Building California
In the midst of the worst depression in the nation's history, Californians continued to build and celebrate their Golden State.
Attended by the athletes of forty nations, the Los Angeles Olympics of 1932 was a spectacular success. Three years later, President Roosevelt officially dedicated Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. Bridging the Bay was an enormous undertaking in northern California, a process that included the completion of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in 1936 and the Golden Gate Bridge the following year. Standing tall on nearby Telegraph Hill was a more modest construction, Coit Tower, decorated with murals depicting scenes from the 1930s. The decade ending in grand style with the opening of the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay.