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Los Angeles City Planning Commission Collection
URB.LACPC
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Los Angeles City Planning Commission Collection
Creator:
Los Angeles City Planning Commission
Identifier/Call Number: URB.LACPC
Extent:
12.14 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1953-2000
Abstract: The
Los Angeles
City Planning Commission Collection
(LACPC) documents an important transitional
period in the history of urban planning in Los Angeles, which is characterized by a movement
from Citywide comprehensive planning toward community and region-based planning over the
last half of the twentieth century. The collection includes records and publications which
document the day-to-day business of LACPC, city planning in specific geographic areas,
communities, or districts, and department's vision of the city as a whole.
Language of Material: English
In 1910, the Los Angeles City Council established a fifteen member Planning Committee to
assist in the development of a plan to improve the City. Ten years later, the Planning
Committee was replaced by a fifty-two-member City Planning Commission made up of community
leaders from civic groups across Los Angeles and one professional planner, George Gordon
Whitnall. In 1925, The City Planning Commission was reduced to five members, who were all
professional urban planners, and Whitnall was appointed to lead the department. During the
1940s and 1950s, the Commission developed height, area, density, and parking regulations,
and standard zone categories. In the mid-1970s, the Los Angeles City Council adopted the
Centers Concept, which envisioned the City as a network of urban centers connected by a rail
transit system. In the 1990s, City Council developed a new guiding document called the
General Plan Framework, which directs plans for future growth in population, jobs, and
housing into neighborhood districts, community centers, regional centers, the downtown
center, and industrial districts as part of a strategy for comprehensive planning across the
City. In 2000, The City Planning Commission was expanded from five to nine members and seven
Area Planning Commissions were established.
Today, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning is charged with the responsibility of
preparing, maintaining, and implementing a General Plan for the development of the City of
Los Angeles. The General Plan consists of the Framework Element, which provides overall
guidance for the future of the city and other citywide elements including state mandated
elements such as the Transportation, Housing, Open Space and Land Use Elements. The Citywide
General Plan Framework is based on a directed growth strategy which targets residential and
commercial growth along boulevards, corridors and clustered development around high activity
centers and around transit opportunities.
The Land Use Element of the General Plan is comprised of thirty-five community plans,
which depict a range of allowable land uses, unique to individual communities. Community
Plans are intended to promote an arrangement of land uses, streets, and services which
encourage and contribute to the economic, social and physical health, safety, welfare, and
convenience of the people who live and work there. The Planning Department implements the
General Plan utilizing a variety of tools through the application of zoning regulations to
regulate the use of land in the city.
The
Los Angeles City Planning Commission Collection (LACPC)
documents an important transitional period in the history of urban planning in Los Angeles.
The Centers Concept, developed in the late 1960s through the early 1970s designated
forty-eight centers within the metropolitan study area, twenty-nine of which were located
within the City of Los Angeles, and focused on five basic components: major centers with a
high intensity of development and activity; low density suburbs comprised of single family
residences and local businesses; open spaces comprised of private and public parks;
industrial areas convenient to housing and freight transportation; and, a comprehensive
transportation system which included freeways, rapid transit, a region-wide air terminal
system, and freight movement and terminal systems. The LACPC Collection includes many
documents, publications, reports, correspondence, and other types of records which
demonstrate the City's movement toward community-based planning over the last half of the
twentieth century. The collection is arranged into three major series:
Administrative Files (1968-1995),
City of Los Angeles
(1963-1996), and
Communities and Districts (1953-2000).
Series I,
Administrative Files, documents the day-to-day
business of the Los Angeles City Planning Department, including department policies and
procedures, meeting minutes and notes, correspondence, legislation news, legal documents,
reference materials. This series is arranged alphabetically and chronologically within.
Series II,
City of Los Angeles, documents the Los Angeles City
Planning Department's vision of the city as a whole, and includes: plans, proposals,
reports, studies, maps, and informational brochures. This series is arranged into three
subseries. Subseries A,
General and Proposed Development
(1967-1996), documents citywide goals, priorities, and implementation strategies, as part of
the General Plan of the City of Los Angeles. Subseries B,
Transportation, Land Use, and Environmental Concerns (1968-1996), documents the
City's planning process with an emphasis on environmental impact, meeting goals for
preserving open space, and providing public recreation opportunities. Subseries C,
Infrastructure and Safety (1963-1987), documents the City's
development of safety guidelines for fire, earthquake, and flood, standards to alleviate air
traffic noise, and recommendations for safeguarding public schools against potential
dangers. Each subseries is arranged alphabetically and chronologically within.
Series III,
Communities and Districts, documents city planning
in specific geographic areas, communities, or districts that fall under the Land Use
Elements as organized by the LAPC. This series provides neighborhood level details,
policies, and implementation strategies, and includes: plans, proposals, studies, reports,
correspondence, memoranda, maps, and other records relevant to neighborhood planning. The
series is arranged into five subseries:
North San Fernando Valley
Area
(1965-2000),
South San Fernando Valley Area
(1970-1995),
Central Area (1968-1990),
East,
West, South, and Harbor Areas
(1974-1995), and
Out of
Area
(1953-ca. 1992). Within each subseries materials are arranged alphabetically
by title and chronologically within.
Series I: Administrative Files, 1968-1995
Series II: City of Los Angeles, 1963-1996
Subseries A: General and Proposed Development, 1967-1996
Subseries B: Transportation, Land Use, and Environmental Concerns, 1968-1996
Subseries C: Infrastructure and Safety, 1963-1987
Series III: Communities and Districts, 1953-2000
Subseries A: North San Fernando Valley Area, 1965-2000
Subseries B: South San Fernando Valley Area, 1970-1995
Subseries C: Central Area, 1968-1990
Subseries D: East, West, South, and Harbor Areas, 1974-1995
Subseries E: Out of Area, 1953-ca. 1992
The collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has been transferred to California State University, Northridge. Copyright
status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected
by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the
written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
2005
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Victoria Brinn Feinberg, Tim Dagodag, 09/11/2003.
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual,
or see the
Citing Archival Materials
guide.
Holli Teltoe, 2016
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Maps
Documents
Photographs