Smoglandia Pt 3: COUGH COUGH

Boiling Point

Living with smog was like living with an obnoxious neighbor. Angelenos tried protesting at city hall. They kept their coughing kids inside. A couple of actors manufactured joke cans of “genuine smog” and sold them to tourists. A few came up with earnest but crackpot solutions, like drilling a smog tunnel in the mountains. But serious pollution cost us serious money. Hollywood shoots had to shut down or move farther out of town to avoid it. And Southern California’s billion-dollar agriculture industry was being literally killed off by smog. One story we tell – of the Kaiser Steel plant in Fontana – made it look like LA had to choose between good jobs and good air, between pink slips and pink lungs.

LA Times Studios launched “Smoglandia" on Boiling Point Podcast, a new limited narrative series hosted by award-winning Los Angeles Times columnist Patt Morrison. The podcast traces the rise, impact and eventual retreat of Los Angeles’ most insidious form of pollution: smog.

Through the words and insights of scientists, policymakers, filmmakers and artists who lived through the city’s worst air-quality days, the series explores how Los Angeles became a testing ground for environmental regulation, and how science and innovation transformed public health. At a time when hard-earned progress against smog faces new setbacks, “Smoglandia” examines a landmark victory for the City of Angels, and, through clearer air, looks forward to the lessons still to be learned — and the battles yet to come.

The first episode explores the origins of smog in L.A., featuring Natural History Museum associate curator Dr. Regan Dunn explaining how research at the La Brea Tar Pits uncovered evidence that humans have been creating pollution in the region for thousands of years. Listeners will also hear from renowned artist Helen Pashgian, who recounts growing up in Altadena in the 1940s, during a time when local wartime industries took a toll on her health and obscured the once-glorious vistas.

Additional podcast guests will include actor and climate activist Jane Fonda, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, and other influential voices behind the city’s ongoing battle with air quality.

“Smoglandia” is presented as a special season of The Times’ “Boiling Point” environmental podcast.