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In 1881, the California State Legislature authorized the creation of a southern branch of the California State Normal School to train teachers for Southern California. The school opened in August 1882 on a hilltop site later occupied by the Los Angeles Central Library. Its elevated location gave the school a prominent presence above the growing city.

The State Normal School included classrooms, administrative offices, and an attached elementary school where teachers in training gained classroom experience. This practice school is considered the early predecessor of today’s UCLA Lab School. In 1887, the institution became known as the Los Angeles State Normal School.

The school occupied the last knoll of Bunker Hill, a site known locally as Normal Hill. Access to the campus was provided by a winding driveway on one side and a long stairway on the other. After the building was demolished in 1922, Fifth Street was straightened and the site was later redeveloped as the Los Angeles Central Library.

Over time, the original building was enlarged with additional wings and support structures. The campus featured Victorian architectural details, tall windows, towers, and landscaped courtyards. These expansions reflected the school’s growing enrollment and importance in the region.

From above, the scale and prominence of the Normal School are clear. The elevated site allowed the school to dominate the surrounding neighborhood visually. Nearby buildings visible in the image include religious and residential structures that once shared Bunker Hill before large scale redevelopment reshaped the area.

By the early twentieth century, enrollment had grown beyond the capacity of the downtown campus. As Los Angeles expanded rapidly, pressure increased to find a larger site that could support future growth.

As the school expanded, it moved in 1914 to a new campus on Vermont Avenue in what was then a largely undeveloped area. During this period, civic leaders began pushing for the school to become part of the University of California system, reflecting Southern California’s growing political and educational influence.

In May 1919, legislation merged the Los Angeles State Normal School with the University of California as its Southern Branch. The campus opened that fall, offering undergraduate instruction in Letters and Science alongside its teacher training programs.

Millspaugh Hall served as the administrative and symbolic center of the campus. The Vermont Avenue campus was arranged along a formal axis, with academic buildings grouped around open spaces. This campus would later become Los Angeles City College.

By the early 1920s, the Southern Branch had expanded its curriculum and student body. The first commencement was held in 1920, and bachelor’s degrees were awarded beginning in the mid 1920s. The campus quickly outgrew its site.

Ralph Bunche attended UCLA during the Vermont Avenue years. He later became a diplomat and scholar and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 for his work in international conflict resolution.

By the late 1920s, enrollment growth made clear the need for a permanent campus. In 1927, the institution formally adopted the name University of California at Los Angeles, and plans moved forward to relocate the university westward.

The future UCLA campus was developed on land that once formed part of the Wolfskill Ranch. In 1919, retailer Arthur Letts purchased the property. After his death, development was continued by his son in law Harold Janss through the Janss Investment Company, which planned the surrounding Westwood community.

This view shows the largely undeveloped landscape before construction of UCLA and the Westwood Village. Wilshire Boulevard appears as a major east west corridor, while Beverly Glen had not yet been built. Within a few years, this land would become home to UCLA’s permanent campus.

The ranch house was one of the few prominent structures in the area before large scale development. Its presence highlights how quickly the Westside shifted from ranch land to subdivided neighborhoods and major institutions.

The ranch house was one of the few prominent structures in the area before large scale development. Its presence highlights how quickly the Westside shifted from ranch land to subdivided neighborhoods and major institutions.

In the 1920s, the Janss Investment Company promoted Westwood as a new planned community. Temporary landmarks like this tower helped advertise the development and gave prospective buyers a high vantage point to view the surrounding lots and terrain.

The large empty parcel, upper left, within the platted area is the Wolfskill ranch house, on the P.E. route, at the T-junction with Overland Ave, standing alone on twenty-five plus acres. The Harold Lloyd Motion Picture Company's Westwood studio ranch occupied this site a bit after this photo was taken. The northern portion was sold off to build the Saint Paul the Apostle RC church and school circa 1930. Lloyd's declining fortunes caused him to sell the rest to the LDS church in 1937. The church finally built the LDS Temple there in 1956.

In 1925, in a deal to get the University of California, Los Angeles built, the Janss Investment Company sold 375 acres to the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills at the bargain price of $1.2 million — about a quarter of its value. The cities, whose voters had passed bond issues to pay for the site, turned around and donated it to the state. While the UCLA campus was being built, Janss Investment Company went to work developing the Westwood Village commercial area and surrounding residential neighborhoods.

