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  • City Park Wall - Antioch CA
    WPA Project No. 65-3-2426, App. Date 11-4-35, $780, "Construction of rock wall around Antioch City Park." WPA Project No. 65-3-2426, App. Date 2-8-36, $430, "Const. of rock wall with reinforced concrete foundations. (Additional)" From the Google street view, it looks as if the wall is still in good condition. Some attention to design seems to have been the designers goal. A seating bench is incorporated into the southwest corner, and a long alcove for a flower bed is in the north section.
  • City Reservoir and Water System Improvements - Fortuna CA
    Works Progress Administration (WPA) project cards in the National Archives indicate that WPA crews did extensive work on the city water supply system in Fortuna in 1937 and 1940.  A new reservoir was proposed in 1935 and approved in 1936.  The next round, in 1939-40, included laying of new and reclaimed water mains, installing hydrants and improving water treatment. This work cannot be definitively confirmed, since water mains are undergr0und and hydrants have been replaced by modern fixtures.  The reservoir on a hill north of downtown Fortuna does appear to be of the right age to be the one built by...
  • City Terrace Park - Los Angeles CA
    City Terrace Park was planned in 1931 but the park space wasn't completed until 1933, when crews of workers from the Works Progress Administration* finished cutting into three and a half acres of rugged hillside, creating terrace space for the new city park. * While sources cite the WPA, the agency was not established until 1935. 1933 efforts may have been undertaken by a predecessor agency, the Civil Works Administration (CWA). Construction crews terracing designated park land. Arizona red sandstone from the demolition of the former Los Angeles County Courthouse (1891-1936) was re-used in construction of park features. Original 1931 park plans as...
  • City Waterworks Improvements - San Luis Obispo CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) did improvements to the San Luis Obispo water supply in the 1930s.  WPA photographs from the National Archives show workers laying water pipes in city streets. Exactly when and where is not known to us.
  • Civilian Conservation Corps Los Angeles District Headquarters (demolished) – Van Nuys CA
    In March 1936, the U.S. Army leased the Robert Morton Company building and property at 6001 Van Nuys Boulevard, Van Nuys, California, to serve as headquarters for the newly-created Los Angeles District of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  The Robert Morton Company had been a producer of pipe organs and closed its business in 1933.  After remodeling the interior, the building was dedicated to its new mission on May 21, 1936. The entire property was described as “one block square with a 222-foot frontage on Van Nuys boulevard, and extending 55 feet west to Vesper Street. There are two main buildings...
  • Clarendon Avenue Extension - San Francisco CA
    Built the avenue between Laguna Honda Boulevard and Stanyan Street trhu the Sutro Forest. Work consisted of laying a base course of 8 inch Quarry run rock and 2 inch asphalt wearing surface, together with required curb, sidewalk, guard rail, drainage, etc. This improvement created a 40 feet highway between the Sunset Section, west of Twin Peaks and down town San Francisco, making the shortest connection and most direct route between Forest Hills and Downtown.--Healy, p. 47.
  • Clark Intermediate School Buildings - Clovis CA
    The WPA constructed two buildings on this campus, completed in 1940-41. One was originally a science building and is now the school administration building. The high school (then Clovis Union High School) received $66,000 for the science building.
  • Clark Kerr Campus Organ Screen - Berkeley CA
    This organ screen was originally built for the California School for the Blind. It is a wood carving with gold leaf and polychrome. It remains in the same location, but the building has since become part of the UC Berkeley Clark Kerr Campus in the 1980s. "In 1936 was hired by the WPA as a senior sculptor, advancing almost immediately to the position of unit supervisor. Working from his shop at Fifteenth and Shotwell, Johnson began producing large scale public art. His first public art project was a twenty-two foot long organ screen for the California School for the Blind...
  • Clark Stadium Athletic Facility - Hermosa Beach CA
    This facility does not appear to be a stadium per se, but it includes a baseball field which is still in use and is also used for special events.
  • Clear Creek Outdoor Education Center - La Cañada Flintridge CA
    The Clear Creek Outdoor Education Center in La Cañada Flintridge, CA, is based at former Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Angeles Crest F-133, which was established in May 1933 for the development of Angeles National Forest. One of the projects undertaken by the CCC men stationed here was the construction of a road between 1933 and 1934; its location is unclear. Today, the Clear Creek Outdoor Education Center is a Los Angeles Unified School District science education facility and camp.
