Decades ago, some unhappy Angeleno wondered why cars couldn’t just run on nice, clean … water? Not for want of trying – cleaner power has created lots of engine experiments, most dramatically Caltech versus MIT in the great electric car race of 1968, a story you’ll hear from the winner. Not all is fresh air and plug-ins: smog has been especially devastating on communities of color, and the Trump administration may pull the plug on that have let California clear its own air.

Whaddya know – the federal government sees the wisdom of working with California and its “queen of green” for cleaner air – up to a point. The Golden State gets its own “secret recipe” gas, but new partners mean new frictions over the smog check program familiar to every behind-the-wheel Californian.

Well, it took long enough. We finally realized that smog didn’t stop at some city limits line … that burning the family trash in the backyard incinerator wasn’t a good idea … and California started putting muscle into getting the air clean. Governor Ronald Reagan made the Caltech “father of smog” the head of the new state air resources board, TV stations began reporting smog alerts along with weather forecasts, and one stubborn LA county supervisor started his ten-year letter-writing crusade scolding the Big Four automakers about cleaner-burning engines. And a Louisiana gal named Seraphine was tooling around smoggy LA in her Triumph convertible and gas mask. Spoiler: she still lives here.

LA Times Studios launched “Smoglandia" on Boiling Point Podcast, a new limited narrative series hosted by award-winning Los Angeles Times columnist Patt Morrison. The podcast traces the rise, impact and eventual retreat of Los Angeles’ most insidious form of pollution: smog.

Through the words and insights of scientists, policymakers, filmmakers and artists who lived through the city’s worst air-quality days, the series explores how Los Angeles became a testing ground for environmental regulation, and how science and innovation transformed public health. At a time when hard-earned progress against smog faces new setbacks, “Smoglandia” examines a landmark victory for the City of Angels, and, through clearer air, looks forward to the lessons still to be learned — and the battles yet to come.

The first episode explores the origins of smog in L.A., featuring Natural History Museum associate curator Dr. Regan Dunn explaining how research at the La Brea Tar Pits uncovered evidence that humans have been creating pollution in the region for thousands of years. Listeners will also hear from renowned artist Helen Pashgian, who recounts growing up in Altadena in the 1940s, during a time when local wartime industries took a toll on her health and obscured the once-glorious vistas.

Additional podcast guests will include actor and climate activist Jane Fonda, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, and other influential voices behind the city’s ongoing battle with air quality.

“Smoglandia” is presented as a special season of The Times’ “Boiling Point” environmental podcast.