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Burbank: An Introduction

The Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor catalyzed the dawn of America’s military industrial

complex. The “date which will live in infamy” as referred to by President Franklin Roosevelt

prompted the United States into dedicating its manpower to wartime manufacturing in areas such

as aircraft, naval vessels, and artillery. In answering the patriotic call to avenge Pearl Harbor and

defeat the axis powers, Los Angeles County served as a hub for military contractors, particular

those in aerospace manufacturing. In Los Angeles County as shown on the map in figure 1,

Burbank rose to prominence as it became the epicenter of military aircraft manufacturing for not

only the United States but of Britain’s Royal Air Force. Why Burbank became the San Fernando

Valley’s “epicenter” of aerospace manufacturing was due in part to the now infamous aerospace

defense contractor Lockheed Martin who set up shop in the blue collar working class suburb in

the late 1920’s thereby transforming the economy of Burbank during the wartime period to a

defense orientated output in manufacturing. As the Second World War commenced, Lockheed

became a prime contractor to the U.S. government War Department receiving multimillion dollar

contracts for bombers and fighter aircraft which affected not only the makeup of Burbank but

also its employment, migration to the suburb, and status in the San Fernando Valley.

In keeping with the Office of Management and Budget definition of a suburb that being a

portion of metropolitan area located outside of a central city Burbank is located outside of Los

Angeles, roughly twelve miles apart (Rand McNally). In addition to the proximity to Los

Angeles, Burbank began and continues to be a residential working class suburb: its origins

emphasized farming and raising livestock due to Burbank’s fertile land and ideal weather for

growing certain crops like olives and wheat. It was not until the 1920’s when farm land became

replaced with town lots as land now transitioned to paved streets and housing units. During this

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time, migration of industry from the city to suburbia jump started the migration of blue collar

workers into Burbank which carried into the 1930’s of which most importantly were the

Lockheed factories. Population dramatically increased from roughly 2,913 to 16,622 by the end

of the 1930’s (Population by City, 1910-1950).

While manufacturing and textile industries created quite a population boom, the decision

by the United States government to enter into war against Germany and Japan ultimately brought

about the transformation of Burbank into a fully developed suburb. It is the economic

transformation as a whole which propelled Burbank into a sought after suburb during the

wartime period and the post wartime period, due in part to the wartime defense contracts

obtained by Lockheed that I will examine in the timeframe of pre World War Two and post

World War Two. The United States government directly influenced suburban investment and

development via its multi-million dollar defense contracts with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation

who in effect hired suburban residents to work in the manufacturing plants, who catalyzed

migration from the Midwest into the San Fernando Valley, and who donated millions of dollars

into the suburb for such matters as public education and medical and health centers, with the end

result being the development and sustainment of the Burbank suburb.

Discussion of Actors and Interests: United States National Defense Contracts with Lockheed

Prompt the Growth of Burbank

As the United States entered into the Second World War, President Franklin D.

Roosevelt called upon aircraft manufacturers to set their output levels of aircraft to 60,000 planes

per year (Roger, 136). This magnificent order, due in part to an increased defense budget of

which will be further analyzed, was primarily oriented to the Western region of the United States

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as big time manufacturers like Douglas, Hughes, and Lockheed were set up in Los Angeles

County, the “Powerhouse of American aviation” as described during the 1940’s, thus spurring

blue collar migration into the county’s manufacturing plants. Lockheed for its part received the

order of building such renowned aircraft as the P-38 Lighting which saw most of its service in

the Pacific Theater, Japan, the B-17 Flying Fortress which played a crucial role in the European

Theater, Germany, and the C-69 Constellation which was used for civilian and military

transportation. As a result of the Federal government heavily investing in the defense budget,

growing from $1.6b in 1940 to $25.6b in 1942 (White House Budget, 49), Burbank saw its

population and economy greatly affected as its prime employer received multi-million dollar

contracts to build army and navy fighter planes and bombers. In an article in the Los Angeles

Times from February 17, 1941, Ed Ainsworth writes to such affects, “Planes are symbolic of

Burbanks chief industry today…perhaps no other community in Southern California is growing

as fast…Lockheed Aircraft with 18,000 employees and 800 more with its subsidiary Vega

Airplane Co.” Furthermore in that same year the first unemployment office built in the suburb

was financed by both Lockheed Aircraft and Vega Airplane Co. which facilitated employment in

the defense industry, namely aerospace.

Burbank, during the period of 1941-1943, reached its peak migration of labor influx.

According to the Burbank Historical Society, 90,000 out-of- state laborers from the Midwest

including Texas, Oklahoma, and Indiana sought out the suburban job opportunities available at

Lockheed and its subsidiary Vega plants in the Burbank area. This increase in out of state

migration had the negative effect of creating housing problems, shortages as units became

quickly occupied by not only residents and plant laborers but also returning veterans from

overseas. It would take government financing via a “$25m infusion provided by the Federal

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Public Housing Authority into Southern California, of which Burbank would receive its share to

create new housing units, provide government trailers to veteran families, and reconvert former

Army barracks into temporary housing” (Los Angeles Times, 7). Along with the U.S. government

and Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, another primary actor during this time period were the

Burbank residents- from the engineers and day laborers in the plants to the construction workers

building new schools and housing units due to the population influx, the residents and migrants

likewise contributed to suburbs overall development and its sustainment.

