Conference examines L.A.’s connection to the subterranean world

In the 1950’s, the bomb shelter industry, well, boomed.

It was the Cold War, and fears about nuclear disaster at the hands of the Soviets were commonplace. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy urged Americans to build shelters to protect their families.

Though the Cold War ended in the 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union, a demand for bomb shelters has never really dried up. No doubt bolstered by recent fears about North Korea, companies like Atlas Survival Shelters in Montebello, Calif., continue to run a robust business.

What does that say about us, today?

Peter Westwick, adjunct assistant professor (research) of history at USC Dornsife, will try to get at an answer as part of the “Under L.A.: Subterranean Stories” conference on Nov. 11 on USC’s University Park campus. The one-day public event, which takes place from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Doheny Memorial Library, Room 240, will bring together experts on earthquakes, cemeteries, tar pits, L.A. subculture, insects and more to explore the question of what we can learn about our past and future by looking down instead of up.

The caption for this June 20, 1960, photo reads “Mrs. Robert McConnell and son Robert Jr. peer into strange 14 foot cave-in in backyard of their home at 216 N. Lincoln St., Burbank. Authorities say they can’t figure out cause.” Photo courtesy of George Brich, Valley Times Collection, Los Angeles Public Library.

Westwick, director of the Aerospace History Project at USC Dornsife, is an expert in the history of science and technology and has taught classes on nuclear proliferation during the Cold War. He will share his expertise in a panel discussion moderated by writer Nathan Masters, host and producer of Lost LA, an original public television series from KCET and the USC Libraries. Another USC Dornsife panelist, M.G. Lord of English, will discuss the ideological aspects of the militarized era.

“I’m really interested — not so much as a scholar, but more just as a person — in what I think of as a dialogue between what’s above us and what’s below us,” said co-organizer and Professor of History William Deverell. “There is an intricate connection between what we walk on and what’s just below the surface.”

The day will include panel discussions pertaining to the “many undergrounds beneath” the City of Angels: natural, public, militarized and cultural. KCET’s Lost L.A. documentary on the lost tunnels of downtown Los Angeles will also be screened, with series host Nathan Masters in attendance.

Speakers include Robert de Groot of the ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning Program; Emily Lindsey of the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum; author and critic M.G. Lord; writer Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG; Urban Planning professor Mike Manville; culture journalist Carolina Miranda; former Lockheed Martin Skunk Works president Sherman Mullin; entomologist Joe Parker; L.A. County Public Works civil engineer Dan Sharp; cemetery scholar David Sloane; and queer performance artist Ron Athey.

Between panels, 60 black-and-white photographs taken at underground locations all around the region will be projected, and clips of subterranean scenes in older and newer films will be shown.

“Under L.A.” was organized by Deverell and writer and book critic David L. Ulin, assistant professor of the Practice of English at USC Dornsife.

“The conference is going to be lively, fun and ever-so-slightly creepy,” Deverell promised.

Under LA teaser – November 11, 2017 from Huntington-USC ICW on Vimeo.