Los angeles city of quartz
Los angeles-city of quartzClass war and repression are said to have driven the Los Angeles Socialists into the desert. (Pg. 9) Why would anyone want to live in the desert? The once militarized desert, created a place for people to have homes. With the population growing in such large numbers and the land growing scarce they had to begin developing the vacant land. The population needed a place to live. (Pg. 4) Dirt and dollar signs, and advertising homes with lush names appealed to the middle and upper classes. The fact that they could live in the fastest growing metropolis in the advanced industrial world made them excited. The city of Los Angeles was new and still developing. In the meantime, the economic state was changing. The rich got richer, the poor were even more poor and the middle class was cut in half. Everything about the growing city seemed perfect, and I suppose for some it was. However, along with growth and change there comes crime. Several incidents took place in Los Angeles against people of color involving the police. Anglos became a minority in the city and county of Los Angeles during the 1980's. (Pg. 7) The city of Los Angeles was created for the white, urbanized, higher middle and upper classes.
I think Davis' primary thesis or point in the book is just that. Los Angeles was being developed into a city for the wealthy by the wealthy. He describes all the hardships that the poor and middle classes go through to survive in the city. The middle and lower classes are completely separated from the wealthy society as Los Angeles is built and after it exists. It is amazing how the wealthy can create such a perfect utopia for themselves, especially being the minority and with all the people fighting against them. I guess things worked out for them because they fought so hard for all of the changes and ways they wanted things laid out.
The biggest fight for the wealthy was the development of Los Angeles. The Home Owners Association made up of the wealthy also played a huge role in the development of the Los Angeles area. The fact that the Home Owners did not want to be classified with the less expensive part of Los Angeles or the wrong side of town caused an uproar. This began what is known as the "slow growth movement." (Pg. 156) The first major ground breaking event for the Home Owners Association was in 1985 when they won in court to stop the building of high-rise development. Then the Home Owners Association had Proposition U, which reduced the development of commercial property. Along with those fights, the Home Owners Association also fought for street signs designating that the wealthy lived there. Without spelling it out certain street signs...
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