Before any classrooms or lecture halls could rise, UCLA first had to solve a basic problem of access. A deep natural arroyo cut across the new Westwood site, separating the main campus area from its eastern entrance. The Arroyo Bridge was built to cross this ravine and became the first completed structure on UCLA’s permanent campus.

Ground was broken at UCLA’s Westwood site in May 1927. The first priority was constructing a bridge across a steep arroyo separating the eastern entrance from the planned academic core. Without this crossing, construction materials could not be delivered to the hilltop where the campus buildings were to be built.

As construction progressed, crews finished the bridge deck and sidewalks. Once completed, the bridge immediately became the primary route for moving construction materials, equipment, and workers into the center of the developing campus.

The bridge was designed by George W. Kelham, supervising architect for the University of California. Inspired by Roman aqueducts, the reinforced concrete structure combined engineering strength with ceremonial presence. During campus construction, materials such as cement, lumber, and brick were hauled across the bridge from Hilgard Avenue.

The Arroyo Bridge was formally dedicated on October 22, 1927. The ceremony marked the completion of the first structure on UCLA’s new campus and symbolized the university’s physical arrival in Westwood. Speakers described the bridge as opening the way to a new era for the institution.

By the time the campus opened in 1929, the bridge served as a formal approach to the university. The structure measured roughly 300 feet long and rose about 50 feet above the arroyo. Its design featured three large arches, decorative stone panels, brick inlays, and parapets that echoed the Romanesque style adopted for the campus.

After UCLA opened, the bridge quickly became part of daily student life. During the Great Depression, it reportedly provided shelter for students in need. During World War II, food supplies were stored beneath it as a precaution against possible coastal attack.

In 1947, the arroyo beneath the bridge was filled to create additional usable land on campus. Although the ravine disappeared, the bridge’s arches were preserved and remain intact underground.

Today, thousands of people cross this area daily, often unaware of the bridge below their feet. The buried structure lies beneath what is now Dickson Plaza and continues to be monitored and maintained to meet modern safety and earthquake standards.

Construction of the First Buildings on the UCLA Campus

Shaping UCLA’s Architectural Identity

With access established by the Arroyo Bridge, construction began on UCLA’s first permanent academic buildings. These structures defined the layout, architectural style, and visual identity of the new Westwood campus.

Ground was broken for UCLA’s Westwood campus on September 27, 1927. The original campus plan centered on four major buildings arranged around a central quadrangle. These were the College Library, Royce Hall, the Physics-Biology Building, and the Chemistry Building, known today as Powell Library, Royce Hall, the Humanities Building, and Haines Hall.

The College Library was built between 1927 and 1929 and served as the academic heart of the new campus. It was designed by George W. Kelham in an Italian Romanesque Revival style that would be carried throughout the early campus.

George W. Kelham served as supervising architect for the University of California and worked with David Allison of the Los Angeles firm Allison and Allison. Allison had previously designed UCLA’s Vermont Avenue campus and helped adapt the Romanesque style to the rolling terrain of Westwood.

The Westwood campus architecture was inspired by northern Italy. Red brick walls, cast stone trim, arches, and tile roofs were chosen to echo historic European universities and church complexes, particularly those in Bologna, Milan, and Verona.

During construction, the campus remained largely open and undeveloped. Dirt paths, temporary roads, and construction staging areas surrounded the buildings as they slowly took shape.

This view shows how the original buildings were carefully positioned around a central quadrangle. The layout established the organizational framework that still defines the heart of the UCLA campus today.

Steel framing allowed the buildings to rise quickly and provided structural strength for the heavy masonry walls. Scaffolding filled the site as brick and stone detailing were added by hand.

Originally called the College Library, the building was later renamed Powell Library in honor of Lawrence Clark Powell, UCLA’s University Librarian from 1944 to 1961 and a central figure in the growth of the university’s academic reputation.

Despite the scale of construction, much of the work relied on mule-drawn wagons to haul water, materials, and equipment across dirt roads. Motorized vehicles were limited, and animal power remained essential during the campus’s early development.

This comparison highlights the transformation of the Westwood site from an active construction zone into a fully developed university campus, while preserving the original layout and architectural vision.

Moore Hall, originally the Education Building, was completed in 1930. Like the earlier structures, it followed the northern Italian Romanesque Revival style adopted for the campus.

The Physics Building, now Kinsey Hall, was constructed between 1928 and 1929 and designed by Allison and Allison. It formed part of the original academic core surrounding the quadrangle.

