Los Angeles History

The Native Tribes of Los Angeles

The coastal area of Los Angeles was originally settled by the Tongva, or Gabrieleno people. Tongva means "people of the earth" in the Tongva language. The Tongva were a hunter gatherers tribe, and were also distinguished by their trading activities. The Tongva were among the few New World tribes that regularly navigated the ocean.

They built seaworthy canoes caulked and coated with the tar from the La Brea Tar Pits the tar that had washed up on shore from offshore oil seeps. These canoes could hold as many as 12 people, their gear and the goods. Their trading routes stretched along the coast and out to the Channel Islands.

Spanish Discovery & Colonization

In 1540, the Viceroy of New Spain (Mexico) appointed Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo to lead an expedition up the Pacific Coast in search of trade opportunities, and possibly a passage to the Far East. On June 27, 1542, Cabrillo set sail from Navidad (now Acapulco) in New Spain.

On October 8, Cabrillo came across a marshland and natural harbor at the northwest end of San Pedro Bay and named the area Bahia de Los Fumas, or Bay of Smokes, after the smoke that rose from the nearby hillside settlements. (It was even smoggy back in 1542!!)

By the latter half of the 18th century, Spain was driven to establish missions and other outposts in Alta California out of fear that the territory would be claimed by either the English or the Russians. In 1769 the Mission system was established in Alta California with the construction of the first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcala. The mission was founded by the Franciscan friars under Father Junipero Serra.

In 1771, Serra built the Mission San Gabriel Archangel in San Gabriel. Six years later, Felipe de Neve the governor of Alta California, recommended that the area be developed into a pueblo.

The city of Los Angeles was officially established on September 4, 1781 by a group twelve families comprising 46 settlers. They named the pueblo El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles Del Rio de Porciuncula (The Town of Our Lady the Queen of Angeles on the River Porciuncula). For the next 40 years, the settlement remained a small ranch village, and by 1820 the population of the pueblo had grown to 650 residents. The historic area of Olvera Street is recognized as the site of this original pueblo.

The harbor in San Pedro was used as a trading post by the missionaries at the San Gabriel Mission. They would meet ships at the water's edge with provisions from Spain. The first American trading ship to call at San Pedro was the Lelia Bryd, in 1805. Spain's mercantilist policies forbade outsiders to trade with Spain's New World ports. But with such a broad territory to administer, enforcement of its policy was sporadic at best.

After the Mexican Revolution in 1821, California became a province in the new country. Without Spanish support, the missions entered a period of decline. This decline was accelerated by the passage of the decree of secularization in 1834 (wherein all church properties were expropriated by the state), after which the missions were essentially abandoned.

In 1822, the Mexican government lifted the Spanish restrictions on trade, leading to a surge of settlement and commercial ventures in San Pedro.

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo

Junipero Serra

California Becomes a State

The success of the American Forces in the Mexican-American war in 1848 resulted in the lands of Mexico's Alta California being ceded to the United States. The County of Los Angeles was established on February 18, 1850, as one of the territory's original 27 counties. In October of that year, California was granted statehood.

In 1876, the Southern Pacific railroad completed a line from Barstow to Los Angeles, spurring further growth of the area. By 1890, Los Angeles had become a boom town, and its population ballooned to 50,000 residents.

Oil was discovered in Los Angeles in 1892 by Edward Doheny, an unsuccessful gold and silver prospector, and Charles Canfield, his old mining partner. As the story goes, Doheny was in the downtown area of Los Angeles when he saw a cart whose wheels were coated in tar. When he asked the man where the substance had come from, he pointed to the northeast.

Doheny and Canfield examined the area and soon discovered the Los Angeles Field, after drilling to a depth of 460 feet at the corner of Colton Street and Glendale Boulevard, near present day Dodger Stadium. It was drilled using the unlikeliest of instruments: a sharpened end of a eucalyptus tree. Within 2 years of the find, 80 wells were producing oil in the area bounded by Figueroa, First, Union and Temple Streets. By 1897, the number of wells had increased to 500.

Edward L. Doheny

Twentieth Century Los Angeles

At the turn of the century, the population had jumped to over 100,000 residents. This growth put pressure on the city's water supply. In 1913, the city completed the Los Angeles Aqueduct, built by William Mulholland, bringing water from the Owens Valley 223 miles to the city.

The cities of Wilmington and San Pedro were annexed to the City of Los Angeles in 1909, making the Port of Los Angeles an official department of the city. In order to protect this deep water port, in 1919 the U.S. Army completed the construction of Fort MacArthur adjacent to the port. The fort was named after Lt. General Arthur MacArthur, Civil War Medal of Honor recipient and father of General Douglas MacArthur.

By 1923, Los Angeles was producing almost 25% of the world's petroleum, after the discovery of three major fields in the area. Aside from oil, other industries, including fishing, canneries, shipbuilding, aviation and motion pictures, fueled the growth of the city during the 1920s. The film business, previously centered in the New York area, was attracted to Los Angeles because of its climate.

In 1932, the city's population had grown to over one million, and Los Angeles played host to the 10th modern Summer Olympic Games. The Los Angeles Coliseum, built for the Olympics, remains a major sporting venue to this day. Tenth Street was renamed Olympic Boulevard in honor of the Olympics.

The expansion of the defense industry during and after World War II brought new growth and prosperity to the city. After the war, the San Fernando Valley's expanse of orange groves were mowed under, and vast tracts of housing for the returning veterans were built.

Starting with the construction of the Pasadena Freeway in 1943, hundreds of miles of freeways were built, connecting the disparate parts of the city and region, and changing the face of the area. These new freeways, along with inexpensive gasoline and affordable land on the outskirts of the city, combined to foster the creation of satellite cities that themselves grew large.

During the 1960s, the city unwittingly played host to the Watts Riots, and afterwards the issue of race in the city became increasingly important. During the decade Los Angeles became one of the country's most important cultural centers, owing to its music and motion picture industries. The city's Music Center, an arts and theater complex, was completed between 1964 and 1967.

By the mid 1970s, the downtown area began to be redeveloped. Large skyscrapers and shopping complexes were built on and around Bunker Hill, which had previously been the home to residential buildings. This trend continued into the 1990s.

In 1984, Los Angeles hosted the Summer Olympic Games for the second time.

During the 1980s, the city was plagued by increasing gang violence and police corruption. Racial tensions became acute in 1992 after the trial of beating victim Rodney King resulted in an acquittal of the police, and large-scale riots broke out.

Earthquakes have periodically altered the lives of the city's residents; the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, measuring 6.3, caused massive property damage. The Northridge quake of 1994, measuring 6.7, caused $12.5 billion in damage and over 100 deaths.

William Mulholland

Today's Los Angeles

Today, Los Angeles is the largest city in the state of California, and the second largest city in the United States. With a population of 3.8 million residents, the city covers 500 square miles from the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro to Lancaster in the high desert. The Los Angeles metro area has a population of almost 13 million people.

The economy of Los Angeles is driven by international trade, entertainment (television, motion pictures and recorded music), aerospace, technology, petroleum, fashion, apparel, and tourism. Los Angeles is also the largest manufacturing center in the United States. The port of Los Angeles is the most significant port in North America, and one of the most important ports in the world due to its role in Pacific Rim trade.

Los Angeles is an ethnic soup, home to people from more than 140 countries speaking 224 different identified languages. The city has a majority minority (non-white) population. Ethnic enclaves like Chinatown, Filipinotown, Koreatown, Little Armenia, Little Ethiopia, Tehrangeles, Little India, Little Tokyo, and Thai Town provide examples of the polyglot character of the city.