Times editors working during first World War II blackout

• Posted By: Scott Harrison
• Posted On: 12:12 a.m. | December 11, 2012

Dec. 10, 1941: Three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Los Angeles had its first World War II blackout, and L.A. Times city desk editors were allowed to continue working with desk lamps only.

The Times reported the next morning:

City of Shadows!

That was Los Angeles last night during the first total black-out in its history.

It was an eerie feeling, walking along familiar streets made strange by the blackness.

It was an eerie feeling writing this in a city room dimmed almost to inkiness, where this reporter is thankful he learned to typewrite by the touch system.

Shortly after 8 p.m. the street lights in the downtown section blinked out. The usually brightly lighted Civil Center turned black. One by one lights in the windows of the City Hall were extinguished, leaving the great tower outlined as it never before has been against a star-flecked backdrop.

Black-out!

For months–years, now–the black-outs of Europe have made good reading for the American public. Today, no doubt, the European public will be reading about Los Angeles under darkness.

This photo was published in the Dec. 11, 1941 LA Times.