Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
Flood damage on Tujunga Wash at Magnolia Avenue in North Hollywood in 1938. All photos: LA City Archives.
The Los Angeles City Historical Society has put a growing database online of selected photographs from the Los Angeles City Archives. There's more than 600 images online now, and the project's lead historian, author Anna Sklar, tells me there are a lot more photos coming. The ones that you should be sure not to miss come from the city engineering department, capturing events from the past such as the 1938 flooding that inundated a big swath of the city and led to the concrete channeling of the Los Angeles River.
The mission of the Los Angeles City Historical Society is to research, study and disseminate knowledge of the rich and diverse multicultural history of the city of Los Angeles; to serve as a resource of historical information; and to assist in the preservation of the city's historic records.
The Society has earned a record of research and publication over the years, having sponsored and published two major academic reference works on Los Angeles history. Also, LACHS supports research for publication by others, as demonstrated in the recent appearance of a new book on the city's sewerage system. Each of these projects is described on our publications page, and all of them have benefitted from the assistance and generosity of the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, including this website.
1st Street bridge over the Los Angeles River that stood in the 1890s.
New 1st Street bridge over the river after completion in 1929.
Overcrowded streetcar in 1919 at 10th Street (now Olympic Blvd.) and Vermont.
Men building a storm drain project near the Baldwin Hills during the Depression.
