Spanish explorers discover the Los Angeles River and say that the area around it 'has all the requisites for a large settlement.'

Settlers from the San Gabriel Mission found the city as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the Porciuncula River)

The Plaza Catholic Church is built

Gold is discovered in California

The City of Los Angeles is incorporated. The population at this time is 1,610

A California state law decrees: 'No black or mulatto person, or Indian, shall be permitted to give evidence in favor of, or against, any white person. Every person who shall have one-eighth part or more of Negro blood shall be deemed a mulatto and every person who shall have one-half of Indian blood shall be deemed Indian.'

Los Angeles gains its first newspaper

Jack Whaling, the city’s second City Marshal, is murdered. A bounty hunter takes his murderer’s life. These events bring about the formation of 'The Los Angeles Rangers,' volunteer policemen who help the County Sheriff and Marshal. The Rangers wear a white ribbon with the words (in both English and Spanish) 'City Police – Authorized by the Council of Los Angeles.' There is no jail in the city, so prisoners are chained to logs in the jail yard. This is the beginning of the Los Angeles Police Department

Mayor Stephen C. Foster resigns in order to lead a mob that removes a prisoner from jail and hangs him. Despite his actions, Foster is reelected the position of Mayor

Sheriff James Barton is assassinated. Eleven of the suspects are hanged. Vigilantes 'take care of' the real assassin

French settlers in Los Angeles become frightened by the level of violence in the city and ask the French government to help. The French deploy troops in Los Angeles for an unknown period of time

Los Angeles suffers floods

The city police department becomes official, with six officers being paid a salary. The City Marshal is the head of the police. He also serves as dog catcher and tax collector

Los Angeles is a thriving town with a population of 5,614. There are 110 saloons and 175 other businesses

People running gambling and prostitution businesses are required to pay licensing fees

19 Chinese are hung by a mob. Because Chinese are denied protection under the law, the mob had no reason to be gentle. Desite this, eight members of the lynch mob are arrested and sentenced to San Quentin for 2-6 years

The first streetcars run in Los Angeles

All eight members of the lynch mob that hung 19 Chinese are released from San Quentin

Los Angeles is connected to San Francisco by railroad Southern Pacific

William Mulholland, an Irish immigrant, rides into Los Angeles on horseback. He had just come from San Francisco. He later says of his first impression of the Los Angeles River: 'The Los Angeles River was a beautiful, limpid little stream, with willows on its banks … It was so attractive to me that it at once became something about which my whole scheme of life was woven, I loved it so much.'

Olvera Street is given its name, after the first county judge, Augustin Olvera

The University of South California opens

The Los Angeles Daily Times is published for the first time. It soon goes bankrupt and is taken over by the Mirror Company. Harrison Gray Otis is named editor and makes the paper a success

Harrison Gray Otis buys out the Los Angeles Daily Times from the Mirror Company and forms the Times-Mirror Company

Oil is discovered in Los Angeles

The Bradbury Building is built

Los Angeles has a population of over 100,000

Harvey Wilcox, a transplant from Kansas, buys 160 acres of land west of Los Angeles in order to found a conservative community. His wife Daeida meets a woman on a train who speaks of her summer home called Hollywood. She convinces her husband to name their new community Hollywood

The community is incorporated as Hollywood. Wilcox, a prohibitionist, bans the sale of alcohol in the community except by pharmacists

Venice is built

The Santa Monica pier opens

Two union organizers blow up the offices of the Los Angeles Times and the home of Times owner Harrison Gray Otis. 21 people lose their lives. The two union organizers are defended by attorney Clarence Darrow but they plead guilty despite many people’s belief that they have been framed

Hollywood officially becomes a part of Los Angeles in order to benefit from the water and sewage systems

David Horsley purchases the Blondeau Tavern on Sunset Boulevard and turns it into the Nestor Film Company, Hollywood’s first film studio

Construction of the first Los Angeles Aqueduct is completed

William Mulholland presents the water from the aqueduct to Los Angeles residents. He says: 'There it is: take it.'

The first feature-length film, The Squaw Man, is released. Its creators – Samuel Goldwyn, Cecil B. DeMille, and Jesse Lasky – made the film in a barn a block away from what is now the corner of Hollywood and Vine

Police Chief Clarence E. Snively starts what is called the 'Anti-Cigarette Clinic' in order to dissuade juvelines from smoking. Snively says: '… the use of cigarettes by children is a great cause of delinquency. The nicotine poison which enters the body … has a tendency to make weak bodies, weak intellects and weak morals.'

The Charlie Chaplin Studios are built just south of Sunset

The 1918 Spanish Flu takes the lives of many Los Angeleans

During Prohibition, Los Angeles is host to all manner of criminals because of its corrupt government and relaxed atmosphere

The famous carousel on the Santa Monica pier opens

The Hollywood sign, which originally reads 'Hollywoodland,' is put up. It is an advertisement for a Hollywood Hills housing development. After the advertisement is over, the sign remains and is negelected

The Biltmore Hotel is built

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is built

Grauman’s Chinese Theatre has its Grand Opening in Hollywood. The film shown that evening is Cecil B. DeMille’s The King of Kings. A riot breaks out as onlookers try to see the stars entering the theater for the premiere

Los Angeles City Hall is built

The first Academy Awards ceremony and banquet takes place in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

Wyatt Earp dies of chronic cystitis in Los Angeles at the age of 80

Olvera Street is converted to a Mexican marketplace by Christine Sterling

Los Angeles hosts the Summer Olympics

William Mulholland dies

Los Angeles has a population of over 1.5 million

The Los Angeles aqueduct system is extended to bring water from the Mono Basin

With the city growing, more water is needed. The Colorado River Aqueduct is completed and brings its first water to the city

In enforcement of Executive Order 9066 decreeing that all Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals be evacuated from the West Coast, U.S. soldiers empty Little Tokyo and deport all Japanese Americans out of the city

Zoot Suit riots take place in Los Angeles

The first Los Angeles TV station, KTLA, goes on the air

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce takes charge of the Hollywood signing, removing the 'land' and repairing the letters that now spell, simply, 'Hollywood.'

Watts Towers is built

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is created

The first star is placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The celebrity honored is Joanne Woodward

Theme Building is built

Riots take place in Los Angeles

The 6.4 San Fernando earthquake takes 58 lives. 80,000 people evacuate their homes after a dam nearly breaks. Total damages are $511 million

The 6.1 Whittier Earthquake shakes Los Angeles. Eight people die. Damage is extensive throughout the Los Angeles Basin and the San Gabriel Valley

US Banks building is built

The first Los Angeles light rail line opens

More riots take place in Los Angeles

The Museum of Tolerance opens

The 6.7 Northridge earthquake. 57 people lose their lives and nearly 2,000 are injured. It causes widespread damage throughout the Los Angeles area and is the most costly earthquake in U.S. history

Disney Concert Hall is built

Los Angeles has a population of 4 million