Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

In a now-familiar Los Angeles story, late 1933 brush fires cleared the vegetation from the hills above the Montrose-La Crescenta section of Los Angeles County. When heavy rains arrived on New Year’s Eve 1934, the neighborhoods were flooded and lives lost.

The Jan. 9, 1934, Los Angeles Times reported the death toll in Los Angeles County as 44 with about half the dead from the Montrose-La-Crescenta area. Another 15 were still missing, six of whom were from the Montrose-La Crescenta area.

Jan. 2, 1934: Car caught in mud from flooding in La Canada-Montrose. The car is sitting on the pavement of Montrose Avenue.

Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

Jan. 1, 1934: Mud, rocks and damaged cars on Montrose Avenue in Montrose after New Year's flooding.

Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

Jan. 2, 1934: Panorama made from three negatives in the Los Angeles Times Archive at UCLA showing mud-covered Honolulu Avenue in Montrose.

Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

Jan. 1, 1934: Cars marooned outside Bohemian Gardens at 3890 Mission Road, East Los Angeles.

Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

Jan. 1. 1934: A milk truck is almost completely submerged on Whittier Boulevard under a Union Pacific railroad bridge.

Jan. 1, 1934: A crowd gathers at the washed-out Mesa Street bridge where four people drowned when their auto plunged into the Rubio Wash. The wash is west of San Gabriel Boulevard in the Monterey Park area.

Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

Jan. 1, 1934: Five people drowned when this car and Rush Avenue bridge was swept into the Alhambra Wash, near the present-day Whittier Narrows Recreation Area.

Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

Jan. 4, 1934: Civil Works Administration men from Pasadena help clear Honolulu Avenue in Montrose following flooding during New Year's Eve storm.

Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

Jan. 3, 1934: Following the New Year's Eve flooding in Montrose, a kitchen was set up to help survivors.

January 1934: The American Legion Hall in Montrose following the New Year's Eve flood in which a dozen people were reported killed.

Jan. 1, 1934: A house in the La Crescenta-Montose area was swept off its foundation and carried hundreds of feet by New Year's Eve flooding.

Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

Jan. 2, 1934: A burro is used to move water and supplies after New Year's Eve flooding in the La Crescenta area.

Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

Jan. 3, 1934: Cars parked on the dirt, left, show the depth of debris on roadway being cleared on Foothill Boulevard in Montrose. The boulder on right is 50 feet in circumference.

Oct. 17, 1934: Cars caught in the flooding on Honolulu Avenue near Rosemont in Montrose.

Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

Oct. 18, 1934: Severely damaged home at Sunset Avenue near Florencita Street in Montrose.

Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

Oct. 18, 1934: Workers dig out a car and remains of a home on Glenada Avenue in Montrose following flooding from a storm the night before.

Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

Oct. 18, 1934: A garage on Glenda Avenue in Montose is destroyed by flooding, but car survived.

Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

Oct. 18, 1934: Water flows through the Hall-Beckley Wash where it intersects with Glenada Avenue in Montrose.

Incredible Black and White Photographs of the Los Angeles Floods in 1934

Dec. 13, 1934: Workmen at Honolulu and Agner streets in Montrose setting up sand bags at a known flood danger point. Montrose suffered major flooding in January and October of 1934.