Old maps of Los Angeles show how the city grew 70000% in 150 years

the library of congress has some beautiful old high resolution maps of the city of los angeles and the surrounding areas many of them are hand drawn from a bird's-eye 3d aerial perspective they show different parts of los angeles including downtown los angeles santa monica catalina island wilmington san pedro pomona azusa santa barbara from the late 1800s through to the 1930s they also show industry such as the oil fields of the area the electrical distribution and also some of the entertainment sites and celebrities of the area but what's most interesting about these maps is that they show how much the los angeles area has developed in the last 150 years our first map is from 1929 but the map itself is more about the first settlers to arrive in the los angeles area you can see the butterfield stagecoach which was a passenger and mail coach that came from memphis and st louis to san francisco and would have passed through the los angeles area you can also see what's likely to be the san salvador the 100-foot galleon flagship of explorer cabrillo arriving in the bay in 1542 cabrillo was the first european explorer to the coast of california you'll also see at the top right the final surrender of los angeles to the united states january 10 1847 this is when the american troops occupied los angeles and the mexican forces retreated to what is now pasadena we're just taking a little trip north here up to san francisco and you can see the southern pacific railroad which ran from 1865 all the way to 1996. the city of los angeles was founded in 1781 by the spanish governor felipe de neve in 1821 it became a part of mexico and after the mexican-american war in 1848 the city became a part of the u.s the california central railway first rolled into los angeles in may 1887. this is a very early map of downtown los angeles and you can see how little development there was back in 1850 the population of los angeles would have been about 1600 people but it grew incredibly quickly around the time this map was made the population would have been around 50 000 people [Music] you can see there at number four is the plaza church which is one of the few things that's still there today also still there and at number eight is olvera street [Music] all that farmland is now heavily built up and there's several parking lots as well as the la fire station and the arts district [Music] roughly where you see that square yellow field is skid row the severely deprived area of downtown los angeles as the map zooms out you can see a lot of the different branches which were land grants given by the spanish and mexican governments often to retired soldiers to encourage them to stay in the area and develop it [Music] santa monica was founded by two businessmen colonel baker and senator jones who had made a fortune in mining they bought the land along the coast in the hopes of developing a port they built a wharf and a railroad but the dreams of a port city failed and the town developed naturally into a scenic beach resort this map was drawn only two years after the land was sold very few of these buildings are still here the average house price in santa monica is now 1.8 million dollars with houses in ocean avenue reaching easily to 3 million dollars you can see that the church on arizona avenue and sixth is now where the santa monica public library is that train is traveling on what is now the santa monica freeway the population of santa monica is now around 90 000 people and it's one of the most expensive parts of los angeles to live with housing expenses 300 per cent higher than the national average this is a beautiful map of avalon on santa catalina island or just catalina as it's often called ninety percent of the population on the island live in the only city which is avalon there's evidence of native american settlement as far back as 7000 bc on the island the casino is still there and is now a cinema and art gallery [Music] steam appear is gone now but pleasure pier is still there and it's called green pleasure pier they run boat trips and dive tours of it [Music] catalina is about 22 miles long and eight miles across at its greatest width the island is located about 29 miles south south west of long beach california [Music] pebbly beach road is still there and that house on wrigley road is the mount aida hotel santa catalina is part of the channel islands of california archipelago and it lies within los angeles county the golf course is still there so is the school and the bird park that road goes all the way up and the building at the top is wrigley botanical garden on one of the side panels of the map you can see some american bison which were brought to the island in 1924 for the filming of a movie and due to budget constraints they left the bison on the island instead of bringing them back and there are about 150 bison on catalina today [Music] wilmington is named after wilmington delaware which is where its founder phineas banning was born this entire area is virtually unrecognizable today it's a huge port and much of the area has been replaced with an enormous parking lot even the street names have changed canal street as you see it there is now avalon boulevard [Music] you can see the city of los angeles in the background the college buildings in the background are likely wilson college which was the precursor to the university of southern california and was the first co-ed college west of the mississippi [Music] in the lower right hand corner you can see the railroad terminus which joins san pedro and los angeles and was a huge economic boost for the [Music] area [Music] to the south of wilmington is san pedro this old map is beautiful but unfortunately it's been marked you can still see boats in the san pedro harbour with the breakwater extending out to dead man's island dead man's island was dredged away in 1928 to develop the harbour crescent avenue is still there most of the area is still residential as well much of the area around center street and fifth is built up now the area in the lower part of the map is no longer ocean and is now terminal island which is heavily developed [Music] this map of los angeles is part of the same series as san pedro and wilmington and shows the area in 1877. we start zoomed in on the old plaza the el pueblo de los angeles historical monument and our lady queen