Vintage, panoramic, "bird's eye view" map of the Los Angeles Basin from the mid to late 19th Century

Los Angeles Planning History Group

Exploring planning history in Los Angeles to consider lessons for shaping its future

The Los Angeles Planning History Group (LAPHG) explores planning history in the Los Angeles region, including its individual cities, to learn from the past and consider lessons for shaping the future.

LAPHG promotes the understanding and study of the Los Angeles region’s history through programs and conferences, the collection and preservation of major plans, oral and written histories and related documents in planning and related disciplines.

“The idea of the Centers Concept, and one of the key phrases in the Concept Los Angeles Plan, was “to preserve the low-density residential character of Los Angeles; protect stable, single-family residential neighborhoods from encroachment by other uses; and rehabilitate or rebuild deteriorated single-family residential areas for the same use.” – Ken Bernstein

Proposed regional centers and transit blueprint from the Concept Los Angeles General Plan, 1970 — Proposed regional centers and transit blueprint from the Concept Los Angeles General Plan, published in 1970.

By the late 1970s, the historical legacy of major land use plans and documents for the Los Angeles region was disappearing at an alarming rate. Concerned planners from local agencies, such as the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles, and archivists from The Huntington Library, gathered informally in the early 1980s to establish a strategy for preservation and education. From these meetings LAPHG emerged.

Exterior of the Huntington Library, Pasadena CA, via Wikimedia Commons

LAPHG incorporated in 1984 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving municipal, county and private sector planning documents from throughout the Los Angeles region. Thousands of documents have been donated to the Huntington Library by the County of Los Angeles, members of the LAPHG Board, and the professional planning community. The following are a few of the document collections that have been facilitated by LAPHG.

Exterior of the USC Library, Los Angeles CA, via Wikimedia Commons

County of Los Angeles Works Progress Administration land use maps (1936-1939) and other land use maps (The Huntington Library and Digital Catalog)
City of Los Angeles Works Progress Administration land use maps (1936-1939) and other land use maps (USC Library and Digital Catalog)
Southern California Regional Planning Collection (The Huntington Library and Digital Catalog, and Online Archive of California)
Calvin S. Hamilton Papers (The Huntington Library and Digital Catalog, and Online Archive of California)