1542 Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sailed along the coast and discovered the "Bay of Smokes" (present-day San Pedro Bay).

1602 Sebastian Vizcaino explored the California coast.

1769 Gaspar de Portola explored the area to open up a land route to the port of Monterey and established the first Spanish settlement in the area. The settlers named the local river Rio de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciúncula ("River of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula").

1771 Father Junipero Serra established the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel.

1781, September 4 A group of 44 Mexicans (11 families) settled by the river. Felipe de Neve, Governor of Spanish California, named the settlement El Pueblo Sobre el Rio de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Rio de Porciúncula.

1797 Father Fermin Lasuen founded Mission San Fernando, named for King Ferdinand of Spain. It subsequently became home to the largest adobe structure in California, 30,000 grape vines, and 21,000 head of livestock.

1805 The first American trading ship arrived at San Pedro Bay, south of the Pueblo.

1821 Mexico achieved independence from Spain.

1841 Los Angeles' first census showed a population of 141.

1842 Gold was discovery at Placerita Canyon, near Mission San Fernando, prompting the settlement's first population boom.

1847 Following the Battle of Rio San Gabriel, the United States took control of Los Angeles.

1848 Mexico formally ceded California to the United States via the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

1850, February 18 The County of Los Angeles was established.
1850, April 4 Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality.
1850, September 9 California became the 30th state in the Union.

1852 The Gilmore Adobe was built at the site of the current Original Farmers Market, where it still stands today.

1854 The first Jewish services in Los Angeles were held.

1855 Los Angeles got its first schoolhouse.

1865 Los Angeles' first college, St. Vincent's (now Loyola University) was established.

1866 The Los Angeles Town Square was established (now Pershing Square).

1868 Streetlights were installed.

1869 Southern California's first railroad was built, connecting Downtown Los Angeles with San Pedro Bay.

1871 The first rail link between Los Angeles and San Francisco was established.
1871 Isaac Newton Van Nuys bought 60,000 acres of land in the southern San Fernando Valley.

1872 Ventura County was created from a section of northwest Los Angeles County.

1873 The first trolley line in the city opened.
1873 The seedless navel orange was introduced into California from Brazil.

1874 Horse-drawn streetcar service began.

1880 The University of Southern California was founded.

1881 The Los Angeles Daily Times was founded (now the Los Angeles Times).
1881 The Southern Pacific Railroad linked Los Angeles directly with the eastern United States for the first time.

1886 Harvey Henderson Wilcox purchased 160 acres of land west of the Cahuenga Pass for a planned residential community. He named it Hollywood after the estate of an acquaintance of his wife, Daeida.

1890 The population of Los Angeles reached 50,000.
1890 The official flag of Los Angeles was designed.

1892 Edward Doheny discovered oil at "Greasy Gulch," near Westlake Park.

1896 Colonel J. Griffith donated nearly five square miles of land near his ranch to the people of Los Angeles.

1897 The automobile was introduced to Los Angeles.

1903 William Randolph Hearst founded the Los Angeles Examiner (later the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner).

1905 Tobacco magnate Abbot Kinney carved out canals near the beach and named the district the Venice of California.

1906 The first fossils were excavated from the La Brea Tar Pits.

1910 D.W. Griffith became the first director to shoot a film in Los Angeles.
1910 Residents of the municipality of Hollywood voted to join the city of Los Angeles.

1913 Cecil B. de Mille shot the first Hollywood movie, Squaw Man.
1913 The Los Angeles Aqueduct was completed.

1914 The subdivision of Beverly Hills was incorporated as an independent city.

1919 The Southern Branch of the University of California (now the University of California, Los Angeles) was founded.

1922 Los Angeles' first radio stations -- KFI, KHJ and KNX -- began broadcasting.

1923 Memorial Coliseum opened.

1927 Grauman's Chinese Theatre opened.

1928 Los Angeles City Hall opened.

1930 Los Angeles International Airport opened.

1935 The Griffith Observatory opened.

1939 Union Station opened in downtown Los Angeles. Chinatown was moved to its present location to make way.

1946 The Cleveland Rams football team moved to Los Angeles and became the Los Angeles Rams.

1954 The Watts Towers were completed.

1956 The Capitol Records building was completed.

1958 The former Brooklyn Dodgers played for the first time as the Los Angeles Dodgers.

1960 The Minneapolis Lakers basketball team moved to Los Angeles and became the Los Angeles Lakers.
1960 The Hollywood Walk of Fame opened with a star dedicated to Joanne Woodward.

1962 Dodger Stadium opened in Chavez Ravine.

1982 The Oakland Raiders football team moved to Los Angeles and became the Los Angeles Raiders.

1995 Both the Raiders and the Rams left Los Angeles, leaving it as the largest U.S. city without an NFL team.

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This page was last updated on 03/27/2011.