LOS ANGELES 1960'S-The backdrop for The Mouse That Became The Cat

A brief pictorial of Los Angeles in the 1960's. The backdrop.

LOS ANGELES- WILSHIRE BOULEVARD 1960'S
It starts in downtown Los Angeles and travels through the city, Beverly Hills, Westwood, West Los Angeles and stops at the Pacific Ocean.

​The ten years between 1960 and 1969 were turbulent and chaotic for the Country and Los Angeles.

The first chapter of my book opens prior to a devastating event in Bel Air/Brentwood. November 6, 1961, Los Angeles suffered three days of destructive bush fires. The Bel-Air—Brentwood fires destroying 484 expensive homes and 21 other buildings along with 15,810 acres (64 km²) of brush in the Bel-Air, Brentwood, and Topanga Canyon neighborhoods.

Most of the homes destroyed had wooden shake roofs, which not only led to their own loss but also sent firebrands up to three miles (5 km) away. 

Up until the early 1960's Los Angeles had a very efficient streetcar system which died and even unto this day its death floats around the idea that Standard Oil, General Motors, and Goodrich Tires colluded in destroying mass transit.

Known as General Motors streetcar conspiracy 

Twenty years later Los Angeles began preparations for a new subway and rail system at the cost of well over a billion dollars, which to this day is still being expanded.

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Organized crime flourished in the City, which I briefly touch on. On Nov 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas Texas.

April 4th, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis and two months later, Robert F. Kennedy while running for president was assassinated on June 6, 1968 in Los Angeles.

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During the Viet Nam War Los Angeles held several marches and peace rallies against the United States involvement in an unwinnable war.

​It was the first time in modern history that the people stood up in mass against the
US Government and said, "No, we won't go!"

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To the rest of the world Los Angeles was one large glamorous movie set. Palm trees, beaches, movie and television studios, Hollywood, and starlets. It was a city with double standards.

If you were a minority living in Los Angeles the city was not rainbows and dreams come true. Minorities who had served in World War II or worked in L.A.'s defense industries returned to face increasing patterns of discrimination in housing. More and more, they found themselves excluded from the suburbs and restricted to housing in East or South Los Angeles, Watts, and Compton. Such real-estate practices severely restricted educational and economic opportunities. Decades of police mistreatment and other racial injustices eventually lead to the Watts riots of 1965, after a minor traffic incident resulted in four days of rioting. 

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THE FICTIONAL STORY

In the 1960's Los Angeles was a thriving industrial city. Industries like auto, steel, aeronautics, furniture, movies, all began to see changes and the beginning of their eventual demise a decade later.
George, the protagonist begins his story in Los Angeles at the age of twelve. Terrible events happen to George, permanently altering his life.

​Forced to confront the insanity of a madman George himself is driven over the edge of reality.

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