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From the Archives: Taking protective measures for 1979’s smog siege

June 29, 1979: Sera Segal-Alsberg wears a mask designed to filter out airborne particles during a Los Angeles smog alert.
June 29, 1979: Sera Segal-Alsberg wears a mask designed to filter out airborne particles during a Los Angeles smog alert.
(Boris Yaro / Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles Times staff photographer Boris Yaro photographed Sera Segal-Alsberg on Crescent Heights Boulevard in West Hollywood in 1979. Segal-Alsberg, an artist-instructor, was en route to teach a class at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

In late June of that year, Los Angeles suffered several days of second-stage ozone alerts. A June 30, 1979, Los Angeles Times article reported that: “Emergency smog plans requiring 2,750 companies to form employee carpools and cut emissons 20% were called into action.”

This post was originally published Aug. 14, 2013.

See more from the Los Angeles Times archives here

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