Looking north across the houses of Hollywood toward the Mulholland Dam in the Hollywood Hills, circa 1930s

Looking north across the houses of Hollywood toward the Mulholland Dam in the Hollywood Hills, circa 1930sIn this circa 1930s photo, we’re looking north across homes nestled into the Hollywood Hills toward the Mulholland Dam that holds back Hollywood Reservoir, aka Lake Hollywood. On March 12, 1928, the similarly built St. Francis Dam 30 miles northwest of LA collapsed causing the grave concerns that a similar fate might befall the Mulholland Dam. Consequently, tons of dirt was packed against the dam’s wall to make it more secure—and I suspect to help the people living in these houses forget that they lived in the path of a possible deluge.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

 

3 responses to “Looking north across the houses of Hollywood toward the Mulholland Dam in the Hollywood Hills, circa 1930s”

  1. Paula says:

    The San Francisquite dam disaster was devestating. I’d hope they’d have remembered it for a while!

  2. Bill Wolfe says:

    The excellent book, A Bright and Guilty Place, contains a vivid description of the St. Francis Dam collapse and its aftermath. (The whole book, in fact, is a must-read for anyone interested in Los Angeles in the 1920s.)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *