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35 classic images reveal what Los Angeles appeared like earlier than the US regulated air pollution

  • Los Angeles has had air air pollution issues since earlier than smog was a time period.
  • In 1943, smog coated the town so thickly that residents thought they had been beneath a chemical assault.
  • The creation of the Environmental Safety Company in 1970 launched air air pollution laws.

The town of stars might be known as the town of smog.

Los Angeles has had years of thick air air pollution on account of a ballooning inhabitants, unregulated trade, a booming automobile trade, and its pure geography.

In 1943, throughout World Battle II, air pollution blanketed the town so intensely residents thought Japan had launched a chemical assault. Over the subsequent three many years, enhancements got here, however they had been sluggish.

The Washington Publish described it in 1953 as “eye-burning, lung-stinging, headache-inducing smog.”

The largest victory in opposition to smog got here in 1970. President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Safety Company, which led to air air pollution laws, and allowed California to make even stricter provisions inside its state.

Within the early Seventies, the EPA launched the “The Documerica Venture,” which leveraged 100 freelance photographers to doc what the US appeared like. By 1974, that they had taken 81,000 images. The Nationwide Archives digitized almost 16,000 and made them obtainable on-line, and we have chosen 35 within the Los Angeles space.

This is what LA appeared like earlier than the EPA.