Contact Information
Wayne Shoaf
shoaf@usc.edu
(213) 740 4090
Location
Online
Overview
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted a land use survey from December 18, 1933 to May 8, 1939 for the city of Los Angeles City Planning Department. It covered approximately 460 square miles within the boundaries of the city of Los Angeles and resulted in this series of 345 hand-colored land-use survey maps. They are collected in 10 books (averaging 35 maps per book), each corresponding to a geographic region within the city's boundary. Each original map measures about 2 feet x 3.5 feet.
The books cover: 1. North Los Angeles District; 2. Tujunga; 3. San Fernando Valley from Canoga Park District to Van Nuys District; 4. Van Nuys District to Garvanza District; 5. Santa Monica Mountains from Girard to Van Nuys District; 6. Hollywood District to Boyle Heights District; 7. Topanga Canyon to Hollywood District; 8. Downtown Los Angeles and Hyde Park to Watts District; 9. Mar Vista District to Mines Field (Municipal Airport); and 10. Shoestring Addition to San Pedro District.
Each book includes a title page with key, legend and list of symbols used; a composite index page of the entire city (which indicates on a city map which portion is included in a given book); and an index, which indicates, on a city section map, the specific coordinates and sheets of maps contained in a given book (books four and seven are missing their indices).
The land uses tracked on each map include: nine different types of farming (mixed, livestock, field crops, row crops, bush fruits, orchard, nursery, woodland, farming); vacant; 16 residential classifications (broadly grouped as: single family residential; multiple residential (two to four families); unlimited multiple residential (i.e., hotels, boarding houses, chicken or rabbit ranches, etc.); institutional; commercial (31 classifications: i.e. undertakers, theaters, restaurants, etc.); industry, utilities, recreational, agricultural, open uses, problem uses, combined uses, electric railway, steam railway; manufacturing (30 classifications: i.e., cannery, oil well supply, ice manufacturing, motion picture studio, etc.); and height of buildings in stories.
For more information, visit the collection overview.