In the 1890s, the small town of Los Angeles (population 50,000) began a transformation driven by the discovery and drilling of some of the most productive oil fields in history. By 1930, California was producing nearly one quarter of the world’s oil output, and its population had grown to 1.2 million.
In the decades that followed, many wells closed, but even more opened, surrounded by urban and suburban growth. Machinery was camouflaged, loud noises were abated, methane pockets were vented, as residents learned to live side-by-side with oil production facilities.
To this day, oil fields in the Los Angeles Basin remain very productive, and modern techniques have centralized operations into smaller areas or moved offshore. Gathered here are images of oil derricks loomed over California beaches from the 1920s and 1930s.
Oil derricks line the coast of Venice, California, c. 1920.A family beach picnic with Signal Hill oil derricks in the background, c.1920.A Long Beach home with oil derricks nearby, c.1929.An oilfield in Venice, California, c.1930.The Signal Hill oilfield in southern California, c.1930.Oil derricks line a road outside Los Angeles, c.1930.Germany races Italy in the Long Beach Marine Stadium during the 1932 Olympic Games, Aug. 12, 1932.Four boats race in the Long Beach Marine Stadium during the 1932 Olympic Games, August 1932.Mrs. W. B. Stoddard stands with her dogs in the yard of her home near the George K. Linderman well in Redondo Beach, April 11, 1936.Goats near an oilfield in Huntington Beach, c.1937.Sunnyside Cemetery in Long Beach, c.1937.Oil derricks on Huntington Beach, c.1937.Cars travel through the Venice oilfield, c.1937.Students practice archery at Beverly Hills High School, with oil derricks nearby, c.1937.Laundry dries on a clothesline near the Venice oilfield, c.1937.A couple on Huntington Beach, c.1937.Oil derricks and bathers on Huntington Beach, c.1937.Sunbathers on Huntington Beach, c.1937.The coast along the Venice oilfield, in what is now Marina del Rey, c.1937.Men play volleyball on the beach next to the Venice oilfield, c.1937.Oil derricks loom behind St. Mary’s by the Sea Catholic Church in Huntington Beach, c.1937.An oil derrick abuts a beach house in Venice, June 2, 1937.
Las Vegas (Spanish for “The Meadows”), often known simply as Vegas, is the 26th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area and is the largest city within the greater Mojave Desert. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city, known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment, and nightlife. The Las Vegas Valley as a whole serves as the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada.
The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous for its luxurious and extremely large casino-hotels together with their associated activities. It is a top three destination in the United States for business conventions and a global leader in the hospitality industry, claiming more AAA Five Diamond hotels than any other city in the world. Today, Las Vegas annually ranks as one of the world’s most visited tourist destinations. The city’s tolerance for numerous forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of “Sin City”, and has made Las Vegas a popular setting for literature, films, television programs, and music videos.
Las Vegas was settled in 1905 and officially incorporated in 1911. At the close of the 20th century, it was the most populated North American city founded within that century (a similar distinction was earned by Chicago in the 19th century). Population growth has accelerated since the 1960s, and between 1990 and 2000 the population nearly doubled, increasing by 85.2%. Rapid growth has continued into the 21st century, and according to the United States Census Bureau, the city had 641,903 residents in 2020, with a metropolitan population of 2,227,053.
As with most major metropolitan areas, the name of the primary city (“Las Vegas” in this case) is often used to describe areas beyond official city limits. In the case of Las Vegas, this especially applies to the areas on and near the Las Vegas Strip, which are actually located within the unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester. Nevada is the driest state, and Las Vegas is the driest major U.S. city. Over time and influenced by climate change, droughts in Southern Nevada have been increasing in frequency and severity, putting a further strain on Las Vegas’s water security. (Wikipedia)
Most of the Strip has also been designated as an All-American Road and is considered a scenic route at night.
Take a look at these amazing pics to see what the Las Vegas Strip looked like at night in the 1970s.
America loves its outlaws, but few of us actually dare to live the lifestyle. In 1965, the Hells Angels were little known outside the American West. LIFE photographer Bill Ray spent several weeks in Southern California, photographing and traveling with the San Bernardino chapter of a gang that would soon become notorious for its hedonistic, lawless swagger.
The motto of the Hells Angels encapsulates how society sees them. Hells Angels is a motorcycle gang associated with organized crime. They are famous for riding their Harley-Davidson motorcycles and wearing cut offs with the Hells Angels insignia.
“This was a new breed of rebel,” Ray told LIFE. “They didn’t have jobs. They absolutely despised everything that most Americans value and strive for — stability, security. They rode their bikes, hung out in bars for days at a time, fought with anyone who messed with them. They were self-contained, with their own set of rules, their own code of behavior. It was extraordinary to be around.”