This image has been colorized to help show what the UCLA campus looked like during construction in the late 1920s. At the time, the site was still largely undeveloped, with dirt roads, open hillsides, and buildings rising from the landscape.

The added color helps highlight architectural details such as red brick walls, light stone trim, and tile roofs that defined UCLA’s original campus design. While the image has been enhanced for clarity, the buildings, layout, and construction details remain true to the original photograph.

Hilgard Avenue was still a dirt road during construction. The bridge connecting the road to the campus quadrangle can be seen at center right, emphasizing how recently the site had been rural land.

This view shows the relationship between the campus core and its eastern access point. The Arroyo Bridge served as the primary link between Hilgard Avenue and the academic buildings.

Few homes existed near the campus during this period. The surrounding neighborhoods of Holmby Hills and Westwood Village would develop rapidly after UCLA opened.

By 1929, the campus buildings were largely complete, and work began shifting toward landscaping and finishing the surrounding grounds.

This aerial view shows the original four buildings arranged around the central quadrangle, with the Arroyo Bridge connecting the campus to Hilgard Avenue. The surrounding area remained sparsely developed.

A campus nursery supplied many of the trees later planted throughout UCLA. Early landscaping efforts were planned alongside construction of the buildings themselves.

Trees grown in this nursery would later define UCLA’s shaded walkways and quads, softening the formal architecture of the early buildings.

By the time the campus opened in 1929, the academic core was fully formed. The arroyo crossed by the bridge would later be filled, but the original campus layout remained intact.

By 1929, UCLA’s Westwood campus had taken on its recognizable form, with its earliest buildings arranged around a central quadrangle. In the years that followed, the formal axis leading south toward what would become the Janss Steps helped define the campus’s relationship to the surrounding landscape and city.

The Janss Steps form the ceremonial and physical connection between UCLA’s original hilltop campus and the land below, shaping how generations of students and visitors have approached the university since its opening in 1929.

The Janss Steps were built in 1928 as part of the original Westwood campus plan. They were designed to connect the main academic core with the lower hillside and to create a formal ceremonial approach to the campus. At the time, the surrounding land was largely undeveloped, and the steps emphasized UCLA’s elevated setting above the Westwood area.

UCLA officially opened its Westwood campus in September 1929. The Janss Steps immediately became the primary pedestrian route between the lower campus entrance and the main academic buildings. Early photographs show the steps in constant use, underscoring their importance to daily campus life from the very beginning.

The Janss Steps were constructed between 1928 and 1929 and were designed by architect George W. Kelham, who also designed the original UCLA campus buildings. The steps were donated to UCLA by the Janss brothers, whose real estate development efforts helped make the Westwood campus possible.

This view highlights the formal alignment between the Janss Steps and Royce Hall. The steps were intentionally placed to frame the campus visually and to guide visitors upward toward the university’s central landmark. During this period, landscaping was minimal and the surrounding hillsides were still largely bare.

Before extensive landscaping was completed, students often used informal dirt paths alongside the Janss Steps as shortcuts. These paths reflect how people naturally moved through the terrain before lawns, trees, and paved walkways were added in later years.

Early aerial photographs show the campus in its original, largely unfinished setting. The Janss Steps stand out as a strong visual and functional element, while the surrounding slopes remained undeveloped. This image captures UCLA before the tree-lined quads and gardens that would later define the campus.

This comparison shows the dramatic transformation of the Janss Steps area over time. What began as a stark hillside with exposed soil evolved into a landscaped green space framed by mature trees. Despite these changes, the original alignment and function of the steps remain unchanged.

Early images show UCLA sitting at the edge of a largely open landscape. Today, the campus is surrounded by dense urban development. The Janss Steps continue to serve as a visual and symbolic gateway, linking UCLA’s historic core with the modern city that has grown around it. Despite a century of growth and change, the steps remain one of the few places on campus where the original relationship between landscape, architecture, and movement can still be clearly read.

These views show UCLA at the time of its opening in 1929, when the campus stood at the edge of largely undeveloped land. From surrounding hills and open spaces, the university appeared as a newly planted institution set into a still-rural Westside.

This wide view shows how isolated the new UCLA campus initially appeared. Beyond the university’s core buildings, the surrounding hills and neighborhoods were only lightly developed. The image captures UCLA as a prominent new landmark emerging within an open landscape.

Seen from the Bel-Air Country Club, UCLA appears as a compact academic core set amid open land and infrastructure. The reservoir reflects the importance of water systems in supporting Westside growth, linking the university’s development to Los Angeles’ expanding water network.

