At the time this map was printed, Los Angeles County was booming with droves of new arrivals pouring in mostly from the East Coast. According to the U.S. Census the county’s population had grown by 196% during the decade following 1900, and reached 504,131 by to 1910. At the following census in 1920, the county’s population had swelled to 936,455, which translates to another 85.8% increase within 10 years . Within 20 years of 1900, the population had increased by 5 1/2 times, and 13 times by 1930, ending the year with a total population of 2,208,492.

Few of the new settlers had cars at first. Most arrived by railroad. But the first automobile affordable to middle-class Americans, the Ford Model T was already in its 9th year of production when the above map was printed. There was a frenzy to build electric tram lines and a bus infrastructure, but people’s preferences, and the future of personal transportation, were clear. Then as now, people preferred private automobiles over communally shared vehicles the same way as they prefer private bathrooms over public toilets – and for much the same reasons, always will.

By the end of production in 1927, Ford had sold 14,689,525 Model Ts at a price of $260 for the least expensive models. (At the time of this writing, this would amount to an inflation-adjusted price of roughly $5,000 in 2025).

Many Los Angeles area roads at the time were still unpaved and rural.

Melrose Avenue, 1910

The various towns, settlements and cities were scattered about the vast county, and surrounded by farm or ranch land. Some of the cities on the map shown above no longer exist, but were absorbed by Los Angeles or other cities. Examples (on the Westside) are the historic City of Sawtelle and the town of Venice, which were annexed by the City of Los Angeles, and the City of Ocean Park, which opted to join the City of Santa Monica.

In 1910, the semi-rural town of Hollywood had voted to merge with Los Angeles in order to secure an adequate water supply and to gain access to the L.A. sewer system. This was very common development at the time, and one which many cities later bitterly regretted.

The community of Pacific Palisades, which was consumed by the horrendous fire of 2025, didn’t yet exist, neither did the City of Malibu, nor the Roosevelt Highway (later renamed to “Pacific Coast Highway”). But there was a “Beach Road” along the coast, as well as a steam rail line from Downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica. The latter was how most beach goers arrived to take a few days of respite from the summer heat further inland.

By 1912, some motion-picture companies had moved out West to set up production facilities near or in Los Angeles, one of the first one being short lived Nestor Studios. (Originally known as Nestor Motion Picture Company, then Nestor Film Company, it merged with the Universal Film Manufacturing Company, headed by Carl Laemmle, in 1912).

At the time, the pioneering movie studios were still a newfangled and rather suspect industry, viewed with skepticism by investors and cultural guardians alike. They certainly weren’t the main reason why people from all over North America (and Europe) wanted to move to Los Angeles. More important factors were the discovery of vast oilfields, seemingly endless opportunities to make money and fortunes, affordable land on which one could build quickly, cheaply, and year-round, a pleasant climate, and plentiful supply of fresh meat, fruit and vegetables throughout the year.

But I would argue that of all industries, it was the motion picture industry which drove America’s rapid motorization in the first part of the 20th Century. Cinemas would soon reach every corner of the country. And there, on big silver screens, huge crowds of people saw all segments of society happily motoring around Southern California. Often in open cars no less, far from snow and ice, and enjoying the joys of personal, individual transportation. The car industry back east could not have invented a better publicity campaign.