of angels catholic church two of the few landmarks that still remain in the area that's the la river in the background and the bridge is now the cesar chavez bridge with macy street now being cesar a chavez avenue [Music] this map better than any shows the incredibly fast development of los angeles over the last 150 years the cathedral that you can see there is cathedral of saint verbiana which opened in 1876 it was damaged in the 1994 northridge earthquake and is now the site of the cathedral of our lady of the angels [Music] the population of the city in this map would have been around 11 000 and the entire population of california would have been around 860 thousand whereas a mere 10 years later it would have been five times that [Music] around this time it would have been the 60th largest city in the united states whereas today it's the second [Music] [Music] pomona was the goddess of fruitful abundance in roman mythology however to say that pomona california has had its problems would be an understatement [Music] it's located in the pomona valley between the inland empire and the san gabriel valley and the population in 2010 was about 150 000 people the town was developed in about 1882 and in this map there are about 19 blocks in about 80 businesses including two banks two newspapers and four hotels [Music] in this map the population is about 2 000 land was selling at about 75 to 200 per acre you can see lots of orchards with oranges apricots peaches pears prunes olives figs guavas and vines [Music] next door to pomona is the city of azusa and this map is from 1887. most of these maps that have very little development were used as promotional tools to encourage people to move to the area you can see how little development there was in azusa at the time the population here was less than 500. the building with the spire that you see next to the railway line is now the azusa water department and those are the san gabriel mountains in the background [Music] promoters used to use the phrase azusa stands for everything from a to z in the usa but the name azusa appears to have been derived from the tongva place name asuk sagna this is a very early map showing brooklyn heights in the foreground with barely any houses this map was drawn by e.s glover who was a prolific artist and cartographer at the time [Music] the tall building in the background is the cathedral of saint vibiana which opened the year before this map was drawn in the background is the pacific ocean and the santa monica mountains you can also see the covered bridge on the la river on macy street which is now cesar chavez avenue covered wooden bridges are usually associated with the midwest although there were a few in central and northern california this is a rare example in los angeles it was raised in 1904 [Music] this beautiful color map from 1894 shows the incredible amount of development that happened in just 17 years compared to the previous map we zoom in on downtown los angeles and head south [Music] there's a strange blur on the corner of 7th and main which is where the infamous hotel cecil was to be built some 30 years later you can see most of the farmland from our earlier maps is gone we swing around north over what is the old bunker hill area which was completely demolished in the 50s orange that you see there was renamed wilshire boulevard the lake at ecco park is still very much there [Music] and that building that you see in the circle is the sisters hospital the next red building on hill street is the high school now traveling up the santa anna freeway across the la river a lot of this open area is now the university of southern california health sciences campus [Music] this area now comprises boston heights city terrace hazard wellington heights and pico gardens [Music] and the area next to the river is now mostly industrial [Music] this area is now the arts district [Music] this area around 5th and 6th street is now skid row [Music] it's worth noting that you can download all of these maps from the library of congress for free they're all in the public domain we now head north west quite a way up to the old mission at santa barbara this map is from 1898 and just before the turn of the 20th century oil was discovered at the summerland oil field and the town would have been thriving with a population of about six and a half thousand the large buildings that you see there next to the empty plot on state street would have been the arlington hotel which opened in 1876 and burned down in 1909 you can see the old race track on montecito in the distance [Music] coming back up laguna street on the side of the hill you can see what is now roosevelt elementary school and at the top of laguna street you can see the old mission from 1876 the orchards would likely have been oranges or olives [Music] this map from 1903 is wonderful but it unfortunately has some bleed from the reverse side the verso as it's called which makes it a bit difficult to read in places but it's fascinating nonetheless we start at central park which is still there today [Music] the train line is now the long beach freeway [Music] no prizes for guessing what the orchards along orange grove boulevard are you'll soon see a red star which shows the hotel maryland number one which stood on east colorado boulevard and north los robles avenue it was constructed in 1904 but burned down 10 years later [Music] coming into view now the area here is roughly where the california institute of technology now is [Music] nothing but orange groves as far as the eye can see [Music] the population of pasadena in 1900 would have been about 9 000 people yet a mere 10 years later it would have jumped up to 30 000 people and in 2000 there were about 130 000 people [Music] pasadena is famous for its colorful history and the hosting of the tournament of roses parade since 1890 and the annual rose bowl football game since 1902 that bridge goes over the arroyo circle and the structure on the hill is now roughly where you'd find the duncan irwin house which is a historic bungalow this map is one of my favorites it's incredibly detailed we start zoomed in on a curious building that has hamburgers on it on the corner of broadway and eighth which was the a hamburger and sons department store which had only been open for a year when this map was drawn with the largest department store west of chicago and is now the california broadway