Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-07-22
mONUAx, JULY 2s, 1859.
The Los Angeles of the Future.

The Los Angeles OF the fut"ie.
The presence of an occasional croaker
in our midst leads us to take summary
of the present and future of Los Angeles.
We have no apology for the fact that we
are an optimist as to everything which
pertains to this lovely and incompatible |
city and county.
When the writer first saw Los Angeles
It was a miserable 'dobe town. That was
in the spring of 1S73-in April OF that
wear. There were then, in truth, only
score of modern, Americsn-looking build
ings, business and residence, in balli-
wick which then, as now, comprised
nearly thirty-six square miles. The
Temple Block, the Downey Block, the
Pico House, and three or four
other buildings, embraced the mod
ern business improvements. On the
hills there were only two or three
edifices, all told. Mr.. P. Beaudry and
Mr.. j. W. Potts were then engaged IN
cutting Temple street through the hills.
The place where the magnificent Brad
bury residence now stands could prob
ably have been bought for $5 front
foot, and where the residence of Mrs. E.
B. Crocker now commands an incom'
parable valley the prices would have
been very much less.
All the magnificent southwestern por'
tion of the city-the region which now
embraces the superb residences on Pearl
and Figuroa, Washington and Adams
streets, Hill and Olive streets, could have
been bought for mere song, and was
practically inaccessible. A feeble line OF
street cars ran within short distance OF
the Nichols mansion, on Pearl street. In
all the extended section which toiay
contains as many palaces as any western
city except Chicago, there was at that
time only half dozen modern houses.
The present gracious and promising
city of Los Angeles was really 'dobe
abortion, both as residence and busi-
ness proposition, in the spring of 1873.
With the exception of the High School,
which had been erected on the hill where
the splendid new courthouse is now be-
ing built, there was no public building
worthy the name. The Jail was a
wretched 'dobe affair, and the wonder
was that it successfully restrained of
his liberty such a famous malefactor as
Vasquez.
The city of Los Angeles today contains
business edifices that ask no odds of Chi
cago. Spring and Main streets are
aligned by buildings which are equal to
anything to be seen in San Francisco,
although even at as late a day as five
years ago there were not more
than six stores between First street
and the gore which marks the
merging of those streets into Main
at the junction. Wherever one turns,
an interminable succession of fine resi-
dence and business edifces greets one.
The last five or six years has Witnessed
the Transformation of Los Angeles from
'dobe city to one which vies with any
city on the continent in the elegance OF
her buildings. What shall we see in the
future?
The great changes which we have
briefly noted have resulted from our tre-
mendous railway developments, which
seem to be merely in their initial The
growth of this city began when few
stage coaches to San Bernardino, to San
Pedro and towards the North, with
weekly trips of the Goodall, Nelson &
Perkins steamers, calling at San
PnHVn nd
weekly, were all the transporta.
ton facilities we could claim. Now
three distinct transcontinental railways,
with ramifications which embrace two
more, contribute to our growth. Other
railway projects are aiming at Los An
gelee as terminus. What are we, in
view of the past, to expect of the future
In our opinion, judging the future from
the past, Los Angeles in the next five
years will be the handsomest city west
of the Rocky Mountains. The desire to
enjoy its exquisite climate will of itself be
enough to fill it in that period with one
hundred and fifty thousand of the most
eclectic people on the American con.
tinent. The number of people who will
settle here with Independent incomes, in |
the next half decade, will of itself give
a stamp of elegance and stability to this
community not elsewhere rivaled |
in the United States. But this
population will not be inert.
1t will be composed largely
ofpersons who have not survived their
business usefulness, but who will pursue
their daily avocations under climate
which will stimulate them to successful
business careers.
Then the fact should not be overlook ed |
that the finest mineral developments on
the continent will shortly concenter at
Los Angeles, and that the building of the
Union Pacific railway and the extension
of the Carson and Colorado to this point
will make it a center of smelling and |
manufacturing enterprises, with cheap
coal and abundant iron as factors in the |
proposition. The mines of the precious
metals in the immediate neighborhood
of Los Angeles will also contribute greatly |