Tell me what L.A. was like back in the 1950's/1960's (Los Angeles: crime, home)

[majoun]

Originally Posted by SoCal35

1) I thought the same thing for years...

2) Interesting...I grew up in the valley and did NOT know that. Granted I was in diapers in 1968 so would have missed out on that anyhow. It must have come and left there pretty fast.

I didn't know about Ventura Blvd. in Studio City being a hippie hangout either until I read that book. It makes sense in a way that the action would drift from the Strip to the next "main drag" directly over the hill.

Pitchess called together a meeting of law enforcement officers from throughout the county and ordered their departments to crack down just as the Sheriff's Department were doing if the book is to be believed.

[SoCal35]

Originally Posted by majoun

I didn't know about Ventura Blvd. in Studio City being a hippie hangout either until I read that book. It makes sense in a way that the action would drift from the Strip to the next "main drag" directly over the hill.

Pitchess called together a meeting of law enforcement officers from throughout the county and ordered their departments to crack down just as the Sheriff's Department were doing if the book is to be believed.

Yes..and about 10 or so years later the LAPD under the leadership of Darryl Gates was quite fond of shutting down subversive punk shows.

Former LAPD Police Chief Daryl Gates: Dead | La Figa

[RedJacket]

YouTube - Traveltalks - 1935 Los Angeles "Wonder City of the West"

[SoCal35]

Here's a link to a recounting of the Elk's Lodge riot in 1979. According to interviews (see link) of people who were there, the LAPD came crashing in in full riot gear and began smashing heads. Elk's Lodge was near McArthur Park and that night in 1979 X was supposed to take the stage but never did b/c the LAPD broke up the show.

We got the neutron bomb: the untold ... - Google Books

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by majoun

While he was mayor during most of the time I was in elementary school, I was too young to really make a judgment, except for the adults I was in contact with really hating him, and regarding him as an embarrassment.

Domenic Priore is on the political left in general (his book's very sympathetic to the '60s radical movements), which is why his view of Yorty is a surprise. Rather than the villain or "corrupt bastard" (the epithet I often heard adults say about Yorty as a kid) he's usually depicted as, Priore paints Yorty out to be more of a somewhat well-intentioned failure, a man who was not a bad person but simply not up to facing the responsibilities he had and the challenges he was faced with. Kind of like the Jimmy Carter of Los Angeles mayors . He's much more negative towards the supes (who have more power than an L.A. mayor, even more so back then under the old city charter - he especially singles out a man I'd never heard of, Supervisor Ernest Debs, as being an especially negative force) and Sheriff Pitchess.

Thanks for the info. At the time we were supporting him we were very young: mid 20s and very conservative (more so than now, believe it or not) but I don't think we really understood too much about what was really going on. I will say, until the last 20 years young people didn't understand politics, but the we did always vote. Today, kids are better informed.

As for the sups, that much we did know. Hubby was a bureau reporter for a major newspaper. I know what perks we got from the sups. I will leave it at that.

Again, thanks for the info.

Nita

[urbanjunglist]

Good shot - I am curious, exactly where is this shot taken from, and which direction does it face?

Maybe for another thread... but why does it seem like I've heard people talk down on the 'valley'... it looks like a really nice area. Could be just stigma, or too much TV... but I am not from LA

Originally Posted by happ

Here's what the San Fernando Valley looks like now [no more smog

[majoun]

Originally Posted by jlawn

Good shot - I am curious, exactly where is this shot taken from, and which direction does it face?

Maybe for another thread... but why does it seem like I've heard people talk down on the 'valley'... it looks like a really nice area.

Neighborhood rivalries existed even when the Valley was much nicer than it is today. There was a definite stigma to being a "Val" on the west side. Even the nice parts of the Valley were regarded as inferior to the nice areas across the hill. For example, Laurel Canyon on the Valley side (Studio City) was and is cheaper than Laurel Canyon on the L.A. side (West Hollywood Hills).

Much of the Valley took a major downward slide due to the closing of the GM plant, the Lockheed plant, and cutbacks in studio jobs. When the high paying blue collar jobs left, many Valley neighborhoods went to crap. Functional working class neighborhoods turned into ghettos. The Northridge earthquake accelerated this.

Could be just stigma, or too much TV... but I am not from LA [/quote]

The Valley still has some nice and OK areas in the southern part of the Valley, and Burbank has remained nice because it is an independent city with its own police force and school district, whereas most of the Valley is under LAPD and LAUSD jurisdiction and suffers for that.

FYI, the L.A. CityData forum has a disproportionate amount of Valley people.

[Rafacha]

In the early 50's we came to Boyle Heights, which was still a Jewish neighborhood. Automobiles were everywhere but so where pedestrians. Downtown Los Angeles was very much a metropolitan city with big department stores like Bullock's, May Co., and Broadway. At Christmas time they decorated their windows and my parents would take us to see them. It was a great treat for us kids. My mother shopped for produce at the Grand Central market every Saturday. We went to the great movie houses on Broadway to see first run films. L.A. was indeed a wonderful place and when Disneyland opened we thought we were truly in heaven!

[VLWH]

Well....Justin beiber, britney spears, lindsey lohan and paris hilton weren't born yet, in other words....fifties and sixties were great.

[rack of lamb]

LA was paradise and fun with no homeless people, very few thugs and minority being a true minority. It was clean with some traffic and still with quite a few nasty smoggy days. The hispanics and asians stayed near downtown and pretty much kept away from Hollywood except for tourists. The beaches were clean and mostly patronized by caucasion and very few african-americans and hispanics. The crime rate was somewhat lower than today: 120 homicides in the city of 2.3 million in 1957 vs 348 in the city of 3.8 today. However, there were more rapes and robberies in 1957 than today. There were more blondes like Jane Mansfield and Marilynn Monroe than today. Mid-Wilshire and Palm were cool neighborhoods for weekend barbeque with cool friends, not a minority enclave. Oh, those were the days!