Timeline

1880

CAMPUS DIVERSITY

The University of Southern California opens with 53 students on land donated by a Protestant horticulturist, a German Jewish banker and an Irish Catholic former governor.

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1895

MINI MASS TRANSIT

The region’s first interurban rail line, between L.A. and Pasadena, is launched by an outfit that later becomes the Pacific Electric Railway, operator of the area’s legendary Red Cars.

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1901

TO THE HEAVENS

The Angels Flight funicular begins carrying passengers up and down a steep grade from 3rd and Hill streets to Bunker Hill. It’s called the “Shortest Railway in the World.”

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1910

DEADLY DYNAMITE

A bomb destroys The Times building at 1st and Broadway, killing 20 employees. Clarence Darrow defends the McNamara brothers, union activists who later plead guilty.

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1913

THIRST QUENCHED

A band plays “America” at a ceremony at the Cascades near the San Fernando Reservoir celebrating the arrival of water from the Owens Valley via the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

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1921

BLACK GOLD

A Shell Oil Co. drilling rig sets off a gusher on Signal Hill in the third major find in the region in less than a year. The Signal Hill field becomes one of the most productive in the U.S.

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1923

ICONIC LANDMARK

Thirteen 50-foot-tall letters are erected on Mt. Lee to promote a nearby housing development. In 1949, the last four letters are removed so that the sign says, simply, Hollywood.

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1928

CANYON DISASTER

The concrete wall of the St. Francis Dam in San Francisquito Canyon crumples, unleashing 12 billion gallons of water that rush toward the ocean and claim more than 400 lives.

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1928

ILLUMINATED

In the White House, President Calvin Coolidge pushes down on a telegraph switch that lights the beacon atop Los Angeles’ 452-foot-tall City Hall for the first time.

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1929

BRUINS’ NEW HOME

Classes begin on UCLA’s Westwood Village campus for 5,500 students. When the school’s name was Southern Branch of the University of California, it was on Vermont Avenue.

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1930

PEOPLE EXPLOSION

The population of L.A. hits 1,238,048, a 114% increase from 1920. The U.S. Census Bureau says Los Angeles added more residents in the decade than any city in the world.

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1931

SHOWTIME

Crews complete work on the lavish $1.5- million Los Angeles Theatre on Broadway, which promoters claim is the most expensive movie palace, on a per-seat basis, ever built.

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1932

X OLYMPIAD

Vice President Charles Curtis presses a button near his seat in the Tribune of Honor at the Coliseum to fire up the torch at the opening ceremonies of the Summer Games.

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1933

A BIG ONE

The Long Beach earthquake erupts along the Newport-Inglewood fault zone, killing 115. Scores of unreinforced masonry buildings collapse, spurring a building code overhaul.

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1939

PUTTING ON THE DOG

Operating from a pushcart on La Brea near Melrose, the Pink family begins selling its all-beef hot dogs, offering as garnishes relish, mustard, tomato, lettuce, onions and thick chili.

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1941

WWII AT HOME

A blackout is ordered after reports (which prove false) of enemy planes. In the “Battle of Los Angeles” two months later, there’s panic when radar picks up unidentified objects.

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1942

THE INTERNMENT

FDR signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forced relocation of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans. Many from L.A. are sent to the Manzanar War Relocation Center.

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1942

HIS TOUR OF DUTY

Clark Gable enlists after his wife, Carole Lombard, dies in a plane crash; he flies five combat missions, is awarded two medals and helps produce a recruitment film.

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1943

ZOOT SUIT RIOTS

Months of racial tension detonate when white servicemen attack anyone they see wearing the unique suits--with wide shoulders, narrow waists, loose pants-- favored by Latinos.

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1944

AS TIME GOES BY

“Casablanca” wins three Oscars, for best picture, director and screenplay, at the 16th Academy Awards, which is hosted by Jack Benny at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

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1951

RED SCARE

A second round of House Un-American Activities Committee hearings starts in L.A., four years after hearings in Washington lead to blacklisting, and prison for the Hollywood Ten.

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1955

ONE OF MANY

When the ozone count in Pasadena hits a record .65, the Air Pollution Control District issues a “smog red” alert for the L.A. metro area. The alert ends after 90 minutes.

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1956

STACK OF VINYL

Touted as the world’s first circular office building, Capitol Records Tower, 13 stories tall and earthquake-resistant, is built near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine.

