Click2Flicks - Black Dahlia - LOS ANGELES in the 40s - Chapter 3

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>THE BLACK DAHLIA</p> <p><font size=4>CHAPTER 3 - LOS ANGELES in the 40s</p></b></font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">In 1908, when the new "<a href="http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/hollywood_history.cfm#rise" target="_blank"><b>film industry</b></a>" began to put roots into California soil, land was cheap and plentiful. <a href="http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/faculty/hodgson/courses/city/LosAngeles/Early_images/laviews.html" target="_blank"><b>Early Los Angeles</b></a>, the "city of angels," had changed and was no longer a <a href="http://www.cityofla.org/ELP/hisnfo.htm" target="_blank"><b>small farming town</b></a>.</p> <p>By 1912, the first section of the "<a href="http://www.portoflosangeles.org/about_history.htm" target="_blank"><b>Port of Los Angeles</b></a>" was ready - just in time for the 1914 <a target="_blank" href="http://www.canalmuseum.com/photos/panamacanalphoto042.htm"><b>opening</b></a> of the <a target="_blank" href="images/panama_canal_map.jpg"><b>Panama Canal</b></a>. (Be sure to click on the "<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/tr/panama.html" target="_blank"><b>animation</b></a>" to see how ships pass through the canal’s locks). LA became the closest port to the new canal.</p> <p>As Los Angeles grew, and "Hollywood culture" took hold, the city needed more roads and workers. The "Great Depression" helped to fill that need as many <a href="http://www.awesomestories.com/history/great_depression/great_depression_ch2.htm" target="_blank"><b>jobless</b></a>, <a href="http://www.awesomestories.com/history/great_depression/great_depression_ch3.htm" target="_blank"><b>displaced</b></a> people moved to California.</p> <p>How did Los Angeles appear during those years? USC’s "<a href="http://digarc.usc.edu:8089/cispubsearch/" target="_blank"><b>Digital Archive</b></a>" helps to answer that question:</p><ul> <li>A <a href="http://docu2.usc.edu/webcache/chs/production/80/0f/30/CHS-7027cis_1024_lres.jpg" target="_blank"><b>1925 panoramic view</b></a> of Hollywood, looking north on Vine from Clinton Street, depicts the famous sign. At the time, it said "Hollywoodland."</li><br><br> <li>By 1926, there was a <a target="_blank" href="images/bridge_ayyoro.jpg"><b>bridge over the Arroyo Seco</b></a> ("dry stream") Canyon in Pasadena.</li><br><br> <li>The Arroyo Seco, along a section of <a href="http://docu2.usc.edu/webcache/acsc/production/80/03/d0/AAA-NG-7774cis_1024_lres.jpg" target="_blank"><b>future parkway</b></a>, in 1936 Pasadena.</li><br><br> <li>Safety measures, in 1942, were different than they are today. Here, <a href="http://docu2.usc.edu/webcache/acsc/production/80/03/d0/AAA-NG-5444-Ecis_1024_lres.jpg" target="_blank"><b>road barriers</b></a> on Arroyo Seco Parkway help to prevent motorists from going the wrong way.</li><br><br> <li>A 1946 <a target="_blank" href="images/view_Sepulveda.jpg"><b>view from Sepulveda</b></a>, about one-half mile west of Sunset Boulevard.</li><br><br> <li>People <a href="http://docu2.usc.edu/webcache/chs/production/80/0f/56/CHS-33239cis_1024_lres.jpg" target="_blank"><b>rented boats</b></a>, in 1947, at LA’s Westlake Park (later named "<a target="_blank" href="images/macarthur_park.jpg"><b>MacArthur Park</b></a>" and made famous in a <a href="http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1875" target="_blank"><b>song</b></a>, of the same name, <a target="_blank" href="images/recorded_by.jpg"><b>recorded by</b></a> Richard <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2361801.stm" target="_blank"><b>Harris</b></a>).</li><br><br> <li>A Los Angeles <a href="http://docu2.usc.edu/webcache/acsc/production/80/03/e1/AAA-NG-6067cis_1024_lres.jpg" target="_blank"><b>gas station</b></a>, as it appeared on Jefferson Avenue, in 1947.</li><br><br> <li>By 1948, <a target="_blank" href="images/five_traffic.jpg"><b>5 o’clock traffic</b></a> - on Arroyo Seco Parkway - provides a mere foretaste of future LA-road congestion.</li><br><br> <li>In 1956, California had its <a target="_blank" href="images/first_hydroelectric_plant.jpg"><b>first hydroelectric plant</b></a> (at Pomona).</li></ul> <p align="justify">In late 1946, Elizabeth Short moved to the Los Angeles area. In one of her last letters, she told her family she was about to realize a lifelong dream. She was going get a screen test.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="2"><a href="black_dahlia_ch2.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>     <a href="black_dahlia_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>    <a href="black_dahlia_ch4.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>