WPA PROJECTS

Of the hundreds of projects created in Southern California during the Depression by the WPA --Works Progress (later Projects) Administration--more than 165 survive, the handiwork of then-jobless artists, sculptors, architects and builders. Here are a few:

1. POLYTECHNIC HIGH SCHOOL

* 1600 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach

Long Beach has a rich heritage of WPA art projects, largely because many of the city’s public buildings were seriously damaged in a 1933 earthquake and were rebuilt during the years when the WPA was at its height. The government ordered that its 14 public art projects reflect themes from the Long Beach community. Ten of those remain, including a mural in muted browns and blues in the stairwell at Poly High School. By Jean Swiggett and Ivan Bartlett, it depicts dockworkers unloading crates of fruit, sailors standing with folded arms, surfers at the beach and women working in a fish cannery.

2. U.S. NAVAL and MARINE RESERVE TRAINING CENTER

* 1700 Stadium Way, Los Angeles

This historic site in Chavez Ravine was once known as the “pesthouse” because smallpox victims were confined there until the 1920s. It was rebuilt in Deco-Moderne style typical of public buildings of the 1930s: streamlined, smooth surfaces; spare and abstract ornamentation, and monument-like stone steps leading to an imposing white portico supported by huge stone pillars.

3. MOSAIC WALL

* Centinela Park, Redondo Boulevard and Florence Avenue in Inglewood

A mosaic wall eight feet high and 240 feet long stands at the back entrance to Centinela Park. The 53-year-old work by WPA artist Helen Lundeberg depicts the development of transportation, from oxcarts to streetcars to trains and airplanes.

4. HOLLYWOOD BOWL FOUNTAIN

* 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood

A concrete figure of a kneeling woman playing a harp atop an Art Deco-inspired fountain greets motorists negotiating Cahuenga Pass in front of the Hollywood Bowl. Down the street are more examples of Art Deco and Moderne styles, blended into the WPA-built science and liberal arts buildings of Hollywood High School, 1521 N. Highland Ave.

5. BURBANK POST OFFICE

* 135 E. Olive Ave., Burbank

The Los Angeles area has the nation’s second-largest concentration of WPA art, after New York City. This postal branch is graced by a two-panel mural saluting the city’s most famous industries--filmmaking and aeronautics. Titled “People of Burbank,” the 1940 work by Barse Miller fits in with the building’s tile and wrought-iron Spanish mission motif.

6. GRIFFITH PARK CLUBHOUSE

* Griffith Drive, Los Angeles

On Oct. 3, 1933, tragedy struck in the Mineral Wells area of Griffith Park. More than 1,500 public-relief workers in the park came rushing to put out a brush fire. Some climbed down into the steep canyon to fight the blaze, but having no firefighting experience, 29 of the workers were engulfed by fire and died. Two years later the WPA rebuilt the clubhouse that had burned in the fire.

7. WILLIAM D. DAVIES MEMORIAL BUILDING

* 568 E. Mt. Curve Ave., Altadena

The heavy stones that form the building’s base and massive fireplaces were hauled from the nearby arroyo by mule teams and unemployed Altadenans in the 1930s to construct this community building and auditorium. The building, which was untouched by recent fires, was named for a member of the Theater Americana who lobbied for its construction. For almost 60 years, the nonprofit theatrical group has offered this place for playwrights to have their works produced.

8. ARCADIA PARK AND GOLF COURSE

* 405 South Santa Anita Ave., Arcadia

During World War I, this site was known as Ross Field, a U.S. balloon training school for more than 3,500 military personnel. WPA workers transformed the area into a park and golf course. Before opening day Oct. 12, 1938, the WPA crew christened each golf hole: The fifth is “Railroad” because it paralleled the Pacific Electric tracks; the 11th is “Wind” because the prevailing wind blows in players’ faces, and the 16th is “Clubhouse Turn” because it was the first turn on pioneer Lucky Baldwin’s original racetrack site. A plaque paying tribute to the WPA has been placed in storage because park personnel say they cannot find the right place to display it.