[PRCo] Los Angeles

[Schneider Fred]

  It is a great power point presentation that shows what Los Angeles  
was like less than 100 years ago.  We are accustomed to eastern  
cities that grew up with the horse and wagon and expanded because of  
the trolley whereas many of us fail to realize that western cities  
like Los Angeles (and Phoenix and San Jose) grew up around the  
automobile.   This shows it all very well.
Some milestones ... the first horsecars in Pittsburgh and  
Philadelphia were 1859.   In 1860 Los Angeles had 4,385 citizens.

The first electric streetcars begin about 1886.   Sprague's operation  
in Richmond was 1888.   The industry starts developing full bore in  
1890.  Los Angeles had all of 50,395 people.

By 1910, Los Angeles had 319,000.   It was growing by leaps and  
bounds.   By 1920 there were 576,000 there.   This isn't enough to  
fill much more than downtown and Hollywood.  The San Fernando Valley  
is still big empty field.

Now the automobile comes in with a vengence ... 1.2 million people  
living in L. A in 1930 and 1.5 million in 1940.   A million people  
moved in between 1920 and 1940 and suffocated Pacific Electric.    
They wanted cross streets paved over the tracks.   In places like  
Glendale (that isn't that population count) Brand Blvd. now had to be  
paved from curb to curb over the tracks.   The interurbans that once  
ran at 50 mph were now down to 25 mph in many towns.

Another half million moved in during the war.   My friend Don Duke  
claimed that this was the first time he ever saw a black family.    
They moved in from the southeast hunting defense jobs.   Watts turned  
from white to black.   By 1950 the city had 2 million people.

Today?   Los Angeles City is home to 3.8 million people and the  
county has almost 10 million.   But this power point show that Bill  
Volkmer sent me contains so fabulous pictures of the area not over  
100 years ago when it was a lot of empty desert.

Enjoy.




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