June 26, 1947: Los Angeles Sentinel columnist Edward Robinson takes a trip to the University Station after LAPD officers discover that he is carrying two driver’s licenses. One identifies him as “white” and the other identifies him as “Negro.”
With all the digging I have done in old Los Angeles newspapers, I have never come across anything like this.
ladailymirror.com 
Interesting story. I would like to know more but I’m sure that info doesn’t exist, unless Robinson did a follow up story with more.
Like, I want to know why he had two driver licenses in the first place (maybe two different states because of a recent move from say from Louisiana to California?? Still had the old license and the new one had just arrived??).
Brings back memories of the days when racial ID was a given on official docs like driver licenses. Going with the ‘caught btw two states and a move’ idea, did state #1 have safety or privileges advantage if one was ‘white’ and in state #2 one supposed it didn’t matter as much? I have extended family who could pass as ‘white’ quite easily if they wanted to, so not an impossible scenario.
I’m trying to recall if my first license had a ‘race’ indicator on it. So far I can’t recall. My current one doesn’t have that, so I’m wondering when that category was removed.
Interesting article.
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It was quite interesting to go through the Sentinel, which presented a completely different picture of L.A. than the mainstream papers. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to devote as much time to the project as I would have preferred.
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The California DMV must have always had a slipshod approach to licensure. My late friend Blake, on a weeklong visit to L.A. from the east back in 2009, was able to swing by a branch and somehow procure a California driver’s license that showed his New Haven, CT address next to his smiling face. Why he decided on that little endeavor, I’ll never know. He was a mysterious guy.
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