Mulholland was responsible for the design and construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and much of the city's water system, including many of the early earthen dams and storage reservoirs.

[6] In March 1928, the St. Francis Dam experienced a catastrophic failure, and the resulting flood devastated the Santa Clarita River Valley and took the lives of more than an estimated 430 people.

[7][8] William Mulholland ordered the Hollywood reservoir lowered shortly after the collapse of the St. Francis Dam as a precaution as well as to help ease public fears of a repeat disaster.

These believed design deficiencies, made by the engineering department while planning, employed in both the Mulholland and the St. Francis Dam, were brought to light, though given little public notice in 1931.

This work was carried out in 1933–1934, after which the LADWP undertook a forceful program of re-vegetation on the new earth, which succeeded in screening the dam from most everyone's notice.

As the scene continues, the camera pans over the Hollywood hills to a wide angle shot of the San Fernando Valley, cleverly setting up a compare and contrast theme for the rest of the movie between the San Fernando Valley culture of the eighties versus the grittier culture of Hollywood and central Los Angeles.