1930

Snow blankets Los Angeles. The Greek Theater opens in Griffith Park. Olvera Street opens to the public after a successful rebuilding and renovation campaign led by Mrs. Christine Sterling. The street is named after Augustin Olvera, Los Angeles’ first county judge. Mines Field (the future LAX) is dedicated and opened as the official airport for Los Angeles. Los Angeles voters agree to spend $12 million in bonds to buy out most of the town properties in Big Pine and Bishop in the Owens Valley, thus ending the Owens Valley water wars. More than 11,000 Mexican immigrants, recruited to work in the U.S., are deported to Mexico from Los Angeles. Laura Ingalls lands in Glendale to become the first woman to fly solo across the United States.

1931

The Los Angeles city flag is adopted by ordinance. Mass deportations of 12,600 Mexicans begin.

1932

The Tenth Olympic Games opens in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was enlarged to seat 105,000 spectators. Construction of the Colorado River Aqueduct begins. Amelia Earhart Putnam takes off from Los Angeles to make the first solo nonstop transcontinental flight across the United States by a woman. Her flight ends in Newark, New Jersey.

1933

The Los Angeles Sentinel, an African-American newspaper, is first published. The Long Beach Earthquake leaves 120 people dead and $41 million in damage. The Mineral Wells Canyon fire claims the lives of 36 men fighting the fire. Los Angeles County General Hospital opens. The Spring Street Newsboys' Gym opened and later become known as the Main Street Gym. This facility became the premier training ground for Los Angeles boxers until the owner's death in the 1970s.

1934

Flooding causes 40 deaths in La Cañada. The Los Angeles Police Department begins using radio equipment. Floodwaters in the La Crescenta Valley and Montrose Territory drown 45 people. The Santa Anita Park Race Track opens. Writer and social activist Upton Sinclair begins his unsuccessful run for the governor’s seat. The tactics used by his opposition marks this campaign as California’s first "dirty" political campaign. The Farmers Market opens. Construction on Parker Dam begins. The first drive-in theater opens.

1935

Griffith Observatory is completed under a bequest left by Colonel Griffith J. Griffith in 1919. By invitation of the Mexican government, Amelia Earhart Putnam takes off from Los Angeles to become the first person to fly solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City. The Douglas Aircraft Company rolls out the first DC-3 aircraft.

1936

Los Angeles sends 130 city police officers to the California-Nevada state line in an attempt to stem the flow of unemployed Los Angeles-bound hitchhikers. Electricity from Boulder Dam reaches Los Angeles.

1937

The home of Clifford Clinton, a crusading reformer and Los Angeles cafeteria owner, is bombed in an attempt to halt his inquiries into corruption in City Hall and police department. The City of Los Angeles purchases Mines Field to be a municipal airfield. At the height of a statewide rabies epidemic, Los Angeles County establishes a Pound Department,  created in direct response to 1,700 rabies cases reported in the county during the year.

1938

Severe flooding claims 78 lives and causes almost $25 million in damage. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begins channeling the Los Angeles River with concrete. Private investigator Harry Raymond, working with Clifford Clinton in his investigation of City Hall and the police, survives a bomb explosion in his car. It was believed that he would testify against Los Angeles City Mayor Frank Shaw. Two Los Angeles police officers are convicted of the bombing. Los Angeles Mayor Frank Shaw is removed from office by a special recall election after being linked to vice rackets within the city. California law authorizes non-stop roadways, opening the way for the coming of Los Angeles freeways.

1939

Union Station opens. Upton Sinclair runs for governor on the EPIC (End Poverty in California) platform. The media turns against him, leading to his defeat. Nathanael West publishes his novel Day of the Locust, a pessimistic look at Los Angeles. Raymond Chandler publishes the first of his detective novels set in Los Angeles, The Big Sleep.

1940

A six-mile stretch of the Arroyo Seco Parkway (Pasadena Freeway) is opened, becoming the first freeway in the western United States. Mexican-Americans become the largest ethnic minority group in Los Angeles. Los Angeles becomes the largest commercial fishing port in the nation. The Sepulveda Flood Basin and Dam is completed.

1941

The Los Angeles River overflows and causes floods. The Colorado River Aqueduct is completed and would become the single largest source of water for the Los Angeles area. A Los Angeles City ordinance officially establishes the name for Mines Field as Los Angeles Airport. Hansen Dam is completed.

1942

The Los Angeles River overflows and causes floods. President Franklin Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 requiring the movement of over 100,000 Japanese-Americans to internment camps. There they remained until January 20, 1945. In the early morning hours of February 25th, U.S. Army anti-aircraft guns fire nearly 1,500 rounds into the skies over Los Angeles at "enemy aircraft." Evidence of the appearance of any such aircraft is never found. Japanese-American employees of the Los Angeles Police Department are removed from their jobs and sent to the internment camps. A Mexican-American youth, Jose Diaz, is found murdered in a deep swimming hole named Sleepy Lagoon. The police declare war on Mexican-American gangs by arresting hundreds of Mexican-American youths. Seventeen of the youths are convicted of the murder on scant evidence. The Appellate Court later reverses the convictions and the original trial judge and prosecutor are severely reprimanded. A federal program brings Mexican agricultural laborers - braceros - into Los Angeles to make up for labor shortages.

1943

The Los Angeles River overflows and causes floods. Several days of one-sided rioting erupts as hundreds of military men descend upon East Los Angeles to assault Mexican-Americans dressed in "Zoot suits". Police respond by arresting the Mexican-American victims. The rioting ends when military commanders confine their personnel to base. The Los Angeles City government, in an unapologetic mood, proceeds to outlaw the wearing of "zoot suits." Los Angeles experiences its first smog attack (Jul 26).

1944

The Los Angeles River overflows and causes floods. Harry Chandler, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, dies. His son Norman assumes control of the publishing empire. The San Bernardino Freeway (10) opens.

1945

An eight-month strike by a major film workers union polarizes the Hollywood community. Preacher Aimee Semple McPherson dies from a sleeping pill overdose.