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Burbank Elementary School was built in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The original school appears to consist of three buildings, all long and low in the style of Spanish mission residential buildings.  All have covered, pillared breezeways along the entire front, with door to each classroom opening onto those outdoor corridors. The school has had additions and underwent a major renovation in recent years, according to a staffer who spoke to us in 2023.  The original design had tile roofs, as shown in 2010 photo, which have been changed to metal roofs.    

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed the Monterey County Fairgrounds in 1939-40, building exhibit halls, barns, a racetrack and more. There is a WPA plaque on the grounds. (Note: in the second phase of the WPA's life, it was called the Works Projects Administration and was placed under the new Federal Works Administration) "Covering 22 acres, the Monterey county fairgrounds is the site of the annual county fair, as well as other events large and small which throughout the year. There are two arenas, livestock barns, and several exhibit halls. Probably only a handful of the millions of people who...

The New Deal post office in Whittier, California, was constructed in 1935 with federal Treasury Department funds. It was designed by R. L. Warren, with Louis A. Simon, one of the Roosevelt Administration's chief New Deal architects, serving as Supervising Architect. Neal A. Melick served as Supervising Engineer. The building is still in service, but the New Deal mural has been painted over during renovations.  

Artist Stanton Macdonald-Wright designed two murals for Barnum Hall Theater at Santa Monica High School. The works were funded by the Federal Arts Project (FAP). In 1938, Macdonald-Wright completed a mural titled "Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla" upon Barnum Hall's asbestos stage curtain. The following year, he completed an 8x8-foot mosaic titled "Landing of the Vikings in Vinland" in the theater's foyer. Macdonald-Wright was supervisor for the Southern California division of the FAP from 1935 to 1943. He is considered "an important proponent of the nonrepresentational styles of art on the New Deal projects" (Kalfatovic, p. 370). His other New Deal–funded...

The New Deal vastly improved Yosemite National Park in California, which has long been the showpiece of the national park system.  Several federal agencies operated in the park from 1933 to 1942, under the general supervision of the National Park Service: the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Public Works Administration (PWA), and Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), plus the short-lived Civil Works Administration (CWA)  (December 1933 to April 1934). Major works around Yosemite are detailed in the various site pages listed on the right. Nevertheless, some of the immense amount of work done during the New Deal cannot be pinpointed, so we...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) helped pay for major improvements to the irrigation canals of the Modesto Irrigation District (MID), created in 1887. "MID ditches were vastly improved during the Depression. One project in 1937, was funded by a $380,000 federal grant from the PWA. It would bring the miles of improved ditches up to about 100 miles (out of a total of about 450 miles). Fifty ditches were involved in this project and over 500 men were employed for about five months. The federal government furnished about 45% of the cost of the manpower and materials." (Osborn, p. 46)

The Works Progress Administration created irrigation canals in Brentwood, CA. "This work included grading and cement lining of the Irrigation Ditches and the manufacturing and installation of Cement Concrete Pipe."

The Romanesque Revival style Citrus Elementary School was built in 1936 in a residential area north of downtown Chico. It was financed through a bond issue and a Public Works Administration grant which provided 45% of the total cost.  The building remains in good condition with little modification, but the school yard is now gated and the windows shaded, no doubt out of security concerns. There is a name plate with the date of construction, but nothing indicating the role of the New Deal. "This 1936 project is an L-shaped stuccoed school building. It is a single story structure with a continuous...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) built tennis and handball courts at Codornices Park – most of which lies on the east side of Euclid Road and is accessed via a pedestrian tunnel from the ball courts, which are on the west side of the road.  The tennis and handball courts adjoin the more famous Berkeley Rose Garden.  The CWA was the short-lived predecessor (1933-34) to the better known Works Progress Administration (WPA), which constructed the Rose Garden.  It is likely that the CWA began the work for the Rose Garden by creating the semi-circular hollow out of the valley cut by Codornices...

In 1940, Helen Lundeberg created a mosaic mural, "Quests for Mankind," for Canoga Park High School in Canoga Park, CA. The mural was funded by the Work Projects Administration Art Program (WPAAP). The mosaic depicts three stages in the progress of humankind: a family of early cave dwellers, a Hellenistic teaching scene, and Renaissance intellectuals with Pisa's Campanile in the background. A second, smaller panel depicts three founding fathers signing the Declaration of Independence and three students looking at a globe. According to the school website, "the murals originally hung as five separate pieces on the outside north wall of the Assembly...