Before World War 2 California was this remote area of the country that was largely farmland, mostly desert and away from the center of things. But as the 20th century progressed and populations in East Coast cities grew, expanded and congested, looking West became a plausible and attractive alternative to what was becoming the overcrowded and grimy East.
Coupled with World War 2 and the boom in defense plant building, not to mention the Public relations campaign, begun just after World War 1 which portrayed California as a mythic paradise of mild winters, endless sun and a decided lack of tornadoes and hurricanes, it became a magnet to millions of people and a Great Move Westward.
By 1949, the year of this documentary series Report On America, California was still growing, only now it was having growing pains. Third most populated state in the country (behind New York and Pennsylvania) with Los Angeles the second most populated city (behind New York City), the major cities (Los Angeles and San Francisco) were growing at a rapid rate and expanding beyond their city limits. Land was plentiful but water was not – California was devising a series of plans to bring water to the cities and those rapidly growing suburbs from as far away as the Sierra Mountains and as far east as the Colorado River. It was cause for strains in relationships, particularly with Arizona (who disputed California’s claim to Colorado River water) – and in the case of Los Angeles, bringing water south from the Sierras, which created a rift and rivalry with San Francisco, California was no longer an afterthought but was very much at the center of life in America at the time.
But all of this didn’t diminish the fact that California, and indeed the entire West Coast, were becoming the preferred places to live and work. And as was mentioned by the reporter, the vast majority of people living in California were not originally from California but had migrated from somewhere east. That statistic would be true for many decades after.
Now the shoe appears to be on the other foot – cities in the East are, for the most part, no longer overcrowded but in fact have lost a considerable amount of population – and now California faces overcrowding and a move away from the cities.
But in 1949 it was a lot different and this half-hour survey of California in 1949 paints a picture of an area of the country growing and progressing.
Have a listen – Report On America from September 1949 from NBC Radio.
