[1] In the spring of 1953 a group of leading Southern California Illustrators got together in a meeting room at the Statler Hotel (now the downtown Hilton) to discuss the possibility of forming a professional artists club.

The group at the Statler Hotel was composed of L.A.’s most talented illustrators and included Joseph Morgan Henninger, Fritz Willis, George Sheppard, Jacques Kapralik, Bill Tara, Reynold Brown, Ken Sawyer, and others.

By the beginning of World War II huge demands by defense and aircraft companies had lured other fine illustrators from all over the nation and suddenly the “cultural desert” had blossomed into a first class art market.

Membership in SILA had swollen to over one hundred and, together with the Los Angeles Art Directors Club, the two organizations drew speakers from New York and Chicago to their programs and they both sponsored top quality shows every year.

[4] One memorable trip took place during the last USO show in 1957 when twelve SILA members flew to Europe and did 2200 portrait sketches of military personnel in post war occupation bases.