Completion Year: 1936

Sculpted by Stefan De Vriedt in 1936, this four-foot cast stone sculpture of two children reading was funded by the WPA Federal Arts Project (FAP). Titled "Storybook Land," it is located in McKinley Elementary School's inner courtyard in Santa Monica, CA.

These two 10' x 20' murals "San Diego Harbor" and "San Diego Back Country" by Charles Reiffel were originally installed in the Russ Auditorium at San Diego High School. They were painted in 1936 under the auspices of the WPA Federal Art Project.

As part of the New Deal reconstruction of Mission La Purisima, Helen Seegert created a concrete fountain at the east end of the complex in 1936.  It was paid for by the Federal Arts Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

Helen Seegert completed this 7' x 12' painted cement mural, entitled "Building the Mission," in 1936 with funds provided by the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. It id viewable in the foyer of the Lompoc Veterans Memorial Building auditorium.

David Swanson completed this 3.5' x 9' wood carving, entitled "Indians and Father Lasuen," in 1936 with funds provided by the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. It is viewable in the second floor club room, above the fireplace, in the Lompoc Veterans' Memorial Building.  

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the central electric substation for the City of Alameda, which has its own municipal electric power system.  It cost over $200,000, a considerable sum at the time.  It also served as the central fire alarm switching center for the city. It is a steel-reinforced concrete building in Moderne style, rather narrow and high.  It has two large plaques on the front, one honoring the city's board of public works and one the PWA (which was originally called the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works).   Short & Stanley-Brown (1939) provide more detail about what the building...

The downtown post office and federal building in Salinas, California, was constructed by the Treasury Department in 1936.  It is now known as the Steinbeck Station Post Office. The lobby appears to be unchanged from the 1930s.  It contains two wooden bas-relief sculptures by Richard O'Hanlon.

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, one of the most famous bridges in the world and the key transportation link in the Bay Area, was built under the New Deal with funding from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). The 8-mile long bridge (43,500 feet) consists of two parts, both anchored to Yerba Buena Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay.  The western half is an elegant suspension bridge (whose beauty has always suffered by comparison with the Golden Gate Bridge, but gained a delightful electronic light show in the 2010s). The longer  eastern half was a classic cantilever bridge, ungainly but...

In 1542 Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo became the first European explorer to see the coast of California. This statue of the explorer "Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo" was made in cast concrete by Henry Lion in 1936. It was a Federal Art Project. It stands on the shore near the San Pedro Breakwater.

Helen Wills Park was improved by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935-36. The WPA relief workers regraded the park, paved the tennis courts and playground area, and repainted the recreation center. The park was established in 1915 as the Spring Valley Playground and renamed the Helen Wills Playground in 1929, in honor of local tennis pioneer, Helen Wills. The park was thoroughly overhauled in the 2000s and the recreation building and playground are completely new.  The tennis court and basketball court could well go back to the WPA era, with new surfaces.  The concrete support wall that levels up the whole...