * Torrence
 * Van Nuys
 * Vermont
 * Virginia (Long Beach)
 * Walnut (South Gate)
 * Walteria
 * Whittier
 * Wilmington
 * Wilshire

Newspapers
The Los Angeles Public Library has made available on its website an index to newspaper and periodical articles containing obituary information on renowned actors, authors, journalists, and librarians. You can search the database by name, occupation, date of death, and cause of death. The data fields in the results returned may include full name, including married name, maiden name, and nickname; sex, occupation, death date, age, place of death, and information source.

Obituaries
The Southern California Genealogical Society has created The Los Angeles Times Obituary Indexdatabase searchable by either first name, last name or a combination of the two. If the name is found, the index provides the year of the obituary. If a copy of the obituary is desired, then it is necessary to purchase it from the Society. Currently the Index covers the period 1988 to 2004.

Vital Records
For early marriages see Western States Marriage Index.

Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk (for Birth, Marriage and Death records going back at least to 1852)

Norwalk RR/CC Building 12400 Imperial Highway Norwalk, CA. 90650 Office Hours: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Monday through Friday (open 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. on the 3rd Thursday of every month)


 * Note: There are several other sites to get birth, marriage and death records in Los Angeles County but Norwalk is the only facility that you can view records personally.

Viewing Vital Records:

The following will provide you with the procedure for viewing vital records. Certificates and indexes of birth, death and marriage records not exempt from public inspections may be examined at the Office of the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. In addition to certificates on file, there are indexes of birth, death and marriages available for public inspection as follows: Births prior to 1905 and from 1964 to the present; Deaths from 1877 to the present; and Marriages from 1852 to the present. Records of confidential marriages performed pursuant to Family Code Section 500 are not available for public review. Certificates and indexes may be examined at no charge unless a deputy is requested search and/or retrieve more than five records. Random searches of the indexes or the certificates are not allowed. An application is required for each record searched. Information sufficient to identify the requested record must be provided.

Los Angeles County Death Records at the Family History Library:

Los Angeles County Death Records are available through the Family History Library System. First, search the index film for the year the person died. Note that in 1958-1960, there are separate film sets for different cities in Los Angeles County, including Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Long Beach.

Note that entries in the county wide index with certificate numbers preceded by an "L" pertain to the Long Beach set of death certificates.

Societies, Libraries and Museums

 * Los Angeles Regional Family History Center 10741 Santa Monica Blvd West Los Angeles, CA 90025 Phone: 310-474-9990 Hours: T-Th 10 am-9 pm; Fri-Sat 9 am-5 pm; Closed Sun &amp; Mon


 * Questing Heirs Genealogical Society P.O. Box 15102 Long Beach, CA 90815-0102


 * Southern California Genealogical Society and Family Research Library

417 Irving Dr. Burbank, CA ~ 91504 818-843-7247


 * Whittier Area Genealogical Society

P.O. Box 4367 Whittier, California 90607-4367


 * California African-American Genealogical Society

P..O. Box 8442 Los Angeles, CA 90008-0422 Meetings at Martin Luther King United Methodist Church 6625 4th Avenue Los Angeles, CA


 * Immigrant Genealogical Society

1310-B West Magnolia Boulevard Burbank, California P. O. Box 7369 Burbank, California 91510-7369 (818) 848-3122


 * Polish Genealogical Society of California

P.O. Box 307 Buena Park, CA 90621-0307 Meetings: Los Angeles Regional Family History Center 10471 Santa Monica Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 310-474-9990

Websites

 * Los Angeles County CAGenWeb
 * Linkpendium
 * USGenWeb Archives
 * USGenWeb Archives backup site
 * FamilySearch Family History Library Catalog