Anton Wagner photographs of Los Angeles, 1932-33
Owning Institution: California Historical Society
About this Collection
Consists of photographs of urban, suburban, rural and waterfront areas of Los Angeles County. Many photographs show neighborhood streets and houses, including ethnic enclaves and communities of Mexican Americans, Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans, African Americans, Russian Americans, Irish Americans, Jewish Americans, and Slavonian Americans. Includes images of businesses, buildings, oil rigs in populated areas, hydraulic structures, railyards, industrial and construction sites, and agricultural land. A small portion contain people. Includes six photographs of damaged buildings in Compton and Long Beach from the Long Beach earthquake of 1933, three photographs of maps of Los Angeles, and a section of map showing the southwest of downtown portion of the city.Anton Wagner (also known as G. A. Wagner) was a PhD candidate at the University of Kiel when he made these photographs to document his dissertation, Los Angeles: Werden, Leben und Gestalt der Zweimillionstadt in Südkalifornien..., published in 1935. His thesis suggests that the topography of Los Angeles produces the character of the city's inhabitants. After World War II, Wagner settled in Montreal and worked as a commercial journalist and trade marketing consultant. View this collection on the contributor's website.
View collection guide.
View our statement on digital primary resources and historical description.
Filters you've selected: