Darryl Holter

Darryl Holter is an American historian, author, businessman, and musician based in Los Angeles, California. He has written on labor history and the folk musician Woody Guthrie, has taught history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of California, Los Angeles, and is an adjunct professor of history at the University of Southern California. He is also chief executive officer of the Shammas Group, a Los Angeles automobile dealership and commercial property business, and co-owner of Chevalier's Books, described as the oldest independent bookstore in Los Angeles.

Early life and education

Holter was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the oldest of four children. He attended the University of Minnesota, where he received bachelor's and master's degrees, and became involved in the anti-war movement during the Vietnam War era. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in history from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he also worked as a teaching assistant and became involved in union organizing.

Academic and labor career

After completing his doctorate, Holter taught in the history department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and later at the University of California, Los Angeles. He also worked in Wisconsin for the AFL-CIO in the field of industrial relations, writing and performing labor songs at rallies and picket lines across the state. A review published in the journal Labor noted that in 1991 the UCLA Labor Center offered him a teaching position in labor and industrial relations.

Business career

Holter has served as CEO of the Shammas Group, a family-owned group of automobile dealerships and commercial real estate holdings in downtown Los Angeles. The Larchmont Chronicle reported that after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, when his father-in-law's dealerships along Figueroa Street faced closure, Holter left academia to help rebuild the businesses and the surrounding corridor. In 1998 he was the founding chairman of the Figueroa Corridor Partnership, a business improvement district credited with contributing to the revitalization of Figueroa Street between what is now Crypto.com Arena and the University of Southern California.

In 2014, Holter and attorney Bert Deixler purchased Chevalier's Books, a bookstore in the Larchmont Village neighborhood of Los Angeles that had operated since 1940, in order to keep it from closing. The store subsequently underwent renovation and an expansion of its inventory. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the store's owners publicly appealed for customer support as the business faced a lease renewal and reduced sales; Chevalier's survived the pandemic.

Music career

Holter is a singer-songwriter whose music draws on country, blues, and folk traditions. Growing up in Minneapolis, he was influenced by folk and protest musicians such as Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger. While working for the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, he wrote and performed labor and protest songs at rallies and picket lines, and performed alongside musicians such as Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, and Joe Glazer.

Since 2008, Holter has released five albums, including Radio Songs: Woody Guthrie in LA (213 Music, 2015), a collection of songs connected to his research on Guthrie's Los Angeles years. He is a member of the Professional Musicians Local 47 union in Los Angeles. In 2016, he appeared at the Grammy Museum with historian William Deverell to discuss Woody Guthrie L.A. and performed Guthrie songs.

Writing and historical work

Holter is the author or editor of several books on labor history. His first book, The Battle for Coal: Miners and the Politics of Nationalization in France, 1940-1950 (Northern Illinois University Press, 1992), examines coal-mining policy in postwar France. It was reviewed in the journal International Labor and Working-Class History in its Spring 1994 issue.

Holter's later research turned to the history of Los Angeles and to the folk singer Woody Guthrie. According to People's World, in 2008 Holter received a grant to research the Woody Guthrie archives, focusing on Guthrie's years in Los Angeles from 1937 to 1941. With historian William Deverell, he co-edited Woody Guthrie L.A., 1937-1941 (Angel City Press, 2016), a collection of twelve essays examining Guthrie's years living in Los Angeles during the Great Depression. The book grew out of a 2012 conference on Guthrie's centennial held at the University of Southern California in cooperation with the Grammy Museum, at which Holter was a presenter.

Selected works

Books

• The Battle for Coal: Miners and the Politics of Nationalization in France, 1940–1950. Northern Illinois University Press, 1992. ISBN 9780875801674 Search this book on .
• Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A Labor History Anthology (editor). Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0-87020-315-2, 978-0-87020-314-5 Search this book on .
• Woody Guthrie L.A., 1937–1941 (co-edited with William Deverell). Angel City Press, 2016. ISBN 978-1-62640-030-6 Search this book on .
• Driving Force: Automobiles and the New American City, 1900–1930 (with Stephen Gee; foreword by Jay Leno). Angel City Press, 2023. ISBN 978-1-62640-123-5 Search this book on .

Discography

• Darryl Holter (213 Music, 2008)
• West Bank Gone (213 Music, 2010)
• Crooked Hearts (213 Music, 2012)
• Radio Songs: Woody Guthrie in LA (213 Music, 2015)
• Roots and Branches (213 Music, 2017)

External links

• Official website
• Holter's articles at Capital & Main
• Darryl Holter Music

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