Linda MarshallSpring 2011

HIST 141 - Dr. ArguelloOnline 31296

CaliforniaA History

Great Expectations

2/3 of the annual rainfall of California occurs in the northern 1/3 of the state

Wright Act of 1887 helped create irrigation districts that would transform the Central Valley and parts of Southern California into an agricultural empire

Irrigation helped promote Southern California as the place for a healthy lifestyle

The cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles developed water programs to enlarge and stabilize their infrastructure

The water and hydroelectricity generated enabled Los Angeles to grow to the fifth largest city in the nation

San Francisco was able to hire architects and upgrade the city’s architecture and environs

San Diego reprised their city plan hiring Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue to create an idealized Spanish city

Great Expectations

California population continued to grow with Los Angeles, San Diego, and Southern California adding 2 million plus - the majority were white people from the midwest

The Japanese community in LA was kept going by an agreement with the U.S. and Japan to send approximately 30,000 women, most for arranged marriages

The single largest minority group was Mexican American, mostly from children born in the U.S., but in the 1930’s millions were forced to repatriate to Mexico by the federal government

The African American community was small but as they grew they encountered the same segregation and prejudices as the rest of the country

The white majority could be divided into 3 groups: Oligarchs (wealthy), Babbitts (middle class), and Folks (small-town Midwesterners)

Great Expectations

Modern California needed its large population and economy to be supported by infrastructure

With the sponsorship of Herbert Hoover, the Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam) was constructed on the Colorado River

State and County roadways were necessary to accommodate the growing number of automobiles

The Golden Gate and Bay Bridges were built to connect San Francisco

The financing of the Golden Gate by the Bank of America and Security Pacific Bank helped raise the capital for public and private works and later financed agriculture in the state

O Brave New World!

The California Academy of Sciences was established for the “systematic survey of every portion of the state and the collections of a cabinet of rare and rich productions”

The state legislature established the Geological Survey to document the terrain of California

Yosemite Valley became a focus of the physical grandeur of the state with naturalist John Muir helping to transfer the valley to federal jurisdiction, founding the Sierra Club, and serving as the club’s first president

The Pelton Turbine, which originated in the mining world, would be refined to become the premise for hydroelectrical generation

O Brave New World!

The first recorded heavier-than-air flight in human history took place in Otay Mesa

Aviation was established in California by its pioneers Curtiss, Lockheed, Northrop, Martin, Douglas, and Ryan

Passenger flight was initiated - by the 1920’s a third of the aviation traffic in the United States was operating from greater Los Angeles

In 1929, a German passenger dirigible arrived in Los Angeles - the precursor of international travel

Advances in aviation would continue and develop into space travel supported by Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

O Brave New World!

A vacuum tube called the Audion was developed which ushered in radiotelephone transmission making it possible to broadcast and receive voice and music

The electronic projection of images was accomplished with the invention of the “orthicon”

Electrical engineering was used at Stanford to develop the klystron tube which was a key component in the success of radar

An audio oscillator to generate electrical signals in the range of human hearing was designed and built by David Packard and William Hewlett and used by Walt Disney for the film Fantasia

A Berkeley professor invented a cyclotron making exploration of the atom possible, eventually receiving the Nobel Prize in physics

An Imagined Place

Los Angeles provided the good weather and distance from the Motion Picture Patents Company’s royalty payments for the burgeoning film industry

Film production became industrialized by studios which contracted all aspects of motion pictures

The German Socialist takeover sparked a mass emigration of European artists bringing a large amount to Hollywood dramatically internationalizing the film industry and other aspects of life

During World War II Hollywood enlisted in the war effort with stars in the military and studios producing training films and patriotic movie scripts

The Un-American Activities Committee focused its investigations on real and suspected communists in Hollywood prompting the Department of Justice to dissolve the connections between studios, theaters, and distributors

An Imagined Place

The “Society of Six” changed painting from pastoral landscapes to chromatic and figurative energy representing California in the vivid colors natives knew to be their own

The Depression promoted Social Realism, especially for watercolorists and photographers who could quickly capture scenes of daily life in documentary character

Muralists were creating ambitious works to convey political statements

Abstract modernism showed up after the Second World War II with an increasingly corporate society favoring the conceptual over the specific

Pop Art emerged in the 1960’s representing the recognition of the artifacts of mass culture

An Imagined Place

San Francisco’s musical tradition went back to the Gold Rush, while Los Angeles started with its choral music community

With the advent of “talkies” composing music for films opening a new venue for serious music attracting modernists

Modernists took jazz into progressive territory influencing future composers

Brian Wilson composed Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile, and Smile, fusing pop and modernism to define California style

The Dust Bowl migration brought country music to the Central Valley