Historical maps of Los Angeles (and other cities)

[Gokhan]

This is pretty amazing. Click on Los Angeles (or another city) and then click on a map. Then navigate by zooming and panning:

hypercities.ats.ucla.edu/

[James Fujita]

I always enjoy looking at old maps.

It's a bit surprising and amusing to see 1955 with no Dodger Stadium, no Santa Monica Freeway (the Harbor Freeway is marked off as proposed, so why not the 10?), "proposed yacht harbor" just south of Venice... LAX is there, although the original terminal, not the loop.

And just as a reminder of how much things have changed, Santa Barbara Avenue in a world still segregated.

A bit disappointing that this one doesn't mark off rail lines. My AAA maps show the ATSF, UP and the Blue Line...

EDIT: The 1946 map is better. It shows the lead-in tracks for the Pacific Electric Station, and the P.E. Long Beach line, although there are gaps where there was street-running.

And it shows how Figueroa morphs into the Arroyo Seco Parkway, north of the "French Hospital"

[metrocenter]

I was surprised to see how Alameda and Spring Streets were configured near Chinatown (formerly Little Italy).

Spring Street used to connect to North Spring Street (of course). And heading north, Alameda used to turn at Chinatown and continue east. Now, all that is left of that old stretch of Alameda is little Alhambra Street: the rest is now a dedicated rail ROW.

[jeisenbe]

I like the map of the Spanish land grants. It clearly shows that Western was the west border of the original land grant city, and Easter was the east side of the territory.

Also, it appears that the diagonal course of Alamitos Avenue in Long Beach was actually the original boundary between Rancho Alamitos and Rancho Cerritos. It's amazing how these old lines, likely drawn without much thought to local geography, are now permanent parts of the landscape.