Northern California in 1972. Tomas Sennett
A photographic trip to 1970s California
In 1971, the newly formed Environmental Protection Agency announced a groundbreaking photo project designed as a “visual baseline” against which to measure progress on cleaning up our air, land, and water. Over the next six years, about 100 freelance photographers fanned out across all 50 states for the Documerica series, capturing the environmental toll of rapid development but also everyday American life.
Fifty years later, the archive offers a vivid documentary portrait of the way we were in early 1970s. Roughly 15,000 of the strongest Documerica pictures have been digitized by the National Archive and posted online. The California Sun combed through the roughly 900 California images to bring you these 26 favorites.
Boy scouts in Monterey County in 1972.
Dick Rowan
The Golden Gate Bridge in 1972.
Tomas Sennett
Motorists crawled along the Hollywood Freeway in 1972.
Gene Daniels
The California coast, 1972.
Dick Rowan
Amusement park visitors in Santa Cruz in 1972.
Dick Rowan
Homes along Monterey Bay in 1972.
Dick Rowan
Passengers passed the time before boarding at Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal in 1974.
Charles O’Rear
The forested California coastline in 1972.
Tomas Sennett
Beachgoers played along the Big Sur coast in 1972.
Dick Rowan
Farmworkers in Orange County in 1975.
Charles O’Rear
Marin County, 1972.
Tomas Sennett
Partially cleared slopes in Northern California, 1972.
Tomas Sennett
Passengers board a shuttle near Mammoth Mountain in 1972.
Dick Rowan
Memorial weekend campers in Sequoia National Park in 1972.
Gene Daniels
A clearcut forest in Northern California in 1972.
Tomas Sennett
Lumber was stacked by a river in Humboldt County in 1972.
Tomas Sennett
People along the Southern California coast in 1972.
Dick Rowan
Untamed Humboldt County coastline in 1972.
Tomas Sennett
Bodie State Historic Park in 1972.
Dick Rowan
Skiers at Mammoth Mountain in 1972.
Dick Rowan
Downtown Sonora in 1972.
Gene Daniels
Artists at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz in 1972.
Dick Rowan
A residential development near Newport Beach in 1975.
Charles O’Rear
Beachgoers in 1972.
Dick Rowan
Boaters on Malibu Lake in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Charles O’Rear
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