Cuban Missile Crisis Recovered Memories: Los Angeles Fallout Shelter Options


On October 24, 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner reported that “hundreds of worried citizens were calling police today asking the location of public fall-out shelters, fearful of a Russian nuclear attack.” The very next day city officials obliged panicked Angelenos with a list of the 300 shelters that they could choose to die in should the opportunity arise.

So begins a fascinating snapshot of this day 49 years ago written by Bill Geerhart of CONELRAD and CONELRAD ADJACENT, a web site and associated blog dedicated to documenting, celebrating and enhancing our understanding of Cold War popular culture. Learn more about this recovered memory by reading Geerhart’s entire post here.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Curating Los Angeles would like to thank Stephen Schwartz, Editor of The Nonproliferation Review and Adjunct Professor at James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies, for bringing this story to our attention.