These Photos Show Just How Much LA Has Changed Over the Years

L.A., the City of Angels, La-La Land, Tinseltown … whatever your preferred name for Los Angeles, you have to know a few things about it. There are the sandy beaches, streets lined with palm trees, and more celebrities than IMDb can count. So much has happened since the city was founded way back in 1871. But we’re narrowing in on the last 100 years or so, when we started seeing studios pop up all over town and Old Hollywood took over. From the founding of the Griffith Observatory to the history-making O.J. Simpson chase to the recent California wildfires, we’re looking at (almost) everything that’s transpired in L.A. since the early 1900s.

So hop in our time machine and cruise down the freeways of past, present, and future. If you’re a current Angeleno, you might be saddened to hear the roads weren’t always so jam-packed during rush hour. In fact, they definitely didn’t even have a “rush hour.” To this day, we’re still talking about the Beatles’ performance at the Hollywood Bowl, and any view from Sunset Boulevard looks like it came from a movie. Now, you need to see these periods of time for yourself. Here are major moments, views, and people who defined Los Angeles over the years.