Los Angeles Is Not a Sin
‘Chinatown’ Was a Movie, Not a History of Our Water. It’s Time to Stop Thinking Our City Is Real-Life Film Noir.
Newsflash! Los Angeles, a famously dry place, this month has been suddenly inundated. The source is not rain, not El Niño. Nope, we’re experiencing a flash flood of commentary tied to the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Los Angeles Aqueduct.
Fueled by donations from an artist who is a member of the wealthy Annenberg family, a host of California institutions—magazines, newspapers, journals, libraries, museums, studios, schools, and nonprofits—have produced more stories, photos, art, scholarship, exhibits, events, and archival projects on the aqueduct than a single Angeleno could process in, …