  • Clear Lake Dam - Clear Lake National Wildlife Refuge - Modoc County CA
    The following is an excerpt from an interview with Abe Boehm, a CCC enrollee (Company 3740) stationed at Camp Clear Lake in northeastern California between February and June of 1937: "I must have worked on the Clear Lake dam for 2 or 3 months. Now you talk about work! Every stone we put in that dam was hand placed. There were about 60 to 80 men working on the dam. We had five or six 1932/1933 Chevrolet dump trucks; the truck driver and two guys would go out and drive through the sagebrush south of the dam, where those rocks were...
  • Clifton Middle School Gymnasium - Monrovia CA
    Clifton Middle School moved to this site in 1929. The WPA demolished and reconstructed the school gymnasium in the 1930s.
  • Cloverdale High School - Cloverdale CA
    Originally Cloverdale Union High School
  • Co. Hwy J16 - Hornitos CA
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of infrastructure in Hornitos, Mariposa County. The projects included Co. Hwy J16. "SEVERAL PWA PROJECTS UNDER WAY IN COUNTY Several PWA projects for this county have been approved and work in some degree has been started. Among those approved and under way are included the Hornitos-Merced Falls Road,"
  • Coachella Aqueduct - Coachella CA
    The Coachella Canal is a 122-mile (196 km) aqueduct that conveys Colorado River water for irrigation to the Coachella Valley in Riverside County, California.  It is effectively a branch of the All-American Canal, which was completed in the 1930s.   Both are arms of the gigantic Colorado River Storage Project, anchored by Boulder Dam, built under the Bureau of Reclamation.  The contract for both canals went to the so-called Six Companies – an alliance of big western construction firms including Kaiser, Bechtel, Utah Construction and Parsons. Contracts were signed in 1936-37 and work began in 1940 but was interrupted by the...
  • Coalinga Lateral - King City CA
    The September 1934 issue of California Highway & Public Works reported on the construction of a road along the Coalinga Lateral in Monterey County: "On the Coalinga lateral between the Mustang Ridge and Priest Valley in Monterey County, a distance of about 3.3 miles, the road is being constructed with a 24-foot graded roadbed and a 20-foot selected material surface. It is anticipated that this work will be completed in February of next year. This project is financed under the National Industrial Recovery Act." The road appears to be what is now called the John McVeigh Jr. Memorial Highway.
  • Coast Highway - King City CA to Greenfield CA
    A July 1934 issue of California Highway & Public Works reported that the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) helped finance the improvement of 9 miles of the Coast Highway between King City and Greenfield by grading a 36-foot roadbed with 20-foot bituminous surface treatment. The project was completed July 1934.
  • Codornices Park Tennis and Handball Courts - Berkeley CA
    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...
  • Coit Tower Murals - San Francisco CA
    While the structure itself is not a New Deal project, San Francisco's Coit Tower is the site of a large number of stunning New Deal murals and paintings. Twenty-five artists, supervised by Diego Rivera-trained muralist Victor Arnautoff and funded by PWAP, painted fresco murals on the interior of the tower. The themes of the murals are labor and California life during the Great Depression. A sign now on display at the tower explains further: “When Coit Tower was completed in 1933, its interior consisted of over 3,000 square feet of blank wall space. But in early 1934, the building became the pilot...
  • Coit Tower: Albro Mural - San Francisco CA
    This large 10' x 42' fresco "California" by Maxine Albro depicts a variety of California agricultural harvest scenes. It was funded by the PWAP.
  • Coit Tower: Arnautoff Mural - San Francisco CA
    This 10' x 36' fresco "City Life" was painted by Victor Arnautoff with the help of Edward Hansen and Farwell Taylor with funding from the PWAP. The onsite plaque reads: "Such familiar San Francisco buildings as City Hall, the Main Library, the Legion of Honor, and the Stock Exchange watch over the hectic urban scene, which includes an accident and a robbery." Arnautoff, who was a student of Diego Rivera's, supervised the entire Coit Tower mural project. The photos below show the mural from left to right.The man standing to the right of the newspaper stand is a portrait of the artist.  
  • Coit Tower: Berlandina Mural - San Francisco CA
    This 9' x 34' egg tempera PWAP mural "Home Life" by Jane Berlandina is located on the second floor of Coit Tower. It is accessible only during the Saturday morning tour.  
  • Coit Tower: Bertrand Mural - San Francisco CA
    This 10' x 10' fresco "Meat Industry" by Ray Bertrand was funded by the PWAP and depicts numerous scenes from the California meat industry.  
  • Coit Tower: Boynton Mural - San Francisco CA
    This 10' x 36' PWAP fresco "Animal Force and Machine Force" by Ray Boynton depicts various scenes of production. It is located on the inner north wall of Coit Tower.    
