The Past, Present, and Future of Los Angeles Research Paper

The Past, Present, and Future of Los Angeles - Research Paper ExampleEven though oil was discovered headspring before the beginning of twentieth century, significant oil production started in Los Angeles only in the beginning of the twentieth century. In the 1920s Los Angeles was able to bring about one quarter of the worlds total oil supply. Wilmington oil field in Los Angeles is still one of the largest oil fields in the world. With the exception of Wilmington oil field, altogether of the large oil fields in the Los Angeles area were discovered between 1920 and 1930. These include Huntington Beach in 1920, Long Beach and Santa Fe Springs in 1921, and Dominguez in 1923. Another important discovery during the decade was Kettleman Hills oil field in Kings County in 1928. The development of these fields caused a flood of oil to reach the market, lessen the price (Oil And Gas Production History in California, p.6). The oil revenue helped Los Angeles to develop rapidly which is evide nt from the fact that it hosted 1932 summer Olympics. The stadiums built for this Olympics had rough lakh seating capacity, which are still used for maneuvering various sports events. Because of the rapid developments in Los Angeles in 1920s and 30s, people from all over the world started to migrate to California in general and Los Angeles in particular. By 1920 southern Californias population had surpassed that of northern California, and in the next several years Los Angeles undergo the largest internal migration in the history of the American people(Los Angeles). The development of industry in general and automobile industry in particular took place during this gunpoint in Los Angeles. Even though migration caused huge diversity in Los Angeles population in 20s and 30s, whites were the dominant community still. Racism and variety were visible in Los Angeless social life during this period. The Great Depression caused huge problems in Los Angeles in 1930s. Unemployment rate was grown significantly during this period. However, Los Angeles was able to conduct the 1932 Olympics successfully amidst huge economic problems. Being the second largest city in America, present face of Los Angeles is entirely different from that in 1920s and 30s. In 1920s, population size in Los Angeles was around 600000 whereas at present it is around 4000000. Even though automobile industry was one of the prominent employment sectors until new times, 2007 global recession caused problems in this sector and many of the prominent automobile manufacturers forced to close down their units. Even though unemployment rate was dropping until 2007, it once more started to increase from 2007 onwards because of recession. It should be noted that unemployment rate in Los Angeles was in between 6 to 7% at the beginning of 2000 whereas at present it is around 11 to 12%. Once the whitest city in America, Los Angeles is now the most multicultural city in the history of the world(Los Angeles N ow). The ethnic face of Los Angeles has changed a lot in the past. As mentioned earlier, Los Angeles was a White dominated city in the past whereas at present it is a Latino dominated or Black dominated city. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 46 percent of the citys population identifies as white, 46 percent as Latino, 11 percent as African American and 10 percent as Asian. (Total percentages add up to more than 100 because many people identify as being multiracial) (Los Angeles A century of Change). The above statistics clearly