City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles

Boosterism was the myth that lured natives of the East Coast and Midwest to Los Angeles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Myth makers, such as Lummis, created a narrative of Southern California as a land of sunshine and high “land values and health cures” against the backdrop of historic Spanish missions (26). White, Protestant natives of the Eastern states, who were weary of cold winters and the influx of new Jewish and Catholic immigrants, were invited to try their fortune and invest in Southern Californian real estate. Davis argues that the Boosterism myth is responsible for the speculation that led to high property values and a building boom—phenomena that have lasted until this day. Boosterism, with its emphasis on the Spanish missions, “censored, and repressed from view” the period between 1821 and 1848 where California had been under Mexican rule, and the grim tale of how the ruling Mexican elite died paupers as the WASP version of California came into place (26).

Incorporation refers to the “separate incorporation of small populations” in Los Angeles (164). This gained momentum in wealthier zones of the city after the 1950s Korean War, when new laws “allowed suburban communities to reclaim control over zoning and land use without the burden of public expenditures” (166).