Earth, Fire & Smog

A city on a fault, in a chaparral, under an inversion layer: the Northridge earthquake, the wildfires (including the 2025 Palisades fire), the floods and the smog that choked the postwar boom.

Part of Los Angeles

25 moments in this segment.

1. 1895 — Adams Boulevard looking west from Severance Street, Los Angeles, ca.1895-1900 (). Los Angeles, 1895. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
2. 1915 — Fire works display over the lake at Venice ca1915. Los Angeles, 1915. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
3. 1920 — A big palm tree at the residence of Homer Laughlin, Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles. Los Angeles, 1920. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
4. 1927 — LA River flood (1927). A bridge destroyed by flooding on the then-untamed Los Angeles River.
5. 1928 — St Francis Dam disaster, 1928 (newsreel). Reuters/period newsreel of the dam collapse that killed hundreds.
6. 1933 — The Griffith Park fire (1933). Crews fight the deadly 1933 Griffith Park fire that killed dozens of relief workers.
7. 1934 — La-crescneta-flood-times. Los Angeles, 1934. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
8. 1946 — Margaret Queen Phillips Adams at work. Los Angeles, 1946. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
9. 1947 — Bradbury Fire,1947. Los Angeles, 1947. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
10. 1957 — Whittier Narrows dam project (copy), 1957. Los Angeles, 1957. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
11. 1962 — "Smog Menace" (British Movietone newsreel). A period newsreel on LA’s choking smog.
12. 1965 — 1960s pollution in Los Angeles (archival). Los Angeles, 1965.
13. 1965 — Air pollution in LA at its worst (archive). David Hoffman’s archival smog footage.
14. 1965 — 1960s Los Angeles air pollution (Kinolibrary). Archival film of the smog crisis.
15. 1973 — KTLA: gas stations & heavy traffic in LA (1973). Los Angeles, 1973.
16. 1987 — Whittier Narrows earthquake, Oct 1, 1987 (KPIX). The 1987 quake that struck the LA basin.
17. 1987 — Whittier earthquake report from Downey (1987). Local coverage of the 1987 quake.
18. 1994 — Northridge quake — live coverage, 1/17/94. Extended live coverage from the morning of the quake.
19. 1994 — 1994 Northridge earthquake — news footage. News film of the damage.
20. 1994 — First reports of the Northridge earthquake (NBCLA archive). The live news as the quake hit, 17 Jan 1994.
21. 1994 — Northridge earthquake — aerial views of damage (1994). Aerial footage of the destruction.
22. 2019-01-17 — Looking back at the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The quake that struck before dawn on 17 Jan 1994.
23. 2025 — Palisades fire tears through SoCal (ABC7). Live news footage of the 2025 fire.
24. 2025 — Drone video of the Palisades fire devastation (LA Times). Aerial footage of the January 2025 fire.
25. 2026-01-17 — The Northridge earthquake (1994). The most destructive US earthquake of its era.