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1542: Explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo christens San Pedro Bay "La Bahia de la Fumos" — Bay of Smokes — for the way smoke from Indians' fires hug the ground.
1868: The L.A. area's 5,000 residents are perplexed by "an atmosphere ... so filled with smoke as to confine the vision within a small circumference."
1901: An episode of dirty air is mistaken for an eclipse of the sun.
1905: First recorded use of the word "smog," by physician Harold A. des Voeux, to describe London's bad air.
July 26, 1943: After a series of bad-air episodes, visibility in downtown L.A. is reduced to less than three blocks.
1950s: Smudge pots (fires used to keep fruit trees warm at night) are banned.
1955: Highest ozone level — 0.68 parts per million in downtown Los Angeles — reported in the Southland.
1956: The first air-quality monitoring stations are established; today the Air Quality Management District has 35.
1958: Backyard incinerators are banned.
1966: California is the first in the nation to set auto emission standards.
1974 Creation of Stage 1 (bad), 2 (worse) and 3 (gasp!) smog alert system.
1975: South Coast Air Basin has 118 Stage 1 smog alerts. Catalytic converters are required on new cars sold in California.
1977: The South Coast Air Quality Management District, or SCAQMD, is formed; it now regulates air quality in 10,743 square miles populated by more than 16 million. 1995: The South Coast air basin has 14 Stage 1 smog alerts.
1999, early 2000s: Ozone levels in Houston are worse than L.A's for several years running. L.A. recovers, and holds, its lead.
2006: The South Coast air basin has had no Stage 1 smog alerts since 2003, no Stage 2's since 1988, no Stage 3's since 1974.
Sources: SCAQMD, California Air Resources Board, "Don't Breathe the Air" by Scott Dewey, Times research
1868: The L.A. area's 5,000 residents are perplexed by "an atmosphere ... so filled with smoke as to confine the vision within a small circumference."
1901: An episode of dirty air is mistaken for an eclipse of the sun.
1905: First recorded use of the word "smog," by physician Harold A. des Voeux, to describe London's bad air.
July 26, 1943: After a series of bad-air episodes, visibility in downtown L.A. is reduced to less than three blocks.
1950s: Smudge pots (fires used to keep fruit trees warm at night) are banned.
1955: Highest ozone level — 0.68 parts per million in downtown Los Angeles — reported in the Southland.
1956: The first air-quality monitoring stations are established; today the Air Quality Management District has 35.
1958: Backyard incinerators are banned.
1966: California is the first in the nation to set auto emission standards.
1974 Creation of Stage 1 (bad), 2 (worse) and 3 (gasp!) smog alert system.
1975: South Coast Air Basin has 118 Stage 1 smog alerts. Catalytic converters are required on new cars sold in California.
1977: The South Coast Air Quality Management District, or SCAQMD, is formed; it now regulates air quality in 10,743 square miles populated by more than 16 million. 1995: The South Coast air basin has 14 Stage 1 smog alerts.
1999, early 2000s: Ozone levels in Houston are worse than L.A's for several years running. L.A. recovers, and holds, its lead.
2006: The South Coast air basin has had no Stage 1 smog alerts since 2003, no Stage 2's since 1988, no Stage 3's since 1974.
Sources: SCAQMD, California Air Resources Board, "Don't Breathe the Air" by Scott Dewey, Times research
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