Featured Group
White Midwesterners / Easterners
In 1898 the Southern Pacific Railroad created Sunset magazine to entice Americans to go west. This September 1934 issue features a cover illustration by Maynard Dixon. Courtesy Sunset Publishing Corporation
A Major U.S. City
Each of these population booms led to the creation of an enormous infrastructure in the Los Angeles area. Aqueducts were built, cities were electrified, roads were paved. Private and civil institutions such as the University of Southern California (1880) and the Los Angeles Times (1881) were established. The grand hotels built during this era attracted thousands of winter tourists from the East and Midwest. Establishments such as the Raymond Hotel (1886) in Pasadena became temporary homes to many who ultimately decided to move to California.