Burbank’s residents, through the help of Federal Government investment, received free

training so that they would be able to enter the aerospace workforce in technical and

nontechnical occupations. In a monumental effort to increase aircraft production the Burbank

board of education in conjunction with Lockheed devised a system where high school students

over the age of sixteen would be able to work a half-day shift and be able to make up the missed

school time on Saturday’s (Starr, 126). High schools in Burbank even allowed for technical

instruction leading to an apprenticeship with a local manufacturer. Not to be swayed by age

discrimination, Burbank residents in their elderly years, some of whom were veterans from the

First World War, worked full or part time shifts on the assembly line. Suburbanites, in combating

the growing influx of migrants working at the Lockheed plant, were encouraged to convert

single-family homes into multi-family residences, this after an ordinance passed in 1942

prohibiting the rental of rooms in private homes. A “Remodel-for-Victory” office was

established in June of 1943 to assist landowners with home conversions (Galvin, 106). Through

such strategies, the citizens of Burbank solidified their support and commitment not only to

Lockheed but the notion of accepting the permanence of aerospace manufacturing for

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commercial and government endeavors, becoming a fixture in their economy for years to come

even after the Second World War.

Lockheed for its part utilized various employee satisfaction strategies such as:

subsidizing on-site food services so that employees could eat on site without having to drive or

walk far away, providing bicycles to employees in nearby neighborhoods at cost value, creating

bus-commute systems which picked up workers and drove them to and from the manufacturing

plants to their homes (Starr, 125). In addition figure 2 paints a picture of the Lockheed plant

where the company provided extensive health care clinics, like hospitals and nursery centers so

that families did not worry about traveling far away from the plant, decreasing production time

(126). Employee recruitment in addition allowed Lockheed to offer the diverse population of

Burbank equal opportunities in job welfare. Women were drafted into the Lockheed plants due to

their counterparts being drafted into the military: women could easily weld in tight spaces due to

their nimble bodies and height and weight. Salaries for women working in the Lockheed

factories was sixty cents an hour compared to the California wage which was forty cents an hour

(127), this allowed for greater household income and purchasing power in the Burbank suburb.

Likewise African American hiring brought in workers from Burbank by way of a transportation

line built by Lockheed who also built a YMCA and received a local housing project grant for

black families in the Burbank area (138).

Conclusion: Sustainability in a defense oriented suburb

The aerospace industry became a dominant economic sector in the United States as

evidenced by figure 3 as production increased dramatically from 1942 until 1945. To put

America’s wartime aircraft manufacturing in perspective and to understand the enormous output

during the war, the aircraft industry produced an estimated $200m in planes prior to the United

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States entrance into the war while in stark contrast, American aircraft manufacturing during the

war reached production of $36.4b in planes (Cooke, 5). However as the United States began to

drawdown forces in both the European and Pacific Theaters, the effect on the Burbank suburb,

one that became dependant on the contracts obtained by Lockheed via the U.S. War Department,

encountered obstacles to its post war survival- job security and economic stability.

With a decrease in the National Defense budget and a return to an isolationist posture, the

United States no longer needed the heavy output of bombers and fighter aircraft manufactured in

Los Angeles County particularly at the Lockheed plants and its subcontractors throughout the

Burbank area. With Lockheed’s decrease in defense contracts, it no longer had the ability to keep

on staff, in the factories in both its plants and its subcontractors, the multitude of workers who

labored tirelessly keeping Lockheed’s output of aircraft on schedule. An article written in the

Los Angeles Times on June 1, 1945 typified the rising unemployment due to the cutbacks in

government defense spending, “four thousand eight hundred workers were terminated at

Lockheed yesterday…another 7700 will be laid off between now and July” (1).

While the defense contracts subsided during the postwar period, commercial and

transport plane orders filled the vacuum at Lockheed and its subsidiary plants in Burbank. It can

be deduced then that in sustaining Burbank economic and suburban growth, airplane and later jet

aircraft contracts were to become a vital cornerstone. In the years precipitating the late 1940’s,

the United States military entered the age of jet aircraft and nuclear weaponry and would call

upon its aerospace manufacturers to build upon America’s strategic forces. Lockheed would

once again be the recipient of defense contracts to build jet bombers and fighter aircraft to

combat the communist Soviet Union. Burbank therefore became synonymous with the

characterization of a wartime suburb whose underpinning was the aerospace manufacturing

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behemoth of Lockheed and its subsidiary plants spread across the suburb. The Federal dollars

which flowed through the Burbank suburb contributed to the population and employment growth

through its manufacturing plants across Burbank, economic expansion via Lockheed’s

investment into Burbank’s public education system and transportation systems, and continuous

job opportunities available due to both government and commercial aircraft orders.

