This project was supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian Made accessible through a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation and Photo Friends
On December 14, 1963 at approximately at 3:38 p.m the Baldwin Hills Dam collapsed, spilling 300 million gallons of water into the hillsides that swept away houses and cars and left three dead. Most of Baldwin Village, including the historic Village Green community, was flooded and more than 50 homes were destroyed in the canyon below. The crack in the dam was ultimately attributed to subsidence caused by overexploitation of the Inglewood oil field. The disaster caused the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power to phase out small local reservoirs, opting instead to store water in groundwater basins and behind the Hansen Dam in Lake View Terrace. Photograph caption dated January 27, 1964 reads, "Two workers are shown attempting to locate buried pipes in the foreground of the top left photo, while other construction workers are busy cleaning up the aftermath of the Baldwin Hills dam disaster. In the center left photo the destructive force of the water is apparent with entire walls torn from apartments where Valley State might have been located. Dump trucks now travel the path taken by the rampaging floodwaters in the bottom left photo."; See image #00117287 for additional photo in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;21 x 26 cm. Photographic prints
Dam failures--California--Baldwin Hills (Los Angeles) Floods--California--Baldwin Hills (Los Angeles) Dams--California--Baldwin Hills (Los Angeles) Disasters--California--Baldwin Hills (Los Angeles) Mud--California--Los Angeles Debris--California--Los Angeles Dwellings--California--Baldwin Hills (Los Angeles) Trucks--California--Los Angeles Men--California--Los Angeles Electric lines--Poles and towers Baldwin Hills (Los Angeles, Calif.) Baldwin Hills Reservoir (Calif.) Baldwin Hills Dam (Calif.) Valley Times Collection photographs
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