The Fragmented Metropolis: Los Angeles, 1850-1930

By Robert M. Fogelson

This book, published in 1967 before the massive immigration from Asia and Latin America in the last quarter of the twentieth century, covers the development of the city of Los Angeles from a sleepy town when California entered the Union to a thriving metropolis during the social upheaval of the Roaring Twenties.  The author attempts to explain why a city, without a major seaport, without a navigable river and without significant natural resources, grew into a prominent city.

Unlike San Francisco and San Diego, Los Angeles did not have a natural harbor, nor a dominant industry.  Most manufacturers concentrated their facilities east of the Rocky Mountains where most of the American population still resided.  The only manufacturing plants in southern California served the local population.  In competing for dominance in southern California, Los Angeles survived to the detriment of San Diego because of the decision of the Southern Pacific Railroad to run track throughout Los Angeles and on to the Arizona border.

A major them of the book is the social, political and spatial fragmentation of Los Angeles and southern California.  Unlike cities on the East Coast, Los Angeles did not experience the massive immigration from Europe.  Minorities were not as prominent during this time period as they are now.  Society was essentially “white”.  Docents of the Homestead Museum will get good background information to use on tour as they describe life in Los Angeles as it passed from a small Mexican community to a large U.S. city.