Los Angeles History

Los Angeles history from ancient times through the Los Angeles Mexican history and war, through the history of the Gold Rush and it's effect on Los Angeles.

And the 1920s history of Los Angeles, the Roaring Twenties, and the arrival of the Movie Industry, Aviation and the population boom history of the City of Los Angeles.

The history of Los Angeles takes us back about 10,000 years ago, when pre-historic Mammoths, Saber Tooth Tigers and rare Camels roamed the land we now call Los Angeles.

The earliest history of Los Angeles tells of ancient Native American settlers, mostly the Chumash and the Yang-Na tribes living along the Los Angeles river, which is a vital history of the Los Angeles river. The Indian tribes made day trips to La Brea, which is the word for tar in Spanish, to collect sticky tar used for their habitats and buildings.

This is part of Los Angeles History of Park La Brea.

Today, the Los Angeles river only flows during the rainy seasons through a bed of concrete near downtown Los Angeles. The La Brea Tar Pits are famous as one of the World's greatest sources of pre-historic animal fossils.

But for many centuries the Los Angeles area remained unnoticed and ignored by the European explorers.

It wasn't until 1542 that the Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, under the Spanish crown, first identified the area for Europe's map makers. But then Spain did not pay any attention to the Los Angeles area for another 200 years.

When the Spaniards became worried about Russia and Britain, they christened the river near the Yang-Na Indian Village for Nuestra Senora, La Reina de Los Angeles, in English it translates to Our Lady, Queen of The Angels. The town , Pueblo of Los Angeles, was officially established in 1781.

In 1822, Mexico won it's independence from Spain, and Alta California became part of Mexico. At that time, the Spanish Missions in California changed from religous to civil use, and their vast land and livestock holdings were given in huge grants to prominent Mexican families, creating huge Rancheros.

After the Mexican-American War, Mexico ceded California to the United States in 1848.

The Los Angeles history was greatly affected by the Great Gold Rush, which brought hundreds of thousands of fortune seekers to the territory.

The ranchers and growers of Los Angeles speculated and prospered while shipping high priced cattle and farm crops north to the frenzied miners, known as the 49'ers to the first full year of the gold rush that started in 1849.

California became a state in 1850 at the height of the gold rush. As gold became scarcer and the 49'ers stopped coming, the transcontinental railroad was opened, on May 10 1869, uniting California and Los Angeles with the rest of United States.

The sleepy Los Angeles basin, with it's ideal climate, became a source for citrus fruit, bananas and other commodities for the cities east of the Rocky Mountains.

Los Angeles In The 1920s

By 1920, the history of the Census showed that the City of Los Angeles had surpassed San Francisco, swelling to 500,000 residents. The Roaring Twenties were a time of explosive growth. Oil was discovered all around Los Angeles. ARCO, Unocal, and Standard Oil opened up head quarters in Los Angeles.

At tis time the Motion Picture Industry discovered Los Angeles and began leaving New York City for Hollywood. Banking, finance and insurance companies started to locate in Los Angeles thriving downtown financial district.

The very first neon sign in the country was illuminated near La brea Avenue in Los Angeles, creating a new look for the city (and the nation).

Hollywood Boulevard Los Angeles

The Carleston dance craze drew such large crowds to late night Los Angeles dance marathons, so the events were banned by the Los Angeles City Council in 1928 as a public health hazard.

Water suplies in the Sierra Nevada mountains were purchased by the City of Los Angeles and pumped hundreds of miles through networks of aquaducts to supply the huge demand for new homes.

By 1930, the city's population had more than doubled again to 1.23 million residents. In 1932, Los Angeles became a World class city, when it hosted the Olympic Games at the specially built Los Angeles Coliseum.

Howard Hughes

During the 1930's, 40's and 50's, as World War unfolded, giant Aviation comapanies became the largest employers led by the enterpreneur founders Howard Hughes, Donald Douglas, Malcomb Longhead and John Northrup.

The port of Los Angeles, and it's next door neighbor city Long Beach, became one of the busiest shipping harbors in the World.

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