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    Los Angeles, California
    Los Angeles, California
    Los Angeles, California
    Ebook163 pages52 minutes

    Los Angeles, California

    By Jeffrey Samudio and Portia Lee Ph.D.

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    About this ebook

    Los Angeles was founded in 1781 as one of the two original Spanish pueblos in California. At the time of statehood in 1851, Los Angeles began to reconsider its "cow town" condition, and gradually transformed an American city into the magnificent metropolis we know today. Drawn from the collections of the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles Public Library, and the Los Angeles City Archives, Jeffrey Samudio and Portia Lee record the history of a community that established itself culturally as it grew exponentially. By 1945, the small town that had begun with 28 square miles in the late 19th century had grown to 450 square miles through almost 100 annexations. Businessmen constructed a downtown streetscape whose architecture elicited envy in other cities, hotels catered to visitors with such enthusiasm that guests eventually returned with ambitious schemes of their own, and the construction of an elaborate freeway system suddenly made Los Angeles a drive-in city.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439628034
    Los Angeles, California
    Author

    Jeffrey Samudio

    This new book captures the culture and heritage of a landmark American city through over 200 vintage images, beginning at the beginning of the 20th century and spanning the city's most eventful 50 years. Jeffrey Samudio is currently a Cultural Resource Planner in Hollywood, and is a member of the California State Historical Resources Commission. Dr. Portia Lee is an active member of the California Council for the Promotion of History.

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      Book preview

      Los Angeles, California - Jeffrey Samudio

      Angeles.

      INTRODUCTION

      Images of Los Angeles records a community that established itself as it grew exponentially. Neither natural disasters nor financial losses daunted the first settlers or discouraged the new arrivals who sought the chance to begin again in a new city. Los Angeles city-makers had in mind an ideal city and in its construction they demonstrated innovation and energy. In 1900 Los Angeles had been an American city for fifty years; in another fifty it would be a metropolis.

      Los Angeles was founded in 1781 as one of the two original Spanish pueblos in California, making it entitled by law to four square leagues of land. Set in a valley of the Los Angeles River, the pueblo was intended as a supply base for the garrisons stationed in Southern California. While it had been granted city status by the Mexican government in 1835, sixty years after its founding, the pueblo of Los Angeles was still a small cattle market town surrounded by ranchos with immense acreage. The city began to reconsider its cow town condition in 1851 when statehood and the United States Board of Land Commissioners required it to prove its claims to city lands.

      At the hearing before the Land Commission, Los Angeles made a startling argument. It claimed not just four square leagues, but sixteen, as historian W.W. Robinson says, longing even then to be the biggest city. The Mayor and Council attorneys argued that the law governing the establishment of the pueblo as four square leagues actually meant four leagues square, 112 square miles. The city’s argument did not prevail. Los Angeles’ claim was denied and the city had to be content with the original grant.

      The longing to be the biggest city did not go unrealized for long. Transcontinental rail service was established by 1881. New settlers required new land; new land required water. Los Angeles had prior rights to the waters that passed through the pueblo boundaries and it was willing to share it - with those inside the boundaries. The price of water for neighboring cities was annexation. First in were 904 acres on the former northeastern pueblo boundary; then the Shoestring Annexation of 1909 that brought Los Angeles its harbor. The Hollywood consolidation of 1910 brought population and the fledgling movie industry to a town that needed a sewer as well as water for households. By 1945 the small town that had begun with 28 square miles had grown to 450 square miles through 95 annexations. Robinson sums it up well: Fifty foot lots, stuccoed houses, filling stations, shops, food markets, and heavy traffic filled the Los Angeles panorama.

      The images in this book document the buildings and community members of those eventful fifty years. Sometimes disappointed, or unfairly cheated by circumstances, but always-hard working and resourceful, the citizens of Los Angeles built their communities. Businessmen constructed a downtown streetscape whose architecture excited envy in other cities. Hotels catered to visitors with such boosterism that the travelers would go home, pack up and return with sufficient capital for an ambitious scheme of their own. The introduction of the car into the mix allowed for mobility and a brand new outlook on life. Los Angeles became a drive-in city, laid out the freeway system and decided not to ride on streetcars any more. Angelenos had fun shopping, at the movies, in the eateries, and motoring on Wilshire Boulevard.

      In a temperamental moment, Frank Lloyd Wright opined, It’s as if you tipped the United States up so that all the commonplace people slid down into Southern California. Perhaps they did slide down, and hit the ground running too, intent on doing uncommon things in rather spectacular ways and looking sensational while it happened. From aqueducts to skyscrapers, the builders constructed the city that promised a place in the sun for everyone. The images of this book record journeys of a half-century—a short, bumpy, adventurous

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