Labor Day, Sept. 6, 1937: Threading their way through packed streets of the downtown district, 50,000 Los Angeles workers presented the most colorful Labor Day parade in the city’s history. The parade was fifteen blocks long and contained 191 units, more than fifty floats and twenty-three bands. This view shows part of the marchers approaching the reviewing stand at the City Hall, with the State Building and The Times Building in the background.
View more archival photos of the L.A. labor movement in the gallery.
Photo credit: Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive/UCLA Library
Labor Day, 57 years ago:
Sept. 6, 1954: Santa Monica’s Muscle Beach crowds were treated to the show they have come to expect Labor Day weekend. DeForrest Most, 37, is bottommost in this typical pyramid pose that also includes Art Kidder, 37, and Sandra Hollabaugh, 14.
Photo: This image appeared in the book “Imagining Los Angeles: Photographs of a 20th Century City,” published by The Times in 2000. Credit: Bill Beebe / Los Angeles Times
Everyone has to start somewhere. In honor of Labor Day, we asked an assortment of Angelenos to write about their first work experience. Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Robert Gupta, Michelle Huneven, Jonathan Gold, Gustavo Arellano, Gregory J. Boyle, Susan Feniger and Tommy Lasorda weigh in.
Illustration credit: Wes Bausmith / Los Angeles Times
