Los Angeles experienced a population explosion during World War II. Airplane factories like Donald Douglas, Lockheed, and Northrop were producing 80% of the warplanes for the British and French before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Once the U.S. entered the war, they were churning out planes 24/7. The need for workers led to new opportunities for Blacks, Hispanics, and women, but racism and sexism were still prevalent. In this presentation, we’ll look at how the fear of a Japanese invasion of L.A. led to nightly blackouts, air-raid drills, rationing, and the internment of thousands of Japanese that Americans feared were enemies. We’ll also look at the Hollywood movies that fostered patriotism, and the songs that cheered up soldiers and civilians alike. We’ll conclude with a view of how the war changed L.A. for the future — sprawling suburbs, crowded freeways, and the first smog alerts.

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 1970s and ‘80s, Sharon was the Restaurant Critic of the (late) Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, and in the ‘90s she edited the annual Gayot Guidebooks for Los Angeles and other cities. She also wrote for magazines including Bon Appetit, Smithsonian, and Town & Country Travel. With her husband Paul, she wrote dozens of screenplays for feature films and television including Angel of Death (ABC) starring Jane Seymour. Her memoir/cookbook, “Let Us Eat Cake: Adventures in Food and Friendship” (Harper-Collins 2002), was a selection of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club. Raised in Seattle, Washington, Sharon moved to Los Angeles in 1966 after earning a California Lifetime Teaching credential at U.C. Berkeley. She taught high-school History, English, and Social Studies in L.A. for 11 years.