The Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942

Feb. 20, 2016: Images from the Battle of L.A. reenactment at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, California. Photos taken with Hipstamatic app on iPhone.

On the night of Feb. 24-25, 1942, a rumored Japanese attack on Los Angeles led to some 1400 rounds of anti-aircraft rounds being fired. Spent shells landed all over Los Angeles.

The Fort MacArthur Museum celebrates the 1942 event with a major World War II reenactment with military equipment, dinner and fireworks show. Many attendees are in ‘40s uniforms or fashions.

This year, I took many images using the Hipstamatic app's Helga Viking lens and Blackeys black and white film.

Twenty five Hipstamatic images are in this 2016 Battle of LA Flickr  album.The album also includes about 30 additional images from the event.

I've used this Hipstamatic app setting for several years. Unfortunately I left the updated app in "Classic" mode. The best image from the fireworks show, above right, is only available as shown. Today, I changed my Hipstamatic work flow to save untouched originals in the camera roll. This is a feature available in recent Hipstamatic updates.

Also, I turned off the retro date feature. These images taken in Feb. 2016 have "Feb 1986"- thirty years subtracted by the retro date feature.

It's confusing looking at '1986' images taken in 2016 of a 1942 event.

Want to read more? Check out my 2012 Los Angeles Times From the Archives blog post: Battle of L.A.

The Fort MacArthur Museum also has this web site: The Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942.