The rest of the time, you might suppose, Angelenos have been busy surfing, or sunbathing, or skateboarding, or making escapist movies. Since it first became a big city in the early 20th century, only a few of its political events have received global attention: the city’s deadly riots in 19 the formative years spent in southern California by Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, and the region’s postwar conservative movement, which greatly influenced their presidencies and last year’s protests over policing and racism, which were among the largest in the US. L os Angeles is often imagined as a place where fun and culture happen but politics doesn’t.
