WHOA..what a coincidence Gaylord Wilshire! I spent all last night looking through those same WPA maps from 1939.
I enlarged a few of the interesting things that caught my eye.
below: I found a good view of Court Circle which had been discussed a few posts back.
uscdl
below: I also noticed a heart shaped park in the Boyle Heights area.
uscdl
below: In the area east of Union Station (the location of the enormous gasometers)
I was surprised by the total land area owned by the Los Angeles Gas Co.
uscdl
below:
I thought it was interesting to see the boundary placing West Hollywood and the Sunset Strip outside of the city limits.
uscdl
"As the Strip lies outside of the Los Angeles city limits and was an unincorporated area under the jurisdiction of the County of Los Angeles, the area fell under the less-vigilant jurisdiction of the Sheriff's Department rather than the heavy hand of the LAPD. It was illegal to gamble in the city, but legal in the county. This fostered the building of a rather wilder concentration of nightlife than Los Angeles would tolerate, and in the 1920s a number of nightclubs and casinos moved in along the Strip, which attracted movie people to this less-restricted area."
__wikipedia
below: I thought it was rather curious that this oil field was also outside the city limits.
uscdl
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