Lost L.A.

Californians have long fought over what Yosemite means, and how to manage it. Since its birth as a park and preserve in 1864, Yosemite has become a postcard for the natural beauty of California. Each year, millions visit from around the globe to see the cliffs, waterfalls and meadows that inspire wonder and reverence of the American West. This episode explores how Yosemite has changed over time: from a land maintained by indigenous peoples; to its emergence as a tourist attraction; to the site of conflict over humanity’s relationship with nature.

California’s deserts have sparked the imaginations of millions of people around the world. From the famously alien landscape of Joshua Tree to the wide expanses of seemingly empty land, the desert has been seen as a place of reinvention, a blank slate to create your dream. This episode explores how those dreams have led to the man-made natural disaster that created the Salton Sea; to the effort to preserve Joshua Tree National Park; and how commercial interests and real estate developers created desert utopias like Palm Springs.

One of California's great international exports has been its beach culture. This episode explores how surfers, bodybuilders, and acrobats taught California how to have fun and stay young at the beach -- and how the 1968 documentary "The Endless Summer" shared the southern California idea of the beach with the rest of the world.

Some California dreams succeeded, creating megalopolis regions in the state’s north and south. Other dreams failed, leaving nothing but ruins. This episode explores three California ghost towns: Bodie, a Mono County gold mining settlement that was preserved in time; Llano Del Rio, a socialist utopian community in the Mojave Desert; and Zzyzx, a former health spa on the way to Las Vegas.

From its origins as a themed seaside resort to its international fame as a countercultural hub, Venice Beach boasts a rich, multilayered history. This episode explores Abbot Kinney’s original Venice of America development; the community of Beat poets who called Venice home; and how the commercial renaissance along Abbot Kinney Boulevard has impacted the historically African-American neighborhood of Oakwood.

Los Angeles has long been the place where you can imagine something — any time period, any locale, ordinary or exotic, real or fantasy — and build it. It’s a tradition that dates to the 1910s and 1920s, when early filmmakers built elaborately themed outdoor sets that often remained standing for months or years, inviting visitors. It found its fullest expression in nearby Anaheim, where Walt Disney’s Imagineers created the intricately themed, immersive experience that is Disneyland.