The Los Angeles region has been shaken by close to two dozen significant earthquakes in the last 250+ years of its recorded history. At magnitude 7.0+, two of these were monster earthquakes. Yet, we haven't been hit by a "monster" in a very long time. At least, not so far.
Reimaged photo in the LA Times Photographic Collection at UCLA Digital Library.
1924. Santa Monica Pier. In the foreground is the iconic Looff Hippodrome Carousel, opened in 1922 and still standing today as a National Historic Landmark. Barely visible in the background is the La Monica Ballroom at the end of the pier, opened earlier that year. With 15,000 square feet of dance floor, La Monica was the largest dance hall on the west coast, if not the world, able to accommodate up to 5,000 dancers. Its opening day drew 50,000 visitors. It featured some of the leading bands of the 1920s and 1930s. From 1948 to 1954, country music star Spade Cooley broadcast his weekly TV program from La Monica as the first TV variety show televised live. In 1958, the venue was converted into a roller rink until finally being demolished in 1963.
While a war for freedom raged across two oceans, a horrific episode of racial violence, inflicted by the very servicemen meant to engage in that fight, exploded at home in Los Angeles.
