Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
13
As the box office boomed in the 1920s
and 1930s, so did the population of Los
Angeles. Easterners came to the burgeon-
ing urban paradise in dr oves in or der to
find their for tunes. The world-famous
Hollywood sign, er ected in 1923, was
built as an adv ertisement for just one of
many fledgling r eal-estate dev elopments
that began to crop up on the “outskirts” of
the city. Los Angeles was ev en more allur-
ing during the G reat D epression. As
Americans ached for an escape fr om their
less-than-inspiring r eality, H ollywood's
cinematic fantasies w ere ther e to oblige.
With each glamor ous, idyllic por trayal of
California, Los Angeles's popularity—and
population—grew.
QUEST FOR WATER
As the city
among settlers do wnstream. Disputes con-
tinued up to the incidents that inspired the
movie
Chinatown,
about the early battle for
the rights to the Ow ens Valley's abundant
water, which William Mulholland and Fred
Eaton “ stole” with their ne w California
aqueduct. Resentment from Northern Cali-
fornia continues up to the pr esent time, as
L.A. residents continue to r eap the agricul-
tural, domestic, and electrical benefits of
what many claim was nev
er rightfully
theirs.
THE TRIUMPH OF CAR CULTURE
The
opening of the Arr oyo S eco P arkway in
1940, linking D owntown L.A. and P asa-
dena with the first of what would be a
network of freeways, ushered in a new era
for the city. From that time on, car culture
flourished in Los Angeles, becoming per-
haps the city 's most distinctiv e featur e.
(For mor e on this subject, see “F rom
Horseless Carriages to H ot Rods,” p. 19.)
America's automotive industry successfully
conspired to undermine Los Angeles 's
public transpor tation system b y halting
the trolley ser vice that once plied D own-
town and adv ocating the constr uction of
auto-friendly r oads. The gr owth of the
freeways led to the dev elopment of L.A. 's
suburban sprawl, turning Los Angeles into
a city without a single geographical focus.
The suburbs became firmly entr enched in
the L.A. landscape during World War II,
expanded, so did the need for water . Most
great American cities gr ew from small set-
tlements on riv ers or lakes, fr eshwater
sources vital to everyday life and commerce.
Not L.A.—it was founded in the middle of
an arid basin. The Los Angeles Riv er has
always been too unpr edictable to suppor t
the city's gr owth, and today it is mer ely a
series of flood-control channels operated by
the Department of Water and P ower. The
quest for water has provided some of L.A.'s
most gripping r eal-life drama. As early as
1799, S panish padr es at the ne w M ission
San Fernando dammed the river to provide
for their water needs, causing an uprising
2
TIMELINE
•
1781
Los Angeles is
founded.
•
1821
Spain grants indepen-
dence to Mexico and, there-
fore, to California.
•
1850
California becomes
the 31st state.
•
1875
The Santa Fe Railroad
reaches Los Angeles.
•
1881
The
Los Angeles Times
begins publication.
•
1892
Oil is discovered in
Downtown Los Angeles.
•
1900
The population of Cali-
fornia approaches 1.5 mil-
lion; Los Angeles has more
than 102,000 residents.
•
1902
The first movie house,
the Electric Theatre, opens.
•
1909
Santa Monica Pier is
erected to accommodate
cargo and passenger ships.
•
1911
Hollywood's first film
studio is established.
•
1912
More than 16 motion-
picture companies are oper-
ating out of Hollywood.
•
1913
Cecil B. DeMille directs
the film industry's first full-
length feature,
The Squaw Man.
•
1923
The Hollywood sign
(which at the time read H
OLLY
-
WOODLAND
) is erected to adver-
tise a real-estate development.
•
1927
The first “talkie” is
released:
The Jazz Singer
with
Al Jolson.
•
1929
The Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sci-
ences bestows its first Oscar.
continues
