Los Angeles in the 1970s: Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine

With the tragic and bloody ending to the optimistic 1960s in Los Angeles's fabled hills, the 1970s became a defining decade in the city. Marked by the Manson murders, rampant inflation, and recession, the decade seemed to usher in a gritty and unsightly reality. The city of glitz and glamour overnight became the city of smog and traffic, a cultural and environmental wasteland.

Los Angeles in the 1970s was a complex and complicated city with local cultural touchstones that rarely made it near...