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Los Angeles in the 1920s was a reactionary period. There was a cheap labor movement, a boom in Hollywood's major film studios, as well as an oil boom, and issues of racism to contend with. John Clinton Porter, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, was elected mayor in 1929. It was a time of economic and demographic change, when the city's population more than doubled in size (from 577,000 in 1920 to over 1.2 million in 1929). In the mid decade, the immigration of Mexican families earned the city the nickname of the "Mexican capital" of the United States, with the Mexican population tripling from 1920 (33,644) to 1930 (97,116). Extensive modernization took place in 1920s, characterized by the vast sprawl into the suburbs, and the formation of a western business and financial center. Automobile usage in the city increased dramatically. ==Overview== In 1919, the community living in the downtown area formed 50% of the population of Los Angeles, and mostly Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Very few people lived in the hills and the suburbs were sparsely populated. As a city, it was ranked 17th in the list of cities in the US with hardly any industrial development, with the petroleum industry in its infancy. However, the only redeeming feature was the Hollywood film industry which dominated the world with its silent movie productions. A dramatic change took place over the decade, and in 1929, with the Great Depression, the city became a hub of Mexican immigrants and blacks, resulting in some of expansion and encroachment of the San Fernando Valley to its north and to the San Pedro Harbor in the south. The population was a cosmopolitan mixture of Caucasians, Protestants, Blacks (then the second largest group after Baltimore), Jews, Armenians, Italians, and Russians. Internal mass migration also took place when 2 million Americans migrated to California, of which 1.2 million settled in Los Angeles. There were no slums in spite of influx of a large migrant population. The city's population exploded from 102,000 at the turn of the century, to 577,000 in 1920, and over 1.2 million in 1929. Propelled by the boom, in 1920s, it became the fifth largest city in the US. Petroleum became a major industry with extractions planned from the large reserves of Huntington Beach, Long Beach and Santa Fe Springs. Manufacturing industries boomed and it became the aviation capital of the US and occupied the ninth position among the industrial cities of the country. Eight major Hollywood studios produced 90% of all major movies and also controlled all movie halls and held full film distribution rights. The city also got the nickname of "Emerald City of Los Angeles". Los Angeles Port became the second busiest deep water port and the banking sector became very large. As the emergent economy, fueled by oil and Hollywood real estate boomed, though with a growth fluctuation during 1924-25, one third of the homes in Los Angeles were privately owned by home owners, unlike other major cities in the US where the housing was largely rented. During the process of development of the city the largest fossil area was found in North America, with prehistoric animals skeletons buried in tar pits (''brea'' in Spanish) (leakage sulphor from the ground), was found during the expansion phase of the city in the 1920. This area located on the Rancho La Brea, which was in the process of development was cordoned off and twelve city block were converted into the La Brea Tar Pits and designated as a county animal fossil area. Over the years more archeological finds were discovered by the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. These are prominent exhibits in the museum. The finds on display consisted of mammals, saber-toothed cats, the giant ground sloth, California lion (of more than 1000 lbs), ground stork and golden eagle (800 numbers) and many more of Pleistocene age. Skeleton of only one human that of a woman was found and is on display in the museum under the title La Brea Woman. In the 1920s, though anti-Semitism persisted, the Jews prospered in Los Angeles, were Americanized and thus Yiddish Los Angeles came to be an established feature, as against the decline of the Chinese establishment. However, China Town remained a gambling den and a red-light area. In contrast, the Japanese presence increased with recorded population of 35,000 Japanese in Los Angeles County by 1930. The American-Mexican population also tripled in the period 1920-30 from 33,644 to 97,116. The rise of the black population during this period was moderate and went up from 15,579 to 38,894. The famous Hollywood Boulevard was the main road of the Hollywood district of Los Angeles on account of the Walk of Fame. Sunset Boulevard added to the glamorous age of the Hollywood from the 1920s (continues to this day) and the Hollywood Hills in the backdrop, became the residential complex of the rich and famous of the Hollywood film industry. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Los Angeles in the 1920s」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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