37 Whirlwind Years That Built Los Angeles

Inventing Paradise: The Power Brokers Who Created the Dream of Los Angeles traces the improbable rise of Los Angeles through the prism of six hubristic visionaries who willed L.A. into being: Phineas Banning, Harrison Gray Otis, Henry Huntington, Harry Chandler, William Mulholland, and Moses Sherman.

In early 1895, Los Angeles was a dusty, 29-square-mile pueblo with a few thousand souls, largely unchanged since its 1781 founding. By 1932, its size had swelled to within 96% of its current 468 square miles, housing 1.2 million people. In just 37 years, L.A. had become the largest city by area in the U.S., joining the ranks of other world-class cities.

The author’s talk will bring to life fascinating and often entertaining stories lost to time, including how and why some cities (Hollywood, Venice, San Pedro) felt compelled to join Los Angeles, while others (Beverly Hills, Culver City, Pasadena) managed to avoid annexation.