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Title
Disaster site
Alternative Title
Valley Times Photo Collection
Creator
Dean, Gordon
Contributor
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
Date Created and/or Issued
1963
Contributing Institution
Los Angeles Public Library
Collection
Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Rights Information
Images available for reproduction and use. Please see the Ordering & Use page at http://tessa.lapl.org/OrderingUse.html for additional information.
Description
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
Identifier
00117288
Valley Times Collection
HCNVT_d019_f26_i25; H-6790.41 4x5
CARL0005345689
http://173.196.26.125/cdm/ref/collection/photos/id/51587
Subject
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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