This angle emphasizes the campus’s original focal point: the central quadrangle framed by its two most prominent buildings. From the beginning, the arrangement was designed to convey permanence, order, and institutional presence.

Postcard views like this helped introduce the new campus to a wider public. Side and rear views reveal how the buildings were designed as a unified group rather than as isolated landmarks.

The colorized version helps bring out architectural details such as brickwork, stone trim, and rooflines. While enhanced for clarity, the image reflects the true appearance and layout of UCLA’s original buildings at the time of opening.

Before classes could begin, UCLA had to physically relocate from its Vermont Avenue campus to Westwood. The move itself marked the final step in establishing UCLA’s permanent home.

The move to Westwood was both symbolic and practical. Students, staff, and workers helped transport books, equipment, and supplies into buildings that were still being finished. The image captures the campus in transition—new, incomplete, and already in use.

UCLA opened its Westwood campus in September 1929. Classes began while construction crews were still at work, creating scenes where student life and building activity overlapped.

This view shows UCLA operating as a functioning university even as final construction work continued. The central quadrangle was already serving as the heart of campus life.

Registration scenes highlight how quickly the campus had to transition from a construction site to a working university. Despite unfinished areas, academic life moved forward immediately.

This image captures two worlds at once: builders completing the campus and students beginning their daily routines. It underscores how UCLA opened not as a finished monument, but as a living, evolving place.

Images like this bring a human dimension to UCLA’s opening. Clothing, posture, and expressions remind viewers that the university’s history is shaped as much by its people as by its buildings.

Historical Notes

Royce Hall was built in 1928-29 and designed by Allison and Allison, Architects. It was constructed in a northern Italian Romanesque Revival style, inspired by Sant' Ambrogio in Milan (12th century). It is one of the four original buildings on UCLA's Westwood campus and has come to be the defining image of the university.

Historical Notes

The brick and tile building is in the Lombard Romanesque style, and once functioned as the main classroom facility of the university.  Today, Royce Hall’s twin-towered front remains the best known UCLA landmark.

Royce Hall was named after Josiah Royce, a California-born philosopher who received his bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley in 1875.*^

Historical Notes

Powell Library (originally called College Library) is named for Lawrence Clark Powell, the University Librarian at UCLA from 1944 to 1961 and Dean of the Graduate School of Library Service from 1960 to 1966.

Like the building facing it across the quad, Royce Hall, the building's exterior is modeled after Milan's Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio.*^

Historical Notes

The entrance of the library is adorned with several mosaics, one of which depicts two men holding a book bearing the phrase, from Cicero's Pro Archia Poeta, "Haec studia adulescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant". This loosely translates as "Studying in youth sustains delight into old age", an appropriate dictum for the vast collection for undergraduate students.*^

Historical Notes

The great amount of skilled hand work needed for the detailed tile and brick work of the Lombard style of architecture made it impossible to continue in the same architectural tradition when costs rose after World War II. The above view shows the interior of the main lobby and stairs to the reading room at the Powell Library.*

Historical Notes

Royce Hall’s first performing arts season was 1937. The first subscription series included the great contralto Marian Anderson, the Budapest String Quartet and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Also appearing at Royce Hall that year were Jimmy Dorsey’s Band and the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by famed conductor Otto Klemperer. A year later in 1937, Duke Ellington’s Orchestra and avant-garde composer Arnold Schoenberg made appearances.

Luminaries who have appeared on its stage include musicians George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and Ella Fitzgerald, and speakers Albert Einstein and John F. Kennedy.*^

Historical Notes

During the 1930s several other buildings were added to the cluster around the main quadrangle--the Education Building, Kerckhoff Hall, the Men's Gymnasium, the Women's Gymnasium, Mira Hershey Hall, and the Administration Building.**

Historical Notes

On March 27 and 28, 1930, the formal dedication of the University of California at Los Angeles took place.  Speakers at the ceremonies included Dr. Arthur Thompson of the University of Aberdeen and Dr. Ernest Carroll Moore, director of UCLA.  Delegates representing 168 colleges and universities from around the world were present.

Historical Notes

Designed by architects Allison & Allison, Kerckhoff Hall was completed in 1931. The hall is named for William G. Kerckhoff, a successful lumber and energy magnate, who died prior to the building's completion. Mr Kerckhoff's widow spent $815,000 to build and completely furnish Kerckhoff Hall.

