Other than speed bumps in 2020 and 2024, L.A.'s air quality has overall improved over the last ten years.
Photo from L.A. Times Photographic Collection at UCLA Library.
1948. A school girl reads the Christmas story at a combined Christmas-Hannukah program at Evergreen Avenue School. In that year, Boyle Heights had become, over three decades, the largest Jewish community in Los Angeles and the largest west of Chicago. That same year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down "restrictive covenants" as unconstitutional that barred Jewish and non-white families from buying homes outside designated neighborhoods (80% of Los Angeles homes had been under restrictive convenants - see Redlining in Los Angeles County). With that discriminatory obstacle removed, Jewish families began relocating from Boyle Heights to other parts of Los Angeles, particularly the more affluent westside, and throughout Los Angeles County. Evergreen Avenue Elementary School continues to educate children in Boyle Heights today.
This Altadena display is the oldest large-scale Christmas lighting display in the world.
