It was a bold move, indeed, for the city of Los Angeles to host the summer games of the Xth Olympiad in 1932. Southern California, like the rest of the nation, was in the midst of the Great Depression.

The city had begun preparing for the games nearly a decade earlier with the construction of Memorial Coliseum. After the stock market crash of 1929, some members of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee wanted to call the games off. Most remained committed to hosting the games, no matter what.

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(DETAIL)- Julio Kilenyi, "Olympic Games-1932." California Historical Society, North Baker Research Library, Poster collection, FN-32166.

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The city went on to provide not only a new coliseum, but also an Olympic Village on 250 acres atop the Baldwin Hills. The village included Mexican-style haciendas, dining complexes, a theater, hospital, and fire department. Never before had a city provided such an extensive facility for its visiting athletes.

Fifteen hundred competitors, representing forty nations, participated in the games. The opening ceremonies in the coliseum, witnessed by a capacity crowd of more than 100,000, set a new standard for artistry and pageantry. The games themselves were a sports reporter's paradise, with new Olympic records set in every event but the broad jump. "I came to chronicle sports' biggest disaster," wrote Westbrook Pegler. "I am leaving to describe its greatest triumph."

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