Smoglandia Pt 3: COUGH COUGH
From Boiling Point by LA Times Studios
November 13, 2025 · 34 min · Episode 43
About this episode
The episode discusses the impact of smog on Los Angeles, including economic consequences and community responses.
Living with smog was like living with an obnoxious neighbor. Angelenos tried protesting at city hall. They kept their coughing kids inside. A couple of actors manufactured joke cans of “genuine smog” and sold them to tourists. A few came up with earnest but crackpot solutions, like drilling a smog tunnel in the mountains. But serious pollution cost us serious money. Hollywood shoots had to shut down or move farther out of town to avoid it. And Southern California’s billion-dollar agriculture industry was being literally killed off by smog. One story we tell – of the Kaiser Steel plant in Fontana – made it look like LA had to choose between good jobs and good air, between pink slips and pink lungs.
Topics covered
- smog
- pollution
- Los Angeles
- agriculture
- environment
- economy
Keywords
- smog
- pollution
- Los Angeles
- Kaiser Steel
- agriculture
- Hollywood
- environment
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Kaiser Steel, Hollywood, Southern California
Places: Los Angeles, Fontana
More episodes of Boiling Point
- Introducing: The De Los Podcast · June 3, 2026 · 12 min
- Smoglandia Pt 6: FUTURE ELECTRIC, FUTURE TROUBLE · December 11, 2025 · 45 min
- Smoglandia Pt 5: SMOG CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK · December 4, 2025 · 38 min
- Smoglandia Pt 4: SCIENCE AND GOVERNMENT, BESTIES? · November 20, 2025 · 36 min
- Smoglandia Pt 2: SCIENCE TO THE RESCUE · November 6, 2025 · 33 min
- Smoglandia Pt 1: L.A. SMOG – VERY OLD-SCHOOL · October 30, 2025 · 25 min
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