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Los Angeles, Portrait of a City [Hardcover]

David L Ulin , Kevin Starr , Jim Heimann
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)

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Book Description

October 1, 2009 3836502917 978-3836502917 Mul
Rise and Sprawl: How Los Angeles Came To Be


A pictorial history of the world's