  • Coit Tower: Chesse Mural - San Francisco CA
    This 9' x 6' PWAP fresco "Children at Play" by Ralph Chesse is located on the second floor of Coit Tower. It is accessible only during the Saturday morning tour  
  • Coit Tower: Cuneo Mural - San Francisco CA
    Two 9' x 54' oil-on-canvas panels entitled "Bay Area Hills" painted by Rinaldo Cuneo with support from the PWAP depict the rolling hills of the Bay Area.  
  • Coit Tower: Cunningham Mural - San Francisco CA
    This 9' x 22' PWAP fresco "Outdoor Life" by Benjamin Cunningham is located on the second floor of Coit Tower. It is accessible only during the Saturday morning tour.
  • Coit Tower: Dean Murals - San Francisco CA
    Mallette Dean painted two 10' x 4' frescoes for the main floor of the Coit Tower under the auspices of the PWAP. "Stockbroker" is a portrait of A. P. Giannini, founder of Bank of America. The second mural depicts a“Scientist-Inventor.”
  • Coit Tower: Hall Mural - San Francisco CA
    This 9' x 13' PWAP fresco "Collegiate Sports" painted by Parker Hall is located on the second floor of Coit Tower. It is accessible during the free SF City Guides tours every Wednesday and Saturday morning at 11:00 AM. The murals can also be viewed on CT Docents tours.  
  • Coit Tower: Hamlin Mural - San Francisco CA
    This 9' x 12' PWAP fresco "Hunting in California" by Edith Hamlin is located on the second floor of Coit Tower. It is accessible only during the Saturday morning tour.  
  • Coit Tower: Harris Mural - San Francisco CA
    The Coit Tower sign for this 10' x 10' PWAP fresco "Banking and Law" by George Harris reads: "While the stocks continue to plunge and bags of money are guarded, lawyers pour over books in a law library. The artist's sense of humor is evident in the titles of books and the authors to whom he attributes the titles."
  • Coit Tower: Hesthal Mural - San Francisco CA
    The sign for this 10' x 10' PWAP fresco "Railroad and Shipping" by William Hesthal in Coit Tower reads: "Seen here are the symbols of transportation commerce in the 1930s: trains and boats. On the left, a train prepares to depart while a signalman watches and waits. Behind the boat is the Third Street Bridge at China Basin, completed in 1933."    
  • Coit Tower: Howard Mural - San Francisco CA
    The label attached to John Langley Howard's 10' x 24' PWAP fresco "California Industrial Scenes" in Coit Tower reads: "In this mural industry is physically portrayed, and with a powerful social and political message emerges from the mixture of visual images: demonstrating workers, the homeless, a strip mining operation, and Shasta Dam, to name a few."      
  • Coit Tower: Labaudt Mural - San Francisco CA
    This PWAP mural of two 6' x 32' panels painted by Lucien Labaudt depicts a scene on San Francisco's Powell Street. The mural "Powell Street" is accessible during the free SF City Guides tours every Wednesday and Saturday morning at 11:00 AM. The murals can also be viewed on CT Docents tours.
  • Coit Tower: Langdon and Clement Mural - San Francisco CA
    This 10' x 27' PWAP fresco "California Agriculture and Industry" was painted by Gordon Langdon and H. Clement. The man spraying the cow is a portrait of fellow artist Lucien Labaudt.  
  • Coit Tower: Moya del Pino Mural - San Francisco CA
    A 9' x 54' PWAP oil painting "San Francisco Bay, North" by Jose Moya del Pino is located on the north wall of the elevator lobby in Coit Tower.  
  • Coit Tower: Oldfield Murals - San Francisco CA
    Under the auspices of the PWAP, Otis Oldfield painted several murals for the Coit Tower. One 9′ x 54′ oil painting mural depicts the "San Francisco Bay." Two 2' x 4' semi-circular lunettes depicting "Seabirds" are located on the south wall of  the elevator lobby. Another 2'x 4' semi-circular lunette shows a "Bay Area Map."
  • Coit Tower: Olmsted Mural - San Francisco CA
    A 3' x 3' fresco, "Power," painted by Frederick Olmsted with funding from the PWAP, is located on the outer north wall of Coit Tower.
  • Coit Tower: Scheuer and Daum Mural - San Francisco CA
    This 10' x 10' PWAP fresco "Newsgathering" by Suzanne Scheuer and Hebe Daum depicts a busy newspaper office scene.
  • Coit Tower: Stackpole Mural - San Francisco CA
    This 10' x 36' PWAP fresco "Industries of California" by Ralph Stackpole, who was assisted by Thomas Hayes, depicts workers engaged in numerous California industries. Stackpole, primarily a sculptor, learned fresco for this project.  
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