Several weeks with the Hells Angels is enough to see how their daily routine. Bill Ray was able to capture these moments through his photos. Below are some photos taken by Bill Ray:
Hells Angels, California, 1965.Hells Angels, California, 1965.Big D, a member of the San Bernardino, a.k.a, “Berdoo” Hells Angels, during a ride from San Bernardino to Bakersfield, California, 1965.Inside the Hells Angels’ San Bernardino clubhouse, 1965.“Little Jim” drinks beer from a waste basket at the Angels’ clubhouse in San Bernardino, 1965.Hells Angels’ “old ladies,” California, 1965.Two “Berdoo” Hells Angels clown for Bill Ray behind a bar during a stop on their run from San Bernardino to Bakersfield, 1965.Hells Angel “Hambone” poses during a ride from San Bernardino to Bakersfield, Calif., 1965.Hells Angels and locals outside the Blackboard Cafe in Bakersfield, Calif., 1965.Hells Angels, their old ladies and hangers-on outside the Blackboard in Bakersfield, California, 1965.Hells Angels cruise north from San Bernardino to Bakersfield, 1965.A man in Bakersfield, Calif., casts what appears to be an appraising eye over the Hells Angels’ Harley-Davidsons, 1965.Hells Angel, seated on his bike, 1965.Hells Angel, California, 1965.Sonny, the leader of the San Bernardino Hells Angels, gets stitches in his head after crashing his bike, California, 1965.Women — including one with a bandaged nose — hang out in a bar while bikers gather in a separate room, California, 1965.A sheriff’s officer keeps an eye on the proceedings outside a bar that the Hells Angels have made their headquarters-away-from-home during their San Bernardino-to-Bakersfield run, 1965.Two women riding with the Hells Angels hang out at a bar in 1965.Hells Angels, California, 1965.Outside the Blackboard Cafe at night, Bakersfield, Calif., 1965.A Hells Angels “old lady,” 1965.A teenager seems drawn, like a moth to a flame, by the Angels and their machines, California, 1965.Two “reputable” motorcyclists photograph the Hells Angels, 1965.During their ’65 run to Bakersfield, the Angels pushed their way into a motorcycle hillclimb, in which bikers race up an often insanely steep incline. The Angels wanted to take part; organizers said no (but finally relented). Above: Hambone, in his ever-present fur hat, jaws with organizers while sheriff’s officers listen in.A biker named Roseberry sports a “one percenter” patch — a badge of honor for the Angels and other motorcycle clubs whose members revel in and celebrate their outlaw status, 1965.A biker named Roseberry is fingerprinted, 1965.An Angel is frisked. Cops were mainly looking for his stash of unrolled marijuana, and didn’t find any. It was inside the seat pad of the bike he was riding.A Hells Angel — with his old lady holding on tight — pulls a wheelie in downtown Bakersfield, California, as his friends watch, 1965.Bikers (including Sonny, left, with a bandaged head) and their old ladies, California, 1965.Biker chick, California, 1965.“Buzzard” and an old lady, California, 1965.A Hells Angel salute, 1965.“Buzzard” prepares to leave Bakersfield as cops and townspeople watch, 1965.
The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as the Roarin’ 20s, refers to the decade of the 1920s in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the United States and Europe, particularly in major cities such as Berlin, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, and Sydney. In France, the decade was known as the années folles (“crazy years”), emphasizing the era’s social, artistic and cultural dynamism. Jazz blossomed, the flapper redefined the modern look for British and American women, and Art Deco peaked. In the wake of the military mobilization of World War I and the Spanish flu, President Warren G. Harding “brought back normalcy” to the United States. This period saw the large-scale development and use of automobiles, telephones, films, radio, and electrical appliances in the lives of millions in the Western world. Aviation soon became a business. Nations saw rapid industrial and economic growth, accelerated consumer demand, and introduced significant new trends in lifestyle and culture. The media, funded by the new industry of mass-market advertising driving consumer demand, focused on celebrities, especially sports heroes and movie stars, as cities rooted for their home teams and filled the new palatial cinemas and gigantic sports stadiums. In many major democratic states, women won the right to vote.
The social and cultural features known as the Roaring Twenties began in leading metropolitan centers and spread widely in the aftermath of World War I. The United States gained dominance in world finance. Thus, when Germany could no longer afford to pay World War I reparations to the United Kingdom, France, and the other Allied Powers, the United States came up with the Dawes Plan, named after banker and later 30th Vice President Charles G. Dawes. Wall Street invested heavily in Germany, which paid its reparations to countries that, in turn, used the dollars to pay off their war debts to Washington. By the middle of the decade, prosperity was widespread, with the second half of the decade known, especially in Germany, as the “Golden Twenties”.