Throughout this research, the issue of defining a suburb and its characteristics became

clearly a matter of one’s definition of what constitutes a suburb. The most basic definition of a

suburb can be defined as a residential district or area whose location is outside of a city. Burbank

fits this exact definition. Though Lockheed no longer operates in Burbank today, its presence

during its time in the suburb became a significant factor in the socioeconomic structure of

Burbank and contributed to its attraction as a place of opportunity and hospitality for middle

class American’s. Through its early years of growth and economic vitality in the San Fernando

Valley due in part to the settlement of Lockheed and its subsidiaries and an already strong

presence of media and entertainment studios like Warner Brothers and Disney, Burbank grew

into a working class suburb whose residents were able to commute to the city of Los Angeles, or

to businesses located throughout the suburb. The rise of Burbank into a much stronger suburb,

economically and in population was in no small part due to the manufacturing plants of

Lockheed and its subsidiaries.

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Works Cited

Ainsworth, Ed.  "SOUTHLAND DEFENSE: BURBANK---Has Become a Hive of Aerial

Industry. ”Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) 17 Feb. 1941, ProQuest Historical

Newspapers Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1987), ProQuest (accessed February 19, 2011).

"Burbank to Get Housing Funds. " Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) 

27 Dec. 1945,ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles Times (1881 -

1987), ProQuest.(accessed February 20, 2011).

Cooke, Richard "Lockheed Has Enough Irons in the Fire to Keep Busy After War: Now Making

Jet Fighter, Bomber And Transport--Testing Personal Plane.” Wall Street Journal (1923 -

Current file) 11 Jun 1945,ProQuest Historical Newspapers The Wall Street Journal (1889 -

1993), ProQuest. (accessed March 12, 2011).

Cooke, Richard. Aircraft Builders Have $500 Million Annual Market Awaiting Them Right

After the War: It May Reach $1 Billion in Time--Industry Has Lots Of Cash. Wall Street Journal

(1923 - Current file), July 24, http://www.proquest.com/ (accessed March 12, 2011).

"Cutback Ends Jobs of 4800 at Lockheed: 7700 More to Be Laid Off at Plants by Last of July

JOBS CLOSED AT LOCKHEED. " Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) 

1 Jun 1945,ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles Times (1881-

1987), ProQuest.(accessed March 1, 2011).

"Lockheed Plant Layouts." Aviation History of the San Fernando Valley. Web. 6 Mar 2011.

<http://www.godickson.com/locpla1.htm>.

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Los Angeles Almanac. Population by City, 1910-1950. , 2011. (accessed March 11, 2011).

<http://www.laalmanac.com/population/po26.htm>.

Lotchin, Roger. The Martial Metropolis: U.S. Cities in War and Peace. New York, NY: Praeger

Publishers, 1984. p136.

Galvin, Andrea. Burbank. City of Burbank: Citywide Historic Context Report. , 2009.

Office of Management and Budget. Historical Budget of the United States. 2005. Web. 03 Mar 2011. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2005/pdf/hist.pdf >.

San Fernando Valley Metro Map: Search homes in the San Fernando Valley. (accessed February 23 2011). http://www.househunt.com/california-realestate/sanfernandovalley/

Starr, Kevin. Embattled Dreams: California in War and Peace, 1940-1950. New York, NY:

Oxford University Press, 2002.

United States Census Bureau. Los Angeles County, 1910-1950. 2011. (accessed February 17

2011). http://www.laalmanac.com/population/po26.htm.

United States of America. Aircraft and Equipment. United States Army Airforces Statistical

Digest (accessed March 8 2011) http://www.usaaf.net/digest/aircraft_and_equipment.htm

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Appendix

Figure 1- Burbank in the San Fernando Valley

See Figure 1, pg.1

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Figure 2- Lockheed Plant Layouts

See Figure 2, pg. 5

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Figure 3- United States Aircraft Production during World War Two: Total Production

Type of airplane Total 1940¹ 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945²Grand total 295,959 3,611 18,466 46,907 84,853 96,270 45,852Combat airplanes 200,443 1,771 8,395 24,669 53,183 74,564 37,861Very heavy bombers 3,740 - - 4 91 1,147 2,498Heavy bombers 31,685 46 282 2,513 9,574 15,057 4,213Medium bombers 21,461 52 762 4,040 7,256 6,732 2,619Light bombers 39,986 453 2,617 5,954 11,848 12,376 6,738Fighters 99,465 1,157 4,036 10,721 23,621 38,848 21,082Reconnaissance 4,106 63 698 1,437 793 404 711Support airplanes 95,516 1,840 10,071 22,238 31,670 21,706 7,991Transports 23,900 164 525 1,887 6,913 9,925 4,486Trainers 58,085 1,676 9,294 17,237 20,950 7,936 1,352Communications 13,531 - 252 3,114 4,167 3,845 2,153

See Figure 3, pg. 5