How Californians were convinced to live in the hills


If you've ever walked out to your backyard and pondered where to put the picnic table, you've done the most basic land surveying possible. And it's easy, you find a nice level piece of ground, not too far away from the backdoor, and set up the table and chairs there. If your backyard had lumps and bumps, and maybe sloped up steeply in one corner, you probably wouldn't set up your table over there. You could, of course, by using some complex engineering, possibly with stilts for the table, or by building a level platform, but chances are you'd just put the table on the most logical place. And that's how places like Los Angeles began, on the flats.

The hills were nice to look at, but no one in their right mind would go to the trouble and expense of building on them, until the space on the flats became very expensive, which happened so long ago in Los Angeles that most people don't even think about it.

As an old marketing guy, I gotta tell ya that I'd have seen it as a real challenge to convince people back in 1910 to live in the hills of Los Angeles. Of course I'd emphasize that the land would be cheaper, and less crowded. I'd also say that it was more exclusive, as you would be above the crowding, with a view, possibly to the sea. There was no truth in advertising in 1910! I would emphasize that you would be above the dirt and smoke of the city, and even go so far as to name a city "Bel Air" (Good Air). I would be very careful to keep the neighborhoods from getting ratty, and I'd do everything I could to get rid of the unsightly (and smelly) oil wells that dotted the hills.

Getting to and from these houses on the hills would require a car, as you sure as heck didn't want to try to trudge up there on foot, so it became connected with the wealth of car ownership, and little by little the convenience of taking the trolley car, and walking to your favorite restaurant became something that "simply wasn't done" by the right people in Los Angeles. Nobody walks in LA!

Could I interest you in a hillside lot?
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