Los Angeles has had a bad 2020 so far. First, the pandemic. Then widespread concern over a wave of high-profile thefts and the deadly invasion of Jacqueline Avant’s home. Of course, homelessness has been an epic disaster, driven in large part by the housing crisis. Trust in civic leaders to solve these social problems is low, especially after a series of scandals at the local government level. Within the entertainment industry, there have been prolonged strikes, followed by mass layoffs as Hollywood sought to turn a profit amid changes in distribution and the onslaught of artificial intelligence. Today, of course, the Palisades and Altadena wildfires have devastated the city.
It’s a catastrophic time. But this city has been here before, many times, and it’s important to remember that afterwards, it doesn’t just flourish. It explodes.
The previous nadir was thirty years ago. In the early 1990s, Los Angeles was perhaps even more dire. The end of the Cold War and a recession led to the consolidation and offshoring of much of the local aerospace industry. Rodney King’s verdict sparked violence that killed 63 people and injured 2,383 others. The following year, a major fire ravaged Malibu, destroying hundreds of homes, and later, when El Niño storms arrived, it caused mudslides that closed major coastal roads for months. (Another fire, then one of the most destructive in state history, also tore through Altadena that same fall.) Shortly afterward, the Northridge earthquake killed 57, injured 9,000 additional and damaged buildings throughout the region. It was also the beginning of the exodus from production, weakening and dispersing the Hollywood working class, as Canada, and then other territories, began to aggressively undermine the local economy with their tax breaks.
But then came a remarkably robust period for the city: the return of professional football, the rebirth of downtown Los Angeles, the creation of Silicon Beach. On several occasions, the country, even the entire world, has envied it for the dynamism of its artistic and culinary scene.
There is a story to this. In the 1930s, the Great Depression hit the region hard. There was also a prolonged drought, an ugly port strike, and ongoing tensions between Dust Bowl residents and immigrants over impacts on social services. Then, during a period beginning in the mid-1960s, as the studio system collapsed, the city experienced the Watts Riots, the Manson Family murders, economic stagnation and the deadly Sylmar earthquake. These respective dark periods were soon followed by Los Angeles’ go-go eras of the 1950s and 1980s.
The desert city, oasis or hell or both, can’t help but bounce back. “Los Angeles has always been a boom town,” wrote one of California’s leading historians, Carey McWilliams, as local postwar prosperity took off in 1946 – even though it was “chronically unable to consolidate its acquired “.
It’s unclear what the immediate future holds for Los Angeles. Perhaps, even probably, more misfortune, whether in areas we can identify (the real estate market, worsened by the aftermath of wildfires) or in those we cannot. However, the tide will turn, as is inevitable.
Some things are already in motion. For starters: the 2026 FIFA World Cup, then the 2028 Summer Olympics. Major public transportation systems are coming online. The LA River and its surrounding areas are dynamically renewing themselves. All kinds of improvements, expansions and cultural openings – including George Lucas’ massive, billion-dollar, spaceship-like Museum of Narrative Art at the Exposition Center – are in progress. Oh, and the state finally seems to be getting serious about a tax credit program to compete and attract entertainment production to the city.
So yes, the current plot of the town needs to be rewritten. Maybe new characters and new ideas. But that’s the story of LA. There is no end, just another season.
