The City of Westchester California - Los Angeles' South Bay
November 21st, 2008
The following excerpts are from the Westchester/ LAX-Marina del Rey Chamber of Commerce:
Barley, beans, pigs, cattle and sheep were major commodities in our chamber service area during the late 19th century. By the early 20th century, railway and streetcar systems connected the coast along Playa del Rey and the vast land of Southern California to the east. Tourism and recreation brought many people to Playa del Rey and to what became known as Westchester, decades before World War II.
The decade of the 1920's was one that defined Los Angeles as a city where Hollywood movies and aviation were well established. Air races had already taken place on one of the Bennett ranches at Aviation Blvd. and Imperial Highway in the early 1920's.
By the early 1940's, Howard Hughes was building the Spruce Goose and manufacturing war related aircraft and components at the northern boundary of our chamber service area at Jefferson and Sepulveda Blvds. These 1,000 acres has provided hundreds of thousands of jobs. In July of 1941, Los Angeles Municipal Airport became known as Los Angeles Airport.
A combination of the best minds in the world designing and building aircraft and a world war with high demand for aircraft, attracted what became the "people" who made up the fabric of the Westchester community.
The Westchester Business Community is well positioned to move into the 21st Century, providing the necessary services to the community. Even though the challenges of the next century may seem formidable, when viewed from the perspective of a century of development of transportation, housing, jobs and technology, the future seems bright.
