California, Here I Come

Rating:
Summary: As sunny as a sunkist Orange!
Review: A marvellous book, which is a terrific companion to more wordy books about the social and economic history of southern California in particular.

I was given this by an LA friend on a recent visit. I had read Mike Davis and Norman Klein and a slew of LA noir fiction. This book puts into pictorial splendour the boosterism that made sunny CA the honeypot it was/is.

The reproductions of posters are of marvellous quality in a book so affordable. It makes a great souvenir, different to much of the coffee table books or mass produced souvenirs. It is a thoughtful collection that would also delight any serious student of California's social history.

Rating:
Summary: Sunny CA, just picture it.
Review: As the short introduction says 'Rarely has one geographic region been the focus of such intense visual interest as the state of California' This well produced (and inexpensive) paperback manages to capture the feel of the new Eden. The pictorial material is mainly from the 1930s to 1950s and includes a wide range of printed ephemera (a Sunkist orange wrapper to NBC Radio City, Hollywood, Studio Tour brochure for example) and I liked the nine examples of three-dimensional maps, unfortunately shown too small to really appreciate the detail. All the favorites of the State have a showing, the Giant Redwoods, Death Valley, Hollywood, Dude Ranches, San Francisco etc. The images are illustrative rather than photographic and this is why I think the book works so well, you can see how commercial artists have been allowed portray California as big, bold and bright.

Rating:
Summary: Sunny CA, just picture it.
Review: As the short introduction says `Rarely has one geographic region been the focus of such intense visual interest as the state of California' This well produced (and inexpensive) paperback manages to capture the feel of the new Eden. The pictorial material is mainly from the 1930s to 1950s and includes a wide range of printed ephemera (a Sunkist orange wrapper to NBC Radio City, Hollywood, Studio Tour brochure for example) and I liked the nine examples of three-dimensional maps, unfortunately shown too small to really appreciate the detail. All the favorites of the State have a showing, the Giant Redwoods, Death Valley, Hollywood, Dude Ranches, San Francisco etc. The images are illustrative rather than photographic and this is why I think the book works so well, you can see how commercial artists have been allowed portray California as big, bold and bright.