Title supplied by cataloger. Rolland Joseph 'Speedy' Curtis was born in Louisiana in 1922. After serving three years in the Marines during World War II, he and his wife, Gloria, relocated from New Orleans to Los Angeles in 1946. Curtis served for four years with the Los Angeles Police Department, but resigned from the force in order to pursue both a Bachelor's and Master's Degree from USC. He later became involved in city politics, as an associate of Sam Yorty, and later a field deputy to City Council members Billy Mills and Tom Bradley. He was briefly director of the Model Cities program in 1973. Rolland J. Curtis died in his home in 1979, the victim of a homicide. An affordable housing complex on Exposition Blvd. near Vermont Ave. was named in his honor in 1981, along with a nearby street and park.; On December 14, 1963 at 3:38 P.M., the dam containing the Baldwin Hills Reservoir ruptured and released a 50-foot wave of water that flooded the area between Jefferson and La Cienega Boulevards and La Brea Avenue, including the Village Green community. Nearly 300 million gallons of water gushed down the hillside for 77 minutes causing the death of five people and 10 million dollars worth of property damage. The crack in the dam was ultimately attributed to a faultline beneath the reservoir and subsidence caused by overexploitation of the Inglewood oil field. Councilman Tom Bradley (first from left), Herschel Rosenthal (second from right), president of the Westside Jewish Community Center, and two unidentified men (the unidentified man on the right may possibly be Maurice Bloom) stand in front of the flood-damaged residence at 3969 Cloverdale Avenue in the aftermath of the Baldwin Hills Dam disaster. A view of the extensive flood damage to Cloverdale Avenue can be seen on the right. Cloverdale Avenue was the first street hit by the flood when the dam containing the Baldwin Hills Reservoir ruptured on December 14, 1963. Photograph dated 1963. See images 00119781 through 00119785; 00120134 through 00120158; and 00138682 through 00138685 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Bradley, Tom,--1917-1998 Dam failures Dams Floods Flood damage Reservoirs Disasters Debris Dwellings--Flood damage Dwellings Mud Streets Lost architecture City council members Politicians African American politicians African American men Jewish men Men Cloverdale Avenue (Los Angeles, Calif.) Baldwin Hills Dam (Calif.) Baldwin Hills Reservoir (Calif.) Baldwin Hills (Los Angeles, Calif.)
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