trade center as we head up north east you can see central park which is now pershing square and then we turn north west you can see angel's flight and we head down grand avenue [Music] this area is the old bunkers hill which has completely changed you can see the old biltmore hotel the large building opposite central park [Music] [Music] we then fly over the residential area that is west lake south and then up to west lake north crossing over orange street which is now wiltshire boulevard [Music] [Music] do [Music] as we swing back over downtown you can see the plaza at the top of your screen [Music] and chinatown to the right of it the residential area that you're looking at now is currently the los angeles county sheriff the central jail and the twin towers correctional facility and there you have it los angeles in 1909 the population would have been about 320 000 [Music] the next map is interesting because it's a view of the oil fields around los angeles in 1922 [Music] from the 1890s these oil derricks were cropping up everywhere you can see from the map just how many there are particularly in signal hill [Music] oil played a huge part in the development of los angeles early on the fields themselves were some of the most productive in history by 1930 california was producing a quarter of the world's oil output los angeles is still the largest urban oil field in the country thousands of the wells are still active and drilling still continues there are many of them in residential areas and it's a controversial topic because as the oil supply dwindles the drillers use more extreme measures to extract the oil [Music] we now jump forward in time to 1932 when the population of the city of los angeles was about 1.2 million first we zoom in on the san pedro city hall which is still there moving across you can see san pedro and wilmington which we looked at in detail earlier you can see angelis abbey memorial park which is still there today and you can also see ascot speedway the infamous racetrack which was the first race track in the us to use helmets for the drivers the occidental college is still there you can also see the breakfast club on riverside drive which is still there and which still meets every week you can see griffith park there but notably absent is the griffith park observatory which was constructed the year after this map was published the hollywood bowl there up at the top named one of the best 10 live music venues in america by rolling stone fox studios is now 20th century studios in culver city the cloverfield airport is now the santa monica airport [Music] again these maps were used primarily as promotion for tourism and not really as a means of navigation i'm not quite sure what a pleasure fishing barge is [Music] this is the edison electrical map which i thought was interesting because it's quite rare and shows the edison electrical service in los angeles in 1935. it would have been used for promoting edison's utility services in southern california shows the system of electrical lines to the edison building and the district offices in los angeles and indicated the position of hydroelectric plants substations steam plants and district offices it also highlights the important events about electricity and edison's company in the banners [Music] it also gives you a good indication of just how much development they'd been in los angeles in the last 30 years and all the areas covered by electricity and we're back at the edison building [Music] starland is a bit of a fun map from 1937 showing the residences of famous angelinos we start zoomed in on sebastian's cotton club nightclub on the corner of national and washington which obviously takes its name from the famous nightclub in harlem louis armstrong was known to perform there regularly mickey mouse playing polo [Music] you then see all the celebrity houses in beverly hills [Music] such as marlena dietrich's charlie chaplin studios on sunset in la brea is now the jim henson company lot [Music] the carthage circle was a theater on wiltshire boulevard and san vicente that opened in 1926 it was demolished in 1969 and replaced with an office building the santa monica gun club and possibly what could be clark gable who shot clay pigeons there often with possibly robert stack who co-owned it [Music] we're now back at the beach and you can see the palisades beach road one of america's most exclusive streets right on the beach dubbed the american riviera marion davies had a hundred room georgian revival palace there her famous beach house for wild parties we've reached the final map and if you've made it this far then i thank you [Music] this is the semi-tropic homestead map looking south in 1894 i put this one last so that you can go back and see just how much development there's been over the last 150 years [Music] the population here would be about 100 000 in the city of los angeles but just 30 years later it would be 10 times that [Music] in 1850 the population of los angeles county would have been about three and a half thousand people today it's about 10 million and it's the most populous county in the united states it has a population greater than 41 of the states in the u.s there are 81 incorporated cities and it has an area larger than delaware and rhode island combined but this map is only 120 years old and you can also see how much open space there was at the time huge orange groves wide open spaces and only a few thousand people looking for somewhere to start a new life fortunes made and lost births and deaths and endless trains from the east i find these maps amazing because they show life and they show people and they remind us how far we've come we all have a responsibility to try to be good to each other because every one of us is just a house on a map but together we're a community a village a town a city and only by combining our incredibly diverse cultures can we achieve a common goal of a good life for everyone [Music] los angeles is a microcosm of life in the united states full of the intoxicating energy of new beginnings of dreams made and broken but one thing's for sure the people have and the city of angels has spread its wings [Music] thanks for watching and i wish you the [Music] best [Music] you

Channel: Yestervid

Views: 267,429

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Id: 2gxDcelU_AA

Length: 38min 55sec (2335 seconds)

Published: Wed May 26 2021