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When I Think of Home: Images from L.A. Archives

Migration to Los Angeles in Pursuit of Health and Happiness

What do we all want most in life? To be happy, right? According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, happiness is a state of well-being and contentment. Some things that may produce such a state are good health, better economic prospects and job opportunities, safety and security, religious and political liberty, and a better standard of living. Most of these things also happen to be the motives for migration.

It must be noted that Los Angeles has a history of involuntary migration going back to the original 44 multiracial settlers who were likely forced to migrate to the newly founded El Pueblo de la Reyna de Los Angeles in 1781. In the 20th Century, Japanese Americans were forcibly removed and incarcerated during World War II and Mexican American families were evicted from Chavez Ravine in the 1950s to make way for affordable housing that never materialized.

For the most part, however, people have migrated to Los Angeles because of its desirability. Los Angeles began gaining importance after the independence of Mexico from Spain in 1821 and attracted people from parts of Mexico, America, and Europe. With the arrival of the Santa Fe railroad in 1885, migration was at a full gallop as real estate developers, railroad companies, and other commercial interests advertised Los Angeles as a land of sunshine and temperate climate. Wealthy Easterners and Midwesterners coming to spend winters here found themselves in love with Los Angeles, started building residences, and made the city their home. People also believed that this climate could cure chronic diseases, like consumption, and flocked to the sanitariums that cropped up in Southern California in the late 19th and early 20th century.

People continued to migrate throughout the 20th century for sunshine, temperate climate, and job opportunities in film, oil, automobile, and airplane industry, and a piece of the California dream.

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In the 1830s, Mexican California was embroiled in power struggles between north and south. This decree documents competition for the provincial capital. It not only elevated the pueblo of Los Angeles to the dignity of a city, the first in Alta California, but also designated Los Angeles as the capital. This measure passed the National congress due to the efforts of Carlos Antonio CarriIlo, provincial deputy from California to the Mexican congress and the author of the Exposition of 1831.
Los Angeles in 1949 meant a lot of ex-military personnel were finding a new life for their families. Many of my Romero uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins had migrated to LA from Albuquerque by this time. The Romeros had been in NM since 1751. They chose the neighborhoods close to Downtown and each other. My father's first house was 160 W. 76 St., South Los Angeles. Genealogy helped me tell this story. —Cathy Romero
Los Angeles in 1949 meant a lot of ex-military personnel were finding a new life for their families. Many of my Romero uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins had migrated to LA from Albuquerque by this time. The Romeros had been in NM since 1751. They chose the neighborhoods close to Downtown and each other. My father's first house was 160 W. 76 St., South Los Angeles. Genealogy helped me tell this story. —Cathy Romero
Henry and Heong Wong are pictured here with their children, Violet, Rose, Howard, and Edward in front of their family home on 10th Street in Los Angeles (not pictured is their son Morland). The family were the owners of Henry’s Market, a small grocery store in LA. New economic opportunities provided generations of Chinese American families to build a life in Los Angeles and a long-term future in America.
Los Angeles is home to millions of migrants and immigrants, many of whom are undocumented. A photograph of the March 25, 2006 demonstration for immigrant rights—the largest demonstration in California history with more than one million participants—promoted the May 1, 2006 immigrant rights march, attended by approximately 500,000. It opposed HR 4437, The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (passed in the House, defeated in the Senate).
Garry Marshall (1934-2016) was a prolific and successful film and television writer, director and producer. He is known for creating the TV series Happy Days and its spins-offs and directing such classic films as Pretty Woman, Beaches and The Princess Diaries. Originally from New York, Marshall describes in this excerpt his early career writing jokes and the writing job that brought him to Los Angeles.
Jean Rouverol Butler (1916-2017) and her husband Hugo were victims of the Hollywood Blacklist during the 1950s, when the House Un-American Activities Committee investigated the political affiliations of Hollywood workers. Many people lost their careers and screenwriters such as Hugo and Jean were particularly targeted. In this excerpt, Jean recounts the night two men came to the door to deliver a subpoena. She and her family fled LA, eventually settling in Mexico, returning to CA 13 years later.
©2020.SHELLEYGAZIN. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This issue of Los Angeles-based publication CHASHM ANDAAZ , Iranian Jewish Chronicle, No.129 features a cover story interview with L.A. native, PHOTOGRAPHER SHELLEY GAZIN about her documentary project illuminating the immigration story of Iranian-Jews in Los Angeles, where the largest enclave of I-Js outside of Iran have made their home after escaping persecution in their native homeland.

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Hoy Marchamos Mañana Votamos (Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote), 2006 Los Angeles is home to millions of migrants and immigrants, many of whom are undocumented. A photograph of the March 25, 2006 demonstration for immigrant rights—the largest demonstration in California history with more than one million participants—promoted the May 1, 2006 immigrant rights march, attended by approximately 500,000. It opposed HR 4437, The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (passed in the House, defeated in the Senate).