72 Seasons: Los Angeles

Quick Facts about Los Angeles

A Brief History of Los Angeles

Summarized from the Los Angeles Almanac

The City of Los Angeles today is a culturally diverse, modern metropolis that over three million people call home. The earliest evidence of humans living in what is now Los Angeles dates to about 7,000 B.C.E. The Chumash people settled in the area around 1,000 B.C.E. and they were joined by the Gabrieleño (a.k.a. Gabrielino, Kizh, Tongva) people who are thought to have traveled west from the Mohave Desert around 200 B.C.E.

Spanish explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo arrived by ship in 1542 and encounterd people living on what is now known as Catalina Island and San Clemente Island. In 1769, the first land exploration through the Los Angeles region was led by Spanish explorer Captain Gaspar de Portolá. The first Spanish Mission was constructed in 1771 and the first orange groves planted in 1804. In 1822, local leadership of the small town that will one day become Los Angeles swore allegiance to Mexico after learning of the successful Mexican revolution against Spain.

In 1842, gold was discovered in near what is now Santa Clarita. In 1846, the United States of America declared war on Mexico, and took over El Cuidad de los Angeles and the surrounding area. In 1948, the Mexican American War ended, California was ceded to the United States, and Stephen C. Foster was appointed the first Mayor of Los Angeles. The first palm tree was planted in Los Angeles during the 1850s and it can still be visited at the Figueroa Boulevard entrance to Exposition Park. Land was allocated for what is now MacArthur Park in the 1850s. Drilling in the Los Angeles City Oil Fields began around 1892. The first automobiles drove through the streets in 1897.

20th Century:

The Mount Wilson Observatory was built in 1904. In 1910, the first motion-picture studio located west of Chicago was started in Long Beach by the California Motion Picture Manufacturing Company. In 1911, the Nestor Motion Picture Company constructed a permanent studio at the northwest corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street. The Los Angeles County Library was established in 1912. The Los Angeles Aqueduct began supplying the city of Los Angeles with water from the Owens Valley in 1913.

The Hollywood Sign was built in 1923 and in 1925, the main Public Library Building finished construction in downtown Los Angeles. The 10th Olympic Games were hosted in Los Angeles in 1932. Tragically, the 6.4-magnitude Long Beach Earthquake in 1933 caused 120 deaths and $50 million in damage.

The Fairfax Farmers Market opened in 1934 at what is now The Grove, and The Griffith Observatory finished construction in 1935. The Los Angeles River began to be developed into a concrete channel by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1938. By 1940, the first freeway in Los Angeles opened, and the population exceeded 1 million. During WWII, between 1942-1945, Japanese Americans were relocated to internment camps to the north and east of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles State and County Arboretum opened in 1947 and the Los Angeles County Air Pollution Control District was created to combat rising smog levels. Backyard incinerators were banned in 1951.

In 1954, Los Angeles experienced a smog attack severe enough to divert air traffic from LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) to the Burbank airport and close harbors. Also in 1954, The J. Paul Getty Museum opened, and construction of the Watts Towers was finished. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art opened in 1965. The Plaza de la Raza Cultural Center was established in Lincolns Heights in 1970 and by this year, the population of Los Angeles exceeded 2 million. A 6.6-magnitude earthquake centered to the north of Los Angeles caused 65 deaths and $505 million in damage. The Southern California Air Quality Management District (AQMD) was established in 1975.

In 1981, a Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Medfly) infestation that started in Los Angeles caused quarantine restrictions by other states and aerial spraying of malathion was deployed on infected areas. This spraying campaign was repeated in 1987 and 1988. The XXIII Summer Olympics were hosted by Los Angeles in 1984. In 1994, the 6.7-magnitude Northridge Earthquake resulted in 61 deaths and $20 billion estimated damage. In 1995, the environmental group American Rivers claimed the Los Angeles River as the most endangered urban river in the nation and in 1996, the Army Corps of Engineers started a construction project to build up concrete walls along parts of the Los Angeles River that were not completely channeled in the 1930s-1940s. The population of Los Angeles exceeded 3 million by the year 2000.