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Lost LA
The Firefall: The Yosemite Tourist Attraction That Couldn’t Exist Today
If the idea of a waterfall made of fire seems too good to be true, that's because it is. The firefall — which was a virtual waterfall but made of fire — was a completely artificial construct created as a gimmick using bonfire embers thrown over a cliff to entertain the crowds of Yosemite. But the crowds it drew for nearly a century was also the reason it came to an end; the throngs of visitors were damaging the delicate meadow adjacent to Camp Curry in order to view the Glacier Point spectacle. Park Ranger Scott Gediman was a young boy when the nightly event stopped but still vividly recalls it as "the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life!"
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26:39
This episode explores how surfers, bodybuilders, and acrobats taught Californians how to have fun and stay young at the beach — and how the 1966 documentary The Endless Summer shared the Southern California idea of the beach with the rest of the world.
26:40
California’s deserts have sparked imaginations around the world. This episode explores the creation of the Salton Sea; the effort to preserve Joshua Tree National Park; and how commercial interests created desert utopias like Palm Springs.
51:47
"Lost L.A.: Descanso Gardens" explores the history of one of southern California's most-beloved public gardens.
26:50
Americans have long looked at the California shore and seen the end of the continent. Instead, this episode interprets that sandy edge as the beginning of a Pacific world.
25:06
See how the many restrictions many Angelenos had to navigate, exposing Los Angeles as a place of coded segregation and resistance.
23:50
Los Angeles is often identified with Hollywood, but there's more to the entertainment industry than its facade of movie stars and blockbuster films.
25:32
Wood, iron, steel, concrete -- these are the materials that gave form to Los Angeles and shaped its identity in the national imagination. This episode also questions the cultural legacy and environmental costs of the city's relentless growth.
26:50
American history has long been told as a triumphant march westward from the Atlantic coast, but in southern California, our history stretches back further in time.
28:32
In this episode, "Lost LA" examines how the modern metropolis has reshaped its own topography. The program explores downtown L.A.'s lost hills and tunnels, as well as the vanished canals of Venice Beach.
20:57
In this episode, "Lost LA" explores the various ways Southern California's inhabitants have used the hills around Dodger Stadium.