Settled by Spanish priests on precariously shifting earth, El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles began as a city of the faithful, though by the early twentieth century it was dominated by pragmatic Anglos and capitalists. Agricultural barons and land swindlers thrived, along with oil drillers, dairies and the embryonic motion picture industry, which also began to stake its claim to the land. Apart from the native Angelinos, everyone moved to the city...