Hollywood's Golden Age: The 1930s in Los Angeles

The stock market crash in 1929 ushered in the Great Depression of the 1930s. The United States economy tanked, but that didn’t stop Hollywood. The major movie studios churned out everything from screwball comedies and westerns to extravagant musicals and fans paid 25 cents each to escape their troubles in front of the big screen. In this lecture, we will explore and watch clips of some of the greatest films. We also look beyond Hollywood to other aspects of the 1930s that impacted Angelenos, including the growth of the Hispanic minority, the corruption at City Hall that led to the recall of Mayor Frank Shaw and the fashions, food, and fads that caught the public’s attention. 

Sharon Boorstin is a contributing writer for the Los Angeles Times, specializing in lifestyle, food and travel. In 2019 she won Visit California’s Eureka Award for Best Newspaper Travel Article. In the ‘90s she edited the annual Gayot Guidebooks for Los Angeles and other cities. Raised in Seattle, Washington, Boorstin moved to Los Angeles in 1966 after earning a California Lifetime Teaching credential at UC Berkeley.

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