20th Century Los Angeles: Power, Promotion, and Social Conflict

All great cities have erased communities and hidden great crimes. Los Angeles is no exception. Only the way it forgets is exceptional. From the thirties on, much of the center metropolitan area, from South Central L.A. to Burbank, from East Los Angeles to Hollywood, was utterly refashioned, even demolished, then "forgotten." Many Angelinos will announce, some proudly, that they have not visited much of this area for up to twenty years. It has become the lost sanctum of the city, the other Los Angeles.

A new financial district was built at its center. Phantom poverty developed in surrounding areas. Despite a new symphony hall and museum, the economic and cultural life of the city emigrated elsewhere. Civic leaders sponsored its demise, and at the same time, tried to salvage and rebuild. The ambivalence and cross purposes make for a drama that is both tragic and a bit comical: a mix of racism, classism, long-term mistakes and short-term profit. Good intentions went sour. Cruel intentions were camouflaged. In short, to alter a phrase from a Preston Sturges movie (The Great McGinty), L.A. is like any other city, only more so.

This is a selected series of essays which concentrates on features of this hidden Los Angeles: minority politics and institutions whose role has tended to be hidden, such as police, promotion, planning, and organized crime. A few essential questions will repeat as models for further discussion. For example, on the street level, how have ethnic minorities "adjusted" to a culture dominated by white values and institutions? How did the "erasure" of the older districts take place, over the course of this century, and what has it left for the city to tackle today? The sum of these adds up to a selective history only, pointing toward what should be done next, to help tum Los Angeles away from policies of neglect toward a public life that engages its contradictions directly. Very few answers will be proposed here, if any--only a critical perspective on the contradictions themselves.

Los Angeles is entering a new epoch, and is being forced to reexamine its priorities, even the fantasies it promotes. This can only be accomplished on a firm footing, with a carefully documented, humanistic base of information, filled by more than broad statistics or glossy media hyperbole.

The need for a revised image of the city has motivated all the essays here, each written specifically for this project. Six of the essays evolved directly out of a 1986 public lecture series entitled "Beneath the Myths: A Social History of Los Angeles." In those lectures, specialists presented historical information they felt the city needed to confront, in its political life, in its culture, even in its films. This book tries to enrich that survey. We are convinced that L.A. should not be seen simply as "the greatest exception," but rather as a national model for studying urban life in the coming century.

The big earthquake has already hit Los Angeles. The city has been reshuffled by new waves of immigration and by a new world economy. Consumerist fantasies will not camouflage how power itself operates-in business, politics, and communities. Problems that were "erased" decades ago have reemerged, reminding us that L.A. cannot be the great exception, nor does it benefit by trying to be.

Though all the essays deal with parallel issues, we have essentially divided the book into two sections. One concentrates on the first half of the century, emphasizing promotion and ethnicity. The other concentrates on Los Angeles since World War Two, analyzing how power has been organized and exercised by public and private groups as well as communities.

As noted above, the idea for this book grew out of a series of lectures entitled "Beneath the Myths: A Social History of Los Angeles" sponsored by Beyond Baroque (Venice, California), with funding from the California Council for the Humanities. Once the essays were in place by the fall of 1989, the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles, thoughtfully provided financial support to help see them into print. Our publisher Richard Dean Burns shepherded the essays through the various stages of preparation. Finally, we thank our families for understanding that a book like this demands a great deal of time and work that is not always anticipated, particularly the long editorial meetings and numerous telephone calls.

Reviewer's Comments

Los Angeles Times -

"The book was published at an opportune time. Los Angeles is creating another myth: prosperous, happy, multiethnic, multicultural capital of the booming Pacific Rim. The reality is different. Areas of Third World Poverty blight the prosperity. There's plenty of tension in our rich new mix of ethnic groups ... The book is a well needed dose of realism to mark the region's entrance into the many-cultured society of the Pacific Rim. The message of the essays is that Los Angeles residents, and policy makers, must deal with the reality, rather than view the new L.A with the misty-eyed enthusiasm of spectators at the Olympic arts festival."

Bill Boyarsky, Times columnist

Journal of American History -

"The seven essays that make up this exploration into the city's past seek to demythologize it by probing "hidden" facets of its social development and to provide a sound reference for contemporary advancement of the forging of a more all-inclusive and usable history ... These essays provide a much-needed counterpoint to the glorified, mythic image of Los Angeles by their emphasis on the city's social diversity and difficulties. Collectively they significantly contribute to and encourage the making of a more comprehensive and meaningful historical exposition of modern Los Angeles."

Frank L. Beach, University of San Francisco

Cover Design: Michel Schtakleff