As the region's oldest air quality monitoring station, the South Coast Air Quality Management District's downtown Los Angeles station has been home to the gamut of technologies used through the years to measure air pollution. The station was first operated by the old Los Angeles County Air Pollution Control District at 5201 Santa Fe St. before being relocated to the agency's headquarters at 434 South San Pedro in 1955. In 1979 it was moved to its present location at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power facility at 1630 N. Main St. The highest ozone level the station ever recorded was .68 parts per million in 1955 and the lowest was .14 ppm in 1996.
Ozone is a chief component of smog.
During the station's early years, everything was done by hand. Air pollution researchers set jars outside for up to 36 hours to collect fallout air samples. Then using qualitative and quantitative laboratory methods they determined air quality levels. The monitoring equipment was large, cumbersome and would be subject to interference from time to time, Bope said. In addition to equipment, the laboratory was home to a variety of small animals used to test the health effects of air pollution.