Los Angeles

History

The area of present-day Los Angeles was first explored and settled by the

Spanish in the eighteenth century. The city, originally called El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles ("the pueblo of our lady the queen of angels"), was founded in 1781. Over the next century, Los Angeles was successively under Spanish, Mexican, and American rule. Spanish rule ended in 1821 when Mexico achieved independence, and the young town, then a provincial outpost, came under its jurisdiction. Growing trade with the United States, as well as such marine enterprises as seal hunting and whaling, made Los Angeles California's largest town by the 1840s.

In the wake of the Mexican-American War of 1846, Los Angeles, along with the rest of California, became U.S. territory, and California was admitted to the United States as the thirty-first state in 1850.

The most significant milestone in the development of Los Angeles was the city's selection as the rail terminus for southern California. Rail linkage with San Francisco, completed in 1876, was followed by a population boom, as thousands flocked to the region, drawn by its temperate climate, unspoiled landscape, and available property, as well as cheap transcontinental fares resulting from rail price wars. A real estate boom rapidly drove up the price of land, but it had collapsed by 1887, destroying the hopes of speculators. However, the city continued to thrive, its economy spurred by the discovery of oil in 1892 and the development of agriculture. Its population grew to 50,000 by 1890 and then doubled to 102,000 by the turn of the century.

The film industry came to Los Angeles in the early twentieth century, with the opening of the first movie theater in 1902 and the establishment of Hollywood's first film studio in 1911. The first feature-length movie was directed by Cecil B. DeMille in 1913; the now world-famous "Hollywood" sign was erected in 1923; and the Academy Awards were inaugurated in 1929. The city's growing reputation as "Tinseltown" added yet another dream for newcomers to pursue by going west. The film industry continued to thrive during the 1930s, supplying relief from the woes of the Depression, which also brought a new wave of arrivals to the region, fleeing the dust bowls of the Midwest and seeking to rebuilt their lives. Major infrastructure projects assured a continued supply of water to desert-bound Los Angeles, in some cases triggering bitter and lasting disputes over the rights to water channeled to the region from further north.

A new era—the era of the automobile—opened for Los Angeles with the completion in 1940 of the Arroyo Seco Parkway, which laid the groundwork for the sprawling mass of freeways, and the car culture, that were to become an indelible part of the city's image and lifestyle. The growing dominance of the automobile and the spread of the defense-related manufacturing plants during World War II (1939–45) both helped trigger the suburban growth that was to change the physical landscape of L.A. in the postwar decades. Another development of the 1950s—the growth of television—at first was feared as a threat to the movie industry but proved an economic boon as the city became the headquarters of the popular new medium, as well as the growing recording industry, reinforcing its status as the entertainment capital of the world.

By the 1960s the golden image of Los Angeles had began to unravel, as unchecked urban sprawl led to environmental and social problems. Smog and pollution from automobiles and industry were recognized as serious threats to the quality of life in the area, and urban violence erupted in the black Watts neighborhood in August 1965. As the decade neared its end, the assassination of senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968) at the Ambassador Hotel following the 1968 Democratic primary election linked Los Angeles with yet more violence.

Strict air pollution guidelines were instituted in the 1970s, together with attempts to reduce pollution from autos by improving public transportation over the following decades, including the inauguration of a subway system in the early 1990s. In the 1970s and 1980s Southern California became a hub of the human potential and New Age movements, adding yet another facet—otherworldly eccentricity—to its multi-faceted image. At the same time, the region's economy thrived as the real estate, finance, and entertainment industries soared.

The 1990s in Los Angeles were marked by economic recession and recovery, and a series of sensationalistic events highlighting racial divisions in both the city itself and in the nation as a whole. First came the 1991 videotaping of four white police officers beating black motorist Rodney King, the 1992 Simi Valley trial in which the policemen were acquitted, and the ensuing three days of rioting and looting that left 50 persons dead and caused an estimated $1 billion in property damage. The 1994 Brentwood murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman was followed by the 1996 trial of former football star and actor O. J. Simpson, who was tried for and acquitted of the murders. Physically, the city was shaken by the 1994 the Northridge earthquake, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, that has required a major rebuilding effort.