This winter may be rainy and cold, even frosty at times, but Los Angeles typically doesn't see snow any closer than the mountains. Back in January of 1949, however, a legendary snow storm blew through town, blanketing L.A. and the surrounding areas with snow cover.
Snow used to fall in L.A. about once every few years, but 1949 was one of the last, with up to a foot of snow falling in parts of the city. Smaller snows would be recorded in 1957 and 1962, but not a flake has fallen since (or, at least, not a naturally-occurring one) and, as KCET reports, each year that passes, it becomes less and less likely that the city will ever see snow again.
While we won't be sitting around waiting for a blizzard to show up on the forecast, we can at least appreciate these images from the digital archives of the L.A. Public Library that show us just what a snow-covered city looked like 68 years ago.
Skiing in La Crescenta
Photograph: Los Angeles Public Library / Herald-Examiner Collection
Stalled out motorists in Coldwater Canyon
Photograph: Los Angeles Public Library / Herald-Examiner Collection
The Huntington Hotel in Pasadena (their slogan was "Where sunshine spends the winter." Oops!)
Photograph: Los Angeles Public Library / Herald-Examiner Collection
Animals at the Griffith Park Zoo
Photograph: Los Angeles Public Library / Security Pacific National Bank Collection
People playing in a Los Angeles city park
Photograph: Los Angeles Public Library / Shades of L.A. Collection
Two cars, driving in Mount Washington
Photograph: Los Angeles Public Library / Security Pacific National Bank Collection
Ladies building a snowman in North Hollywood
Photograph: Los Angeles Public Library / Shades of L.A. Collection
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