Anton Wagner's Images of Los Angeles

The California Historical Society is pleased to offer a sneak preview of images from our inaugural digitization project - the photographs of Anton Wagner, a PhD candidate at the University of Kiel, Germany, who came to Los Angeles to conduct research on the city’s growth from a dusty town into a metropolis. Wagner's photographs of Los Angeles between the years of 1932-1933 depict the Depression's impact on the rapidly growing urban landscape and demonstrate the socio-economic, ethnic, and cultural diversities of the Los Angeles region. 

We share only five of Wagner's images of Los Angeles, but stay tuned! The culmination of our pilot digitization project, scheduled in March 2016, will include all of Wagner's 438 photographs of Los Angeles' streets, neighborhoods, businesses, industries and landscapes and inhabitants. 

Looking west from Wall St. between 8th and 9th Sts., Los Angeles: 1932-1933 by Anton Wagner, PC17, California Historical Society. 

 Looking north on Wall St. from between 8th and 9th Sts., Los Angeles: 1932-1933 by Anton Wagner, PC17, California Historical Society.  

Drive-in market, northeast corner of Wilshire Blvd. and Hamilton Dr.,  Los Angeles: 1932-1933 by Anton Wagner, PC17, California Historical Society.  

Looking northwest from west of Mission Rd., pipe yard in foreground, Los Angeles: 1932-1933 by Anton Wagner, PC17, California Historical Society.  

Buddhist temple, Terminal Way, Terminal Island, Los Angeles: 1932-1933 by Anton Wagner, PC17, California Historical Society.  

N. Bunkerhill St. from Boston, looking north at rooming houses where Mexicans live, Los Angeles: 1932-1933 by Anton Wagner, PC17, California Historical Society.  

If you would like to know more about Anton Wagner and his photographs take a look at an earlier blog post written CHS' own, Shelly Kale.

Jaime Henderson,
Archivist/Digital Archivist
jhenderson@calhist.org