This Day in History: 1954-10-09

Smog Siege hits LA in early October, 1954. Unlike previous smog episodes typical of London or industrial cities like Donora, Pa., the Los Angeles smog is produced by automobiles. In the 1954 photo here, members of the Optimists Club are seen wearing gas masks, which was a familiar and semi-serious response to the smog episodes. A sign hanging in the back says “Why wait until 1955? We might not even be alive.” A more serious response was the creation of the California The Bureau of Air Sanitation in 1955 which became the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in 1967. Other photos and information are here.  Los Angeles continues to have the nation’s worst smog, two decades into the 21st century, according to the American Lung Association’s annual “State of the Air” 2019 report.