Urban California & The Growth of Los Angeles CA Urban Patterns –Earlier than frontier West –Not connected to industrialization –Large urban population by 1850 –1860, 20% –1880, 43% –1900, 52%, 40 cities –1950, more than 600 cities

Total population by city Los Angeles– 3.94 million San Diego– 1.3 million San Jose– 930,000 San Francisco– 800,00 Long Beach– 495,000 Fresno– 465,000 Sacramento– 450,000 Oakland– 414,000 Santa Ana– 354,000 Anaheim– 350,000

Pre 1900 Growth of LA Southern Pacific, 1876 Los Angeles promoted by Boosters, Realtors Health tourism Exotic Middle class vacation destination Surpasses SF in size by 1910

L.A. City Hall, built in 1920s

Oil Industry Golden Age of the Automobile –Affordable cars –Affordable oil Doheny –Beverly Hills, 1890 –1920s Standard Oil, Unocal

Manufacturing LA Desirable for Manufacturing –Climate –Cheap land –Cheap water & energy –Cheap labor (Latinos, disciplined workforce—’slaves to the bungalow’) Autos –Ford, General Motors –LA is 2 nd largest (cars & rubber tires) 1920s Steel, Food processing, Oil Refineries Creates new residential geography for the city –White, blue-collar residential neighborhoods –Alameda Corridor –LA’s IntraUrban Railway: Pacific Electric Railway: The Red Car

Ford Plant, Long Beach 1930

Pacific Electric Railway The Red Car Henry Huntington

Sierra Madre 1908

Hollywood Arrives 1910’s Golden Age by 1920s Sells ‘ideas’ about L.A.

Roxie Theater 518 S Broadway

Los Angeles Theater 615 S. Broadway

Suburbanization & Decentralization LA always decentralized Anti-urban ideas Urban separatism Central city decay State and National Problem

Gentrification & Urban Renewal 1960s Retail & Residential Change Loss of low-income housing, loss of mom & pop stores, displacement of poor…