How the Urban West was Won

Abstract

The author examines early Los Angeles's transition from an essentially entrepreneurial growth regime (1880-1906) to a more state-centered growth regime (1906-1932). The analysis highlights the role of public infrastructure projects-water, power, and the harbor- and of powerful local bureaucracies, such as the Department of Water and Power, in shaping the region's Progressive Era development. Los Angeles's reliance upon a public strategy of economic development is placed in comparative regional perspective. In the early twentieth century, the local state served as a key instrument of economic development throughout the urban West.