CALIFORNIA

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CALIFORNIA: GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Creating the Infrastructure of a Mega-State

• Came in the form of dams, aqueducts, reservoirs, power plants, industrial sites, bridges, roadways, public buildings, and stadiums beginning in the 1890’s• William Hammond Hall published plan for irrigation for the state• He was the first to suggest Southern California could use water from the Colorado

River• Resulted in the development of the Imperial Valley• Second canal from Colorado River was a disaster that nearly flooded the entire

Imperial Valley• Los Angeles aqueduct took more than 6 years to build• Along with over 235 miles of canals, tunnels, tailraces and siphons

• San Francisco built the O’Shaughnessy Dam• Along with four more dams, five reservoirs, a hydro-electric plant, 100 miles of

pipeline & 66 miles of tunnel to bring water from the Tuolumne River to San Francisco

• It took over 11 years to complete

CALIFORNIA: GREAT EXPECTATIONSBuilding a city worthy of its location

• During the 1890’s, a concerted effort was made to improve the architecture of the city• Significant amount of money, and architectural talent, was available for the projects• Many of the buildings survived the fires and earthquake of 1906• The same architects were involved in the rebuilding of the city

• Architectural styles varied, but the feel was similar all over the city• Italianate or neo-Gothic • Beaux Arts style• Used by Architect Willis Polk• Berkeley was redesigned by Emile Bernard, and implemented by John Galen Howard years

later• Berkeley was originally inspired by Arts & Crafts movement

• Mediterranean Revival• Stanford was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson of Boston

• San Francisco looked more like a Tuscan landscape• City extended a formal invitation to Daniel Hudson Burnham of Chicago to develop a formal city

plan• Parts of his plan were implemented after the Great Earthquake of 1906, but parts were not

CALIFORNIA: GREAT EXPECTATIONS

San Diego indulged in an idealized vision through the Panama-California Exposition

• In 1908, city planner and landscape architect, John Nolen of Cambridge, Ma, developed a plan for San Diego• Unlike San Francisco, San Diego was inspired by places like Rio De

Janeiro, Naples• Inspired by Italian and Spanish culture• It was a neo-Mediterranean style• Harbor side city• Palm lined streets and roads• Sunny plazas• Hills, oceans, blue skies

• The Panama California International Exposition in Balboa Park set the tone of architecture in Southern California for the next two decades

CALIFORNIA: MAKING IT HAPPEN

Labor Through the Great Depression and Beyond

• California economy was well diversified which protected it from the Great Depression longer than anywhere else is U.S.• California economy supported industrial, entertainment, tourism, agriculture, and

service industries• Citizens of California were familiar with working with their hands to earn a living• Gold Rush ushered in that work ethic• Migrant work developed as a result of agricultural cycles

• California, and San Francisco, hosted some of the first labor movements• Development of labor unions: topographers and teamsters were the first two• Struggles with ideologue

• Marxist-Socialist, anarchy, and overall distrust of America• Initially fighting for fair wages, appropriate work day length, and other safety

concerns• Even Mexican workers formed their own local initially called Imperial Valley Workers

Union

• From early on, California, and especially San Francisco, held it’s views hard-left

CALIFORNIA: MAKING IT HAPPEN

California was flooded with migrant farm workers during the Great Depression

• 300,000+ migrant workers descended on California• Most were from the mid-West• The drought and Dust Bowl brought them here• The result was a decline in wages because there were far more workers than

jobs• A union strike in Imperial Valley, orchestrated by the communists, resulted

in problems for many• Again, in summer of 1931, the same communists (CAWIU) organized a

strike of cannery workers, and problems ensued• Then in Fall of 1932, CAWIU had the same scenario in Vacaville• Total there were 24 agricultural strikes in 1932 incited by CAWIU

• 1933 was the largest strike• 10,000 cotton pickers go on strike in San Joaquin Valley• Resulted in injuries and death when strikers got into altercations

CALIFORNIA: MAKING IT HAPPEN

During the worst of times economically, unions created more problems for workers

• When there was a bone to pick, there were politically charged unions ready to hit the streets in protest• Many strikes and protests ended inconclusively• Some ended with violence, blood shed, and even death

• Some chose less aggressive tactics to make their point in counter attack• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck• Considered a documentary novel and many thought it to be true fact• Not necessarily on the left, Steinbeck reported on conditions in the field• Wrote for the San Francisco News

• Factories in the Field: The Story of Migratory Farm Labor in California by Carey McWilliams• McWilliams was a leftist activist and lawyer

CALIFORNIA: WAR AND PEACE

Garrison State and Suburban Growth

• California was seized in an act of war in 1846• Ruled by military until 1850• Even Yosemite Valley was patrolled by the military beginning in 1891• Spanish-American war in 1898• San Diego was seen as the “Gibraltar of the Pacific”• In 1914, the Pacific Fleet was established in San Diego• In 1920’s San Diego’s Marine Corp Training Depot recruited a marine

presence• San Francisco had a large military presence as well• The Army expanded in the San Francisco Bay area• Naval Air Service established Moffett Field

• San Francisco & Los Angeles area developed ship and port repair facilities

CALIFORNIA: WAR AND PEACE

Attack on Pearl Harbor changed sentiment

• America First movement was dedicated to keeping America out of World War II• Supporters included many famous people:• William Randolph Hearst, publisher• Kathleen Norris, novelist• Lillian Gish, actress• Ray Lyman Wilbur, Stanford University President• Robinson Jeffers, port• William Saroyan, California’s most well-known

writer• Kenneth Rexroth, San Francisco poet

• Japanese submarine surfaced in Santa Barbara• The commander fired into oil storage tanks across

Pacific Coast highway• This sent California into a heightened state of panic

CALIFORNIA: WAR AND PEACEThe White California Movement takes hold

• Was gaining strength prior to WWII• Alien Land Act of 1913 prevented Japanese from owning land in California• Strong anti-Japanese speeches were given in Congress and by the California governor, Hiram Johnson• Many tried to incorporate Japanese culture, art, and practices into every day life in and around San

Francisco• The White California Movement was based in jealousy: Japanese immigrants were very successful• Following Pearl Harbor, Japanese, citizens and non-citizens, were rounded up and declared a threat

to the U.S.• Request was headed by California Attorney General, Earl Warren• Two U.S. senators supported this• The mayors of San Francisco and Los Angeles supported this• The entire California House of Representatives supported this• And the editors and publishers of the leading newspapers also advocated evacuation of the

Japanese• March 1, 1942, Proclamation Number One designated California, Oregon, Washington, and some of

Arizona as military zones• The Japanese could now be removed• They were moved to relocation camps