CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LIV, Issue 21, 17 March 1933, Page 3

CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE

THE AFFLICSTED REGION.

ABOUT 2,300,000 INHABITANTS

Most of the damage done in the earthquake appears to have occurred within the boundaries of the county of Los Angeles. This is a region with an area of 4115 square miles, embracing 25 miles of coastline and stretching inland for 45 miles. It has now a population of 2,300,000, of which 1,700,000 are native-born whites. Its assessed wealth is in excess of £573,000,000. Apart from great agricultural activity, the country has 4900 industrial establishments, giving employment to 114,000 men and women and turning out products valued at £264,000,000 a year. It contains five cities and 48 towns and townships. The city of Los Angeles, located on a vast rolling plain between the Sierra Madre Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, covers an administrative area of 450 square miles, much of which lies over a pass through the first range of foothills upon a higher level in the San Fernando Valley. The city, which was founded by Royal order from the King of Spain in 1781, stands fifth in population rank in the United States, with over 1,300,000 inhabitants Climatic Advantages. Blessed with a climate uniformly pleasant throughout the year, with abundant natural wealth in oil, natural gas, hydro-electric power and water for irrigation, it has not only attracted a large industrial population, but also a vast army of people possessing independent means and desiring a pleasant place in which to liveAdded to these are thousands of visitors who throng the hotels and apartment houses of the city and its satellite seaside towns all the year, and especially in winter, when the genial climate attracts many who wish to escape the rigours that the season brings to the greater part of North America. Los Angeles City, like the kingdom of Poland, has a "corridor" running to the sea about 20 miles distant and . connecting with the magnificent harbour which its enterprise has created at enormous cost within a comparatively short span of years. Los Angeles is now the base of the United States Pacific Fleet and a port of call | net only for freighters and oil-tank- ! ers, but also for passenger liners running to all parts of the Pacific and also to Atlantic ports through the Panama Canal. Hollywood and Long Beach. Within the city and seven miles from its centre lies Hollywood, the centre of the American motion-pic-ture industry and a city in itself, with a population of 160,000, and many industrial activities unconnected with the business of making films. Long Beach, situated immediately south-east of Los Angeles Harbour, has risen in three decades of rapid development from a town of 2200 inhabitants to a seaside metropolis with a population of 160,000. It has one of the finest school systems in California, beautiful parks and a magnificent road system. The excellent

harbour has been developed at a cost of more than £2,000,000. More than 190 industrial plants have a yearly output valued at over £10,000,000. The presence of the Battle Fleet has stimulated work at the waterfront during the past year. San Pedro, with a population of 40,000, is on the coast a few miles to the north of Long Beach, and is principally an industrial and shipping centre, handling the bulk of the trade 'of the area. Pasadena, more to the north-east of the city, has a population of 80,000. Lying in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains, it is famous for its beautiful homes and gardens, its wide, tree-lined boulevards, its educational institutions and its hotels. Other well-known centres, with their populations, are: Beverley Hills, "home of the film stars," with a population of 22,500; Redondo Beach, 10,000, a new beach resort 20 miles from Los Angeles; and Palisades del Rey, an exclusive residential area along the rim of the bluffs overlooking the Pacific.