Up Next
Back to Show
Lost LA
The Firefall: The Yosemite Tourist Attraction That Couldn’t Exist Today
If the idea of a waterfall made of fire seems too good to be true, that's because it is. The firefall — which was a virtual waterfall but made of fire — was a completely artificial construct created as a gimmick using bonfire embers thrown over a cliff to entertain the crowds of Yosemite. But the crowds it drew for nearly a century was also the reason it came to an end; the throngs of visitors were damaging the delicate meadow adjacent to Camp Curry in order to view the Glacier Point spectacle. Park Ranger Scott Gediman was a young boy when the nightly event stopped but still vividly recalls it as "the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life!"
Support Provided By
Season
27:05
Trace the devastation of the 1928 St. Francis Dam collapse and its deadly flood.
26:40
How Cold War vigilance and secrecy shaped Southern California culture.
26:39
The Space Shuttle Endeavour’s journey is traced from its origins.
26:40
Tiki culture isn’t a Polynesian import — it’s a Hollywood creation.
26:49
Archives reveal the “forgotten plague” that shaped Southern California: tuberculosis.
26:50
Visit Hollywood Forever, Evergreen and Forest Lawn, where L.A. reinvented the cemetery.
26:40
The hiker-activists who led Angelenos into their hills and onto the trails.
26:39
How Filipino Americans in Southern California are making their heritage more visible.
26:47
Iconic fast-food chains from McDonald’s to Taco Bell were born in SoCal.
26:37
After internment camps, Japanese Americans made L.A.'s Crenshaw neighborhood their home.
26:04
During WWII, L.A. became a sanctuary for Europe’s accomplished artists and intellectuals.
26:46
Dig deep into Southern California’s past to reveal lessons for our climate-changed future.