The spirit of the Roaring Twenties was marked by a general feeling of novelty associated with modernity and a break with tradition, through modern technology such as automobiles, moving pictures, and radio, which brought “modernity” to a large part of the population. Formal decorative frills were shed in favor of practicality in both daily life and architecture. At the same time, jazz and dancing rose in popularity, in opposition to the mood of World War I. As such, the period often is referred to as the Jazz Age.
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 ended the era, as the Great Depression brought years of hardship worldwide. (Wikipedia)
In November, 1906, three women began a month-long apprenticeship in preparation for the Prefecture of Police examination that would qualify them to drive horse cabs in Paris. Several other women were accepted into the apprenticeship program soon afterward.
The course of studies was the same one that was required for male drivers. At the end of it the candidates had to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of horse medicine, horse handling, the newly-introduced taximeters, the driving code and the geography of Paris and its suburbs.
The novelty of riding in a cab driven by a woman attracted so many customers that it was rumoured that male drivers were dressing up as women to cash in on the fad. The women inspired topical jokes and music hall sketches and there was even a short movie made about them.
Depending on grammatical preference, the women were referred to as “femmes cocher”, “femmes cochers”, “femmes cochères” or simply “cochères”.
Luckily for us, the femmes cocher phenomenon coincided with an international postcard mania which reached its height between 1900 and 1918. The mania reflected an insatiable public hunger for pictures, a hunger which illustrated magazines and newspapers did not yet monopolize.
Probably 200 or more femmes cocher postcards were published. Most carried photos of the first women drivers to appear on the streets, but there were also cartoons and other humorous cards on the femmes cocher theme.
The publicity generated by the first femmes cocher attracted more women to the cab trade and by the summer of 1907 there were estimated to be forty women driving cabs in Paris with another twenty applicants accepted into the apprenticeship program.
However, many of the women quickly dropped out of horse-cab driving. By the end of 1908 there were only twenty women driving cabs and only two women enrolled as apprentices.
One of the women, the aristocratic Mme. Lutgen, was pressured by her scandalized family into giving up her job. Another chose to quit driving at the insistence of her fiance and a third abandoned her driving career when she inherited a small fortune.
But most of the women who left the horse-cab trade were reportedly discouraged by accidents, by disputes with police and customers and by the hostility of male drivers.
Born 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, American singer and actor Fabiano Anthony Forte, better known to his fans as Fabian, rose to national prominence after performing several times on American Bandstand.
Forte became a teen idol of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Eleven of his songs reached the Billboard Hot 100 listing.
These cool photos that capture portrait of teenager Fabian from the late 1950s and early 1960s.
These recovered Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides were taken by noted photographer William P. Gottlieb in Britain and Scandinavia, 1965-1966. These Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides were recovered from a dumpster, where they had been discard by my neighbor, a retired professional photographer. Labels on the boxes, and their source, indicate that they were taken by William P. Gottlieb, best known for his 1930s and 1940s portraits of Jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman and Ella Fitzgerald. These slides were taken in 1964-66, primarily in England, with a few images form Scotland, Wales, Sweden and Norway.
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1888 Pemberton sold Coca-Cola’s ownership rights to Asa Griggs Candler, a businessman, whose marketing tactics led Coca-Cola to its dominance of the global soft-drink market throughout the 20th and 21st century. The drink’s name refers to two of its original ingredients: coca leaves, and kola nuts (a source of caffeine). The current formula of Coca-Cola remains a closely guarded trade secret; however, a variety of reported recipes and experimental recreations have been published. The secrecy around the formula has been used by Coca-Cola in its marketing as only a handful of anonymous employees know the formula. The drink has inspired imitators and created a whole classification of soft drink: colas.
The Coca-Cola Company produces concentrate, which is then sold to licensed Coca-Cola bottlers throughout the world. The bottlers, who hold exclusive territory contracts with the company, produce the finished product in cans and bottles from the concentrate, in combination with filtered water and sweeteners. A typical 12-US-fluid-ounce (350 ml) can contains 38 grams (1.3 oz) of sugar (usually in the form of high-fructose corn syrup in North America). The bottlers then sell, distribute, and merchandise Coca-Cola to retail stores, restaurants, and vending machines throughout the world. The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate for soda fountains of major restaurants and foodservice distributors.