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1958

BIG BLASTOFF

Explorer I, developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is the first satellite launched by the U.S., sent into orbit almost four months after the Soviets unleashed Sputnik.

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1958

FINALLY, PLAY BALL

The Dodgers, newly arrived in L.A. from Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, bring professional baseball to the Coliseum, drawing a huge crowd and beating the Giants 6-5.

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1960

THE NEXT PRESIDENT

Delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles nominate John F. Kennedy, and an estimated 50,000 people listen to his acceptance speech at the Coliseum.

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1961

EXTRATERRESTRIAL

The Theme Building, 900 tons of structural steel that look like a flying saucer with spider legs, opens as a tony restaurant on the grounds of Los Angeles International Airport.

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1964

FAB 4 DROWNED OUT

After ticket sales result in near riots, the Beatles play for 30 minutes at the Hollywood Bowl for hysterical fans who make so much noise that the mop tops can hardly be heard.

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1964

HARMONIOUS

Zubin Mehta conducts the L.A. Philharmonic in Strauss’ “Fanfare” and a Beethoven violin concerto at the opening of the Music Center’s Pavilion, later named for Dorothy Chandler.

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1965

WATTS ERUPTS

National Guardsmen are called in to aid police officers as riots fueled by long-standing frustration over racism consume South L.A.; 34 people die in nearly a week of violence.

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1969

HELTER SKELTER

In Benedict Canyon and Los Feliz, seven people, including actress Sharon Tate, are savagely murdered; Charles Manson and members of his “family” are later arrested.

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1970

DEATH IN EAST L.A.

An anti-Vietnam War protest turns violent and three people die, including reporter Ruben Salazar, who is killed by a tear gas canister shot by a sheriff’s deputy into a bar.

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1971

ANOTHER BIG ONE

Bridges give way, hospitals are destroyed and 65 people die in the Sylmar earthquake. The Van Norman Dam is damaged, and 80,000 San Fernando Valley residents are evacuated.

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1973

FIRST BLACK MAYOR

Tom Bradley, whose grandparents were slaves and whose parents were sharecroppers, defeats incumbent Sam Yorty and goes on to serve for a record 20 years.

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1974

SHOOTOUT

Six members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, which kidnapped Patricia Hearst, die in a gun battle with police and a fire at their L.A. safe house, which burns to the ground on live TV.

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1978

THE TAX REVOLT

Proposition 13, co-authored by one-time L.A. mayoral hopeful Howard Jarvis, wins 67% of the vote in L.A. County, 65% statewide, and rolls back property taxes.

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1980

MAGIC ACT

Earvin Johnson Jr. is the first rookie to win the NBA Finals MVP award, for his performance in the series-clinching sixth game between the Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers.

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1983

INTERIM ART

With its Grand Avenue home under construction, MOCA begins staging shows at the Temporary Contemporary, a former hardware store, city warehouse and police car garage.

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1984

XXIII OLYMPIAD

Despite a boycott led by the Soviet Union, a record 140 countries send 6,829 athletes to compete in the Summer Games in Los Angeles. The U.S. wins the most gold medals: 83.

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1986

BURNING BOOKS

Arson is responsible for two fires that break out in a span of five months at the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles, destroying more than 350,000 books and damaging 700,000.

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1988

WRITE-OFF

A groundbreaking five-month strike by the Writers Guild of America all but shuts down production in Hollywood, and television networks have to push back their fall lineups.

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1990

MILLIONS OF PEOPLE

The population of L.A. County hits 8.9 million, and Santa Ana outstrips Anaheim as Orange County’s most populous city. The census says the state has nearly 30 million residents.

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1992

VIDEO’S LEGACY

One of the deadliest civil disturbances in U.S. history follows the acquittal of four white police officers on most charges in the Rodney G. King beating trial; 54 lives are lost.

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1994

IF IT DOESN’T FIT

Former football star O. J. Simpson, charged in the murders of his ex-wife and her friend, hires Johnnie Cochran and other high-profile lawyers; he is found not guilty 474 days later.

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2002

THE COMEBACK

The Anaheim Angels win the World Series, rallying from a 5-0 deficit in Game 6 to extend the series to seven games and overcome the San Francisco Giants, 4 games to 3.

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2003

HARMONIOUS II

Fireworks and three nights of partying inaugurate Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, which becomes the newest home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.