As Pacific Standard Time opens, the Getty Research Institute, along with the J. Paul Getty Museum, has acquired photographs and rare archival material from artist Ed Ruscha, augmenting its special collections on art in Southern California.

Comprising nearly 10,000 negatives, hundreds of contact sheets, and an assortment of production materials, the Streets of Los Angeles Archive reveals a systematic effort to capture the city's architecture and thoroughfares by one of its leading postwar art figures. Informed by the distinctive street signage and billboard culture of Los Angeles, Ruscha's project spans more than 40 years and documents many major streets in the city, including Melrose Avenue, Pacific Coast Highway, and the iconic Sunset Boulevard.

The artist's series of self-published books chronicling these photo shoots is well known. Production material related to the photobooks, however, has never been exhibited or studied, providing the Getty with an unprecedented opportunity for new scholarship.

The Research Institute currently owns an entire set of Ruscha's artist's books, the only known complete run of Orb (1959–60), a journal edited and produced by Ruscha while he was a student at Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts), and other rare materials. The new acquisition is a major addition to the collections and allows for a richer contextualization of this seminal artist's work.