I put this into the After 1900 category because LA became a world class city within this time period.So...whats event(s) need to occur to make LA an affordable metropolis?I hope this question is not in ASB territory
Could be easy... LA was actually at start... a 'bled', to use the slang of France. A lost backplace, hot, dry, dusty... hell. It only started to get popular when a promoter thought of balnear, health - themed 'positive propaganda', and remained probably a minor place until the WW2 or so... so, with a POD in the 19th maybe...
And you can get that by not having Edison try to monopolize the film industry, thus keeping filmmakers in the eastern USA.
More drug warfare might help too... perhaps with a pre-1900 POD, where Mexico keeps territory up to modern-day LA, Los Angeles would be an excellent funnel for drug lords... that would keep land values nice and low