I can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like to witness this disaster unfold. At 4.10pm on the afternoon of March 5, 1929, an electrical circuit sparked a fire at the Los Angeles Auto Show, which was being held under four large tents at the corner of Hill St and Washington Blvd south of downtown LA. None of the 2500 people attending the show were harmed, but the nearly 400 cars were ruined beyond saving. I’d imagine the pall of smoke (and the smell) must have hung in the air for days.
This is how the show looked before the fire took hold. I love how they even had landscaping:
The Mode-O-Day building looking over 1924 auto show fire:
Those tents are dangerous! I read a book about the fire in the circus tent in Hartford Connecticut back in the 40s. They used to coat the tents in paraffin (!) to make them waterproof. But that made them dangerously more flammable.
Look at those beautiful auto that were destroyed. This photo just breaks my heart.
Would love to travel back in time to see all the new models. Would be fun to watch all the people checking out the cars. About 6+ months before the depression, a lot of people there with money to spend.