A look at how we braced for the worst

As Los Angeles County celebrates the 50th anniversary of its Civil Defense program this month, officials have rediscovered remarkable treasure troves of relics from the 1950s, a time when nuclear scares haunted average Americans in much the same way terrorism fears do today.

Among the finds are a massive underground bomb shelter in El Monte now used to store new cars, and storage rooms full of old rations and guidebooks that sound almost quaint today in their tips for nuclear-war survivors.

The supplies included gallons and gallons of Vaseline, with advice for post-apocalyptic survivors to smear it all over their bodies as protection from radiation.

Another find was instructions from the military on what to do in case of a coastal invasion of Southern California.

"I found letters in the storeroom from World War II generals to the area coordinators, saying the last stand would take place in the San Gabriel Valley and they would move all the civilians back to the shelter of the San Gabriel Mountains," said Brenda Hunemiller, an area coordinator for the county's current disaster management program. "It's pretty amazing stuff."

Rummaging through an old Azusa storeroom, Hunemiller recently discovered old Civil Defense materials that included a book listing hundreds of fallout and bomb shelters and 55-gallon drums filled with K- and C-rations, medicines and other survival supplies.

But Hunemiller, coordinator for Disaster Management

AreaD, was most intrigued by the four, five-gallon containers of Vaseline in each barrel. In the event of a nuclear attack, the instructions called for those taking radiation readings above ground to cover their bodies with Vaseline to prevent radiation poisoning.

"I have no idea if that would work or not," Hunemiller said. "There was 20 pounds per barrel, so they must have been taking it real seriously."

In November 1959, 12 cities signed a joint powers agreement with the Board of Supervisors to create the Civil Defense program in case of nuclear attack.

Today, the program has evolved to focus on a variety of potential disasters, such as earthquakes and wildfires. Coordinators in eight Disaster Management Areas work closely with the county's Office of Emergency Management.

But despite the move away from preparations for nuclear war, OEM spokesman Ken Kondo said the recent discovery of the Civil Defense supplies and a large fallout shelter in El Monte has renewed interest in the Civil Defense program and the shelters.

Among the hundreds of bomb shelters in the county, officials recently discovered a still-intact one below what is now one of the world's largest car dealerships. At Penske Longo Lexus in El Monte, customers can actually pick out their car from inside the former bomb shelter built by a previous business, Kondo said.

"It's a big and cavernous place," Kondo said. "It's gigantic. You could sit several football or soccer fields in there."

The federal Civil Defense program was created after World War II. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the military was concerned about a potential invasion of the Southern California coastline, Kondo said. At the time, the county was divided up into eight areas for civil defense.

After WWII, many in the government and the public feared a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. In an effort to protect the public, the Federal Civil Defense Administration was created in 1951.

One of the first campaigns emphasized building and designating fallout and bomb shelters.

"We still have those rusting, old air-raid sirens around," said Joel Bellman, an aide to county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. "Anyone who was a child in California in the 1950s and '60s certainly remembers the Civil Defense symbols, the duck-and-cover drills and the educational films they would show at school."

A fallout shelter sign is still on the wall in the lobby at the county Hall of Records downtown. Underneath the hall and surrounding areas is a labyrinth of underground facilities and tunnels connecting one of the largest government complexes in the nation.

The Glendale Courthouse also still has a fallout shelter in its basement, stocked with medical supplies and processed food that is at least several decades old, said acting court manager Roobina Badalian.

However, most of the fallout shelter signs throughout the county have been taken down over the years.

"Once the reality of what a nuclear engagement would really be like set in, I think there was a realization that there wasn't going to be any survivors if you are in the designated target area," said Bob Garrott, who was assistant manager of the OEM from 1989 to 2004.

"The warheads today cause unbelievable destruction. So the focus was placed on the reality of what is facing us, and that's natural disasters and occasionally man-made disasters."

Although the government no longer stores food or other supplies in shelters and no one is trained as shelter managers or radiological monitors, the shelters today would still provide better fallout protection than private homes in the event of a nuclear attack, said Sharon Packer, executive director of the American Civil Defense Association.

"There would, however, be no security in place, no supplies and no communications to a central command station," Packer said.

The government does, however, continue to maintain well-stocked shelters for critical personnel, including Congress, under a program called "Continuity of Government," she said.

Since the creation of the Civil Defense program, the OEM has responded to numerous natural disasters, including the 1992 riots, 1994 Northridge Earthquake and numerous wildfires, floods and mudslides.

But even though the "Big One" - an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude or greater - can't compare to the 10.5 earthquake that destroys Los Angeles in the movie "2012," Kondo said the film highlights that not only government agencies, but residents too need to prepare for the next catastrophe in the "disaster capital of the world."

"It showed me we have a lot of work ahead of us," Kondo said.