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The post-war decade was a great sporting era. Golfers spent half a billion dollars annually on their game and others took eagerly to tennis and skiing. The Dempsey fights provided the newspapers with gossip and speculation for weeks, and on the night of the fight, forty million people listened by radio. |
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Public taste in sporting exhibitions was becoming a little jaded and efforts were made to find something novel. Flag-pole sitting, “Bunion Derbys” and marathon dancing became freak shows as people tried to make money by breaking records. In 1928, it became a misdemeanor in Los Angeles to participate in dances, runs, rolls, walks or any other endurance contests because it was dangerous to the health of participants. |
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Suffering during the First World War inspired doctors and scientists to work hard at finding cures for diseases, and ways of saving life. General Hospital in Los Angeles was constructed in the late twenties to become one of the largest hospitals in the world. |
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There was a post-war revolution in manners and moral brought about by prohibition, the automobile, the movies and the new status of women. Not everyone shared in the wild goings-on, but there was undoubtedly a general desire for more pleasure and entertainment in the lives of ordinary people. |
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For her fruits of the earth, California borrowed from afar - the navel orange from Brazil, Valencia oranges, Spanish and Italian olives, dates and figs from the Bible lands … and all visitors to Southern California were reminded that residents enjoy their strawberry shortcake in December and July. |
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Across the water to England went California oranges and gasoline … Java and Manila her sardines … Germany received the Borax. Raw materials were brought to Los Angeles at a low cost, fabricated into the finished article and shipped to the near and distant consumer. |
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World War I had speeded up the amazing proliferation of inventions and labor-saving devices. It and also brought working women into the public focus. The population jump and exceptional prosperity were a challenge to Californian industry. |
