1932 Olympic Map of Los Angeles
DESCRIPTION
This promotional pictorial map of Los Angeles and Southern California was designed and illustrated by Mary Hall-Atwood and published in 1932 by the Union Oil Company as an official promotional guide to the Tenth Olympic Games.
Issued at a moment when Los Angeles was emerging as a modern metropolis, the map blends artistic charm, geographic detail, and Olympic pageantry into one of the most iconic pictorial maps of early 20th-century California. Distributed widely through Union Oil stations in the western United States, it introduced visitors and motorists to the layout of the region while celebrating the first Olympic Games ever held in the American West.
The main map presents a sweeping bird’s-eye view of Los Angeles and its surroundings, extending from the Pacific Coast and Santa Monica Mountains in the west to Pasadena, Pomona, and the citrus-growing inland valleys in the east. Highways, boulevards, streetcar lines, and motor routes are drawn with great clarity, guiding visitors toward Olympic venues such as the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Olympic Park, the Riviera equestrian courses, the Marine Stadium in Long Beach, and the Olympic Village in Baldwin Hills.
Dozens of illustrated vignettes that include sailboats in the Pacific, oil derricks, orchards, mountains, Spanish-style missions, and small aircraft animate the scene and capture the California ideal marketed to visitors in the 1930s. Strip maps on either side expand the geographic reach to include the coast both north and south of Los Angeles and just below is an auto-route for visiting the Inland Empire. A detailed explanatory legend lines the right margin, provides the exact locations of the various events of the 1932 Olympic Games.
The reverse side enriches the guide with additional pictorial maps and information, including a finely rendered view of the Olympic City showing the Coliseum, State Building, Fine Arts Museum, swimming stadium, fencing pavilion, and girls’ dormitory in meticulous detail. Surrounding insets describe the Riviera equestrian grounds, downtown Los Angeles, and the 2000-meter rowing course at Alamitos Bay. A complete day-by-day schedule of events for the 1932 Games is printed alongside a brief Olympic history and promotional essays by Union Oil.
Together, this map captures the image of a youthful, sun-drenched city using its Olympic moment to present itself as a world capital of modern sport, scenic beauty, and automotive mobility.
CONDITION
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