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Los Angeles' recorded history started out with the Tongvas, the true L.A. natives who lived in villages around the Los Angeles Basin.
Juan Cabrillo was the first European to see Southern California in 1542, who described it as 'The valley of smokes,' created by the Tongva bonfires (even back then
we had a smog problem...). Franciscan missionaries led by Fr. Junipero Serra settled across Califonia, and established missions at San Gabriel and San Fernando in the 1770s.
On September 4, 1781, a group of Spansih settlers traveling from New Spain (Mexico) founded a pueblo along a healthy river and named it for "Our Lady, Queen of Angels," and thus,
Los Angeles was born. In 1822, New Spain won independence from its mother country and Los Angeles was part of Mexico. In the 1840s, after the Mexican War, California won independence from Mexico
until being annexed by the United States in 1850.
In 1872 the Southern Pacific railroad came in from San Francisco, bringing Los Angeles in touch with the rest of California and the nation.
Later in the 1870s, Southern California became a large farming center, with manufacturing and industry just beginning. Land developers such as Henry Huntington, who also built the
Pacific Electric Railway, literally built towns from the ground up.
In the early 1900s, east coast filmmakers landed in Hollywood, not only for the weather but to possibly escape legal trouble
from using Thomas Edison's movie camera patent. The studios flourished, and Los Angeles became the capital of the entertainment industry. Los Angeles was on the world map, and the Olympics were held here in 1932.
Automobiles began their popularity in the
1920s, and also in that decade the Los Angeles Aqueduct was built, allowing for the growth of a metropolis. In 1940 the Arroyo Seco Parkway (now the Pasadena Freeway) opened. The region played an important role in World War II, as our factories produced airplanes, weaponry and mahinery for the war.
When the war ended, suburbia and dependence on the automobile grew.
Another war, the Cold War caused our aerospace industry to boom. The 1960s and 70s were prosperous for the economy and overseas immigrants, mainly from Asia and the Middle East arrived,
defining the city's diversity.
The 1980s were mostly good, with the Olympics coming back in 1984, but urban ills such as gang crime and homelessness were on the rise. In April 1992 it exploded into the Riots, sparked by
the trial of the beating of black motorist Rodney King. The 1990s were spent in a recession, but the focus was on looking in, improving and reforming our government and our way of life. Los Angeles' future
depends on its role as a Pacific Rim city and on its diversity, which becomes an example for cities worldwide.
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