The Coca-Cola Company has on occasion introduced other cola drinks under the Coke name. The most common of these is Diet Coke, along with others including Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola, Diet Coke Caffeine-Free, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Coca-Cola Cherry, Coca-Cola Vanilla, and special versions with lemon, lime, and coffee. Coca-Cola was called Coca-Cola Classic from July 1985 to 2009, to distinguish it from “New Coke”. Based on Interbrand’s “best global brand” study of 2020, Coca-Cola was the world’s sixth most valuable brand. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings each day. Coca-Cola ranked No. 87 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. (Wikipedia)
According to TIME, during the 1930s, the company had begun to set up bottling plants in other countries. The photos here depict not just the way Coke began to blend into international surroundings, but also the wide array of American locales and subcultures the brand was penetrating.
Boy selling Coca Cola from a roadside stand, 1936.Coca-Cola signs at a roadside store marked “For Colored,” 1938.Coca-Cola is on sale at Jimmie’s Trailer Camp on U.S. 1, outside of Washington, D.C., in 1938.Coca-Cola throws shoulders for a space among competing brands in 1938.A drugstore boasts both Cokes for sale and the name of the then-first lady, Puerto Rico, 1943.A man ponders a Coca-Cola ad in Columbus Circle in Manhattan during a heat wave in 1944.A Coca-Cola sign at Anne’s Sandwich Shop on Cape Cod, during the summer of 1946.A Coca-Cola road sign beckons on the Autobahn between Munich and Salzberg, Germany, 1947.A Thai billboard makes a suggestion in 1950.A Frenchman considers Coke’s allure in 1950.A Coke truck makes its rounds in 1950 France.A French Coca-Cola truck pauses on its route in 1950.Jacobs Drug Store at the junction of Peachtree Street and Roswell Road in Atlanta, circa 1944.
Born in New York City, American photojournalist Allan Grant (1919-2008) was introduced to photography as a teenager, when he traded a model airplane for a camera. One of his early jobs was in a photo laboratory, where he printed photos by noted photographers such as Alfred Eisenstaedt and Robert Capa.
Grant began working for Life in 1945 on a freelance basis. The magazine hired him full-time in 1946, after a photo he took at a Connecticut sailing school made the cover of an issue. He also had the last photo shoot with actress Marilyn Monroe and took the first photos of Marina Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife, following U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
Grant left Life magazine in the late 1960s and began producing educational documentaries.
Dorothy Lamour, 1947‘Showgirls In Florida’, January 1947‘Showgirls In Florida’, January 1947‘Showgirls In Florida’, January 1947‘Showgirls In Florida’, January 1947US film and television actress, Wenda Hendrix in 1947Dizzy Gillespie, October 1948Dizzy Gillespie, practicing with his orchestra before a performance, 1948Jane Wyman, March 1948Patricia Neal in ‘The Fountainhead’, 1948The Andrews Sisters, February 1948Shelley Winters dancing and singing in scene from movie ‘East of Java’, 1949Shelley Winters from the movie ‘East of Java’, 1949Jackie Robinson during filming of ‘The Jackie Robinson Story’, February 1950Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis are clowning around on the set of ‘The Stooge’, 1951Jerry Lewis is heckling director Norman Taurog during the making of ‘The Stooge’, March 1951Edith Piaf with Marlene Dietrich, 1952Marlene Dietrich, September 1952Actress Pier Angeli, June 1954Actress Pier Angeli, June 1954Director George Stevens working on the movie ‘Giant’ with actor Rock Hudson, August 1955Edith Head, August 1955Gregory Peck on set, August 1955Jean Anne Evans, 14-month-old Texas girl kissing her horse, July 1955Russ Tamblyn doing a flip on the sidewalk with starlet Venetia Stevenson, August 1955Buster Keaton and Donald O’Connor are holding up their ‘dukes’ while practicing for a movie based on Keaton’s life, July 1956Grace Kelly at the 28th Academy Awards in 1956Carey Grant and Suzy Parker, his co-star in the film ‘Kiss Them For Me’, July 1957Edith Head, May 1957Suzy Parker, July 1957Angie Dickinson in costume for the film ‘Rio Bravo’, July 1958Angie Dickinson is on set with director Howard Hawks working on the movie ‘Rio Bravo’, 1958Abbe Lane dancing, February 1959Actress dancer Abbe Lane, February 1959Millie Perkins is reading reviews of the movie ‘Diary of Anne Frank’, 1959Shirley MacLaine and her 2-year-old daughter Sachi Parker, 1959Shirley MacLaine and her 2-year-old daughter Sachi Parker, 1959Tony Curtis with his family, January 1959
