My new favorite map, courtesy of the Library of Congress – the extremely detailed 1908 topo map of the (projected) Los Angeles Aqueduct system, all the way from Owens Valley to Inglewood.

BUT, not just water and  topo – this map superimposes the Old Spanish Grants on the landscape. AND, it records many old or forgotten place names: North Hollywood, for instance, is marked as “Toluca” – it’s P.O. name even before the town officially became “Lankershim”. There is a mysterious portion of Glendale called “Tropico”…. Similarly, the grasslands of West LA are given over to “Palms” – while Venice, its much more famous neighbor, was so recently founded (1905) it wasn’t even recorded.

PLUS, this map has both the Pacific Electric and the Southern Pacific systems clearly delineated. It even marks Harriman’s ill-fated “Port Los Angeles”, the mile-long mooring place/railroad spur that was meant to monopolize Pacific trade. But equally clearly, it marks out the installation that defeated Harriman’s scheme – the Alameda Corridor and the Port of San Pedro, belonging to the citizens of the City of the Angels. 

Topographic map of the Los Angeles aqueduct and adjacent territory