Skip to main content
Donate
inventing la the chandler and their times

Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times

Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times

This groundbreaking documentary traces the explosive emergence of multi-ethnic, modern Los Angeles during the single-family reign of four publishers of the Los Angeles Times. Each used the newspaper to pursue distinct agendas and impossible dreams, transforming the composition and character of Southern California itself; in the process, seducing a nation and the world with a new kind of American Dream.

There are no episodes available to stream at this time. Explore more shows.

Support Provided By
la times building
Timeline: History of the Los Angeles Times
An extensive look at the historical moments important in shaping Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Times.
Harrison Gray Otis, Founding Publisher of the Chandler Dynasty, centralized, militarized and gave clear strategic direction to the city’s elite. (Courtesy The Huntington Library)
Carey McWilliams: Challenging The Chandlers’ Los Angeles
Carey McWilliams built a career in print that contradicted the dreamlike image of California heavily promoted by Harrison Gray Otis and his son-in-law/successor, Harry Chandler. 
Otis Chandler, Fourth Publisher of the Chandler Dynasty, with wife Missy and their five children. The family personified the California Dream. (Courtesy The Chandler Family Archives)
As Chandler Dynasty Evolved, So Did Power In L.A.
The course of the Chandler dynasty defies easy telling, in part because it too has been embroidered with so much mythology.
Active loading indicator