Historical Notes

The Kerckhoffs visited the Westwood campus under construction in early 1929 and were told by the provost of the need for a student union. On his deathbed a month later, Kerckhoff told his wife that he wanted to build such a building.*

Historical Notes

William Kerckhoff moved to Los Angeles from Indiana in 1878-1879 and worked for the Jackson Lumber Company. In 1887, he built the first ocean-going vessel to use oil for fuel. In the 1890s, he founded the San Gabriel Power Company, a hydroelectric power company. By the turn of the century, together with A.C. Balch, he owned half the stock of Henry E. Huntington Pacific Light & Power Company used to provide electricity to Pacific Electric, and he served as its President. In 1902, they purchased the San Joaquin Electric Company. They also founded Southern California Gas Corporation in 1910, and built a 120-mile pipeline from the San Joaquin Valley to Los Angeles.

In 1900, Kerckhoff together with Burton E. Green, Charles A. Canfield, Max Whittier, Frank H. Buck, Henry E. Huntington, William F. Herrin, W.S. Porter and Frank H. Balch, known as the Amalgated Oil Company, purchased Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas from Henry Hammel and Andrew H. Denker and renamed it Morocco Junction. After drilling for oil and only finding water, they reorganized their business into the Rodeo Land and Water Company to develop a new residential town later known as Beverly Hills, California.

Historical Notes

Today, Kerckhoff Hall is one of the main student union buildings of UCLA. Among its offerings are: study lounges, an art gallery, a coffeehouse, meeting rooms, a salon and the student government offices.*

Historical Notes

For many Bruins, the iconic Gothic spires of Kerckhoff Hall, rising majestically high above campus, are second only to Royce Hall as a symbol of UCLA.

Historical Notes

Marymount was established in 1923 by the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary. Mother Joseph Butler of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary founded the school in 1923. Marymount students and teams are known as the "Sailors." *^

Historical Notes

In the early years, parking on the UCLA campus was not a significant concern.  After World War II, UCLA experienced significant growth, and this growth led to increased demand for parking facilities. This expansion coincided with the post-war boom in car ownership in the United States. To address the growing parking demand, UCLA constructed its first parking structures in the 1950s and 1960s. These multi-level parking garages helped alleviate some of the parking congestion on campus.

Historical Notes

Named for philanthropist Glorya Kaufman, Kaufman Hall was originally UCLA's women's gym. She is the widow of Donald Bruce Kaufman, who co-founded KB Home with Eli Broad in 1957.

The building was eventually remodeled and renovated in 2005 to become the house of UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures as well as dance. Aside from the WAC department, Kaufman Hall also is host to the Kaufman Garden Courtyard, the Kaufman Garden Theater, the Kaufman Hall Dance Theater, and the North pool.

Glorya (Pinkis) Kaufman was born in Detroit, Michigan during the Great Depression. Her father worked as a production manager for Automotive News and her mother volunteered for Jewish charities. Her parents could not afford dancing lessons for her.

In 2009, she donated $20 million to the Los Angeles Music Center to establish the Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance series. She has also donated millions to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Juilliard School in New York City. In 2011, she donated several millions to the University of Southern California for the establishment of the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance and the construction of the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center.*^

Historical Notes

On August 8, 1933, just 14 years after the Los Angeles campus became a part of the University; the Regents authorized graduate training for the M.A. degree and specified a graduate enrollment of 125 students. In the first year, 170 qualified students applied and were enrolled. Graduate enrollment has been climbing ever since.

On May 22, 1936, the Regents extended their authorization to include the Ph.D. degree. At June Commencement two years later, the first Ph.D. degree was awarded to Kenneth P. Bailey, a student in the Department of History. One year earlier, a Ph.D. degree had been conferred at Berkeley on Norman Watson, a student in the Department of Physics who had done much of his graduate research at Los Angeles.**

Historical Notes

Kenny Washington led the nation in total offense and became the first consensus All-American in the history of the school's football program in 1939. He rushed for 1,914 yards in his college career, a school record for 34 years. He was one of four African American players on the 1939 UCLA Bruins football team, the others being Woody Strode, Jackie Robinson and Ray Bartlett. Washington, Strode, and Robinson starred on the 1939 UCLA Bruins football team, in which they made up three of the four backfield players. This was a rarity to have so many African Americans when only a few dozen at all played on college football teams. They played eventual conference and national champion USC to a 0-0 tie with the 1940 Rose Bowl on the line. It was the first UCLA-USC rivalry football game with national implications.*^

Historical Notes

In this 1965 speech at UCLA, Martin Luther King called for students to join a "Domestic Freedom Corps" to work in 120 counties of the Deep South to help increase the number of registered African American voters.*

On October 14, 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence. In 1965, he and the SCLC helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches and the following year, he took the movement north to Chicago to work on segregated housing. In the final years of his life, King expanded his focus to include poverty and speak against the Vietnam War, alienating many of his liberal allies with a 1967 speech titled "Beyond Vietnam".

