End of the Aerospace Century in SoCal

Amelia Earhart at Lockheed Aircraft Co. in Burbank.

Northrop Grumman's decision to leave Los Angeles marks the end of an era, say scholars William Deverell, Daniel Lewis and Peter Westwick in a Visiting Bloggers post at LA Observed. "Exactly one hundred years ago, Los Angeles hosted the first major air meet in the United States," they write. "Southern California as we know it would not exist without aerospace. Over the twentieth century aerospace was the central factor transforming Southern California from Sunbelt orange groves to high-tech metropolis."

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Photo of Amelia Earhart courtesy Harvey Christen collection, Huntington Library, San Marino, California.