Thread by @bennetkelley

1/20 September 4, 1781 is the official date for the "founding" of El Pueblo de la Reina de los Angeles" ("The Town of the Queen of the Angels") by Spanish settlers - its second settlement in California. Below are some events that shaped this great city. #LosAngeles

2/ With Mexico gaining independence from Spain, Los Angeles became the capital of Alta California, bringing in many immigrants, including Frenchman Jean-Louis Vignes in 1831 who started a vineyard and built LA into a wine powerhouse. #LosAngeles atlasobscura.com/articles/histo…

3/ After the Mexican-American War, LA was incorporated as a US city on April 4, 1850. It soon gained a reputation as the toughest and most lawless city west of Santa Fe, with lynchings of Mexicans and an assault on the Chinese population. #LosAngeles

4/ In 1892, Edward Doheny discovered oil north of DTLA, by 1923 the region was producing one-quarter of the world's total supply. #LosAngeles

5/ In the 1890's, the LA Times' editor Harrison Otis pushes for Congress to develop a port in San Pedro (now part of LA) free from railroad control (they favored Santa Monica) and today it is the nation's largest. #LosAngeles

6/ A growing city in the desert needed water which led to the California Water Wars, giving water to the city through the Los Angeles Aqueduct and tragedy with the St. Francis Dam collapse. #LosAngeles

7/ As the turn of the century brought the progressive and labor movements, the Los Angeles Times played a prominent role in suppressing it, which led to its bombing in 1910. #LosAngeles

8/ By 1912, many motion picture companies had located in Los Angeles to escape patent suits by NJ based Edison and due to the climate which permitted year-round filming. Today Hollywood is the entertainment capital of the world. #LosAngeles

9/ LA's population grew from 319,200 in 1910 to 1,238,048 by 1930. It had become a World-Class City and pulled off a successful Olympics in the middle of the great depression. #LosAngeles laweekly.com/the-story-of-l…

10/ World War 2 transformed LA in two ways, it boomed as an aerospace manufacturing hub and fell victim to hysteria as was seen in the bizarre February 1942 "Battle of Los Angeles" in which anti-aircraft guns fired at nothing. #LosAngeles

11/ While the war fueled further population growth, the area lost 36,866 of its Japanese citizens to internment camps. Today the Japanese American National Museum stands in Little Tokyo at one of the pickup locations for the camps. #LosAngeles

12/ In 1946, the NFL's Cleveland Rams became the first big league team to move to the west coast. LA Coliseum was happy to have them as long as the integrated, thus breaking the racial barrier in football. LA was now a big-league town. vice.com/en_us/article/… #losangeles

13/ As the city enjoyed its post-war boom, it abandoned a vast rail network that ran throughout SoCal in favor of freeways. What could go wrong? #LosAngeles theguardian.com/cities/2016/ap…

14/ LA was not exempt from the social unrest of the 1960's and 1970's with the Watt's riots in 1965 and the Chicano Moratorium Movement in 1970. #LosAngeles

15/ In 1984, the Summer Olympics were back in Los Angeles just as the city had surpassed Chicago as the nation's second-largest city. #LosAngeles

16/ In 1994, as the region was suffering from the loss of defense jobs following the end of the Cold War, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake shook the region, snapping the Santa Monica freeway in two. The city rebuilt in record time. #LosAngeles

17/ Staples Center opens in '99 as home to Lakers, Kings, and Clippers. Lakers win a title their first three years there, as LA LIve complex fuels revitalization of downtown. #LosAngeles

18/ In the 21st century, LA has becomes a tech hub as Silicon Valley looks for convergence with Hollywood and Silicon Beach is born. #LosAngeles

19/ LA has been chosen to host the Olympics and World Cup final again in the next decade. And why not, with people from 140 different countries, speaking roughly 86 different language - what better place is there. #LosAngeles

20/ Happy Birthday #LosAngeles