In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People's Campaign, when he was assassinated on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee.

King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971, and as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986.*^

Historical Notes

From 1967–69, Lew Alcindor played under coach John Wooden, contributing to the team's three-year record of 88 wins and only two losses: one to the University of Houston in which Alcindor had a not fully healed eye injury, and the other to crosstown rival USC who played a "stall game" (i.e., there was no shot clock in those days, so a team could hold the ball as long as it wanted before attempting to score). In his first college game, Lew set a UCLA single game record with 56 points.

The 1965–66 UCLA Bruin team was the preseason #1. But on November 27, 1965, the freshman team led by Alcindor defeated the varsity team 75–60 in the first game in the new Pauley Pavilion.  Alcindor scored 31 points and had 21 rebounds in that game.

During his college career, Alcindor was twice named Player of the Year (1967, 1969); was a three-time First Team All-American (1967–69); played on three NCAA basketball champion teams (1967, 1968, 1969); was honored as the Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA Tournament (1967, 1968, 1969); and became the first-ever Naismith College Player of the Year in 1969.*^

Historical Notes

Ihe UCLA Bruins have won 125 national championships, including 108 NCAA team championships as of December 2011, more than any other university. UCLA student-athletes have won 214 Olympic medals – 106 gold, 54 silver and 54 bronze. The Bruins have had at least one competitor in every Olympics since 1920 with one exception (1924), and UCLA has won a gold medal in every Olympics since 1932 with the exception of 1980 (boycott).*

Historical Notes

In some cases, the word "legend" is an understatement. That was the case with former UCLA coach John Wooden, winner of 10 national titles in a 12-year stretch. He'd announced his retirement before the 1975 national title game against Kentucky. The 1974 -75 squad was not Wooden's best -- he didn't have Lew Alcindor or Bill Walton -- but the Bruins' 92-85 win in the national title game that year guaranteed a proper sendoff for Wooden. He left the game on top. Few coaches in any sport can match that.*

Historical Notes

After World War II, the architects changed to a less costly and more modern style buildings which still featured red brick. The 1950s and early 1960s saw a building boom that produced more than 60 permanent structures on campus.**

Historical Notes

Westwood and UCLA were developed on the lands of the historic 'Wolfskill Ranch', a 3,000-acre parcel that was purchased by Arthur Letts, the successful founder of the Broadway, and Bullock's department stores, in 1919.*^

Historical Notes

Westwood Village would contain a unique blend of pedestrian and automobile-oriented development.  Wide sidewalks and landscaping were priorities.  Corner buildings would be accessible from both streets and interior courtyards.

Historical Notes

Westwood Village was created by the Janss Investment Company, run by Harold and Edwin Janss and their father, Peter, in the late 1920s as an autonomous shopping district and headquarters of the Janss Company. Its boom was complemented by the boom of UCLA (which selected the Westwood Hills as its new home in 1926), developed as a shopping district not just for the residents of Westwood but also for the university.*^

Historical Notes

In 1911 Harold Janss married Arthur Letts' daughter Gladys. In 1923 after Arthur Letts, Sr. died, leaving control of the 3,300-acre William Wolfskill ranch on Rancho San Jose de Buenos Ayres to Harold and Gladys Janss. Through a three-way deal with the State of California and the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Beverly Hills, the UCLA campus was built. Janss Investment Company went to work in parallel developing the Westwood Village commercial area and surrounding residential neighborhoods.*^^

Historical Notes

The Janss Dome ranks alongside the white Spanish Revival/Moderne tower of the Fox Theater as an iconic landmark of Westwood Village.

Historical Notes

Back of postcard reads: Westwood is a district 13 miles west of downtown Los Angeles, and includes the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), a residential neighborhood, and Westwood Village, a shopping district. Clustered around its central thoroughfare of Westwood Boulevard, the shopping district serves the affluent neighborhoods of Bel Air and Westwood to the north, as well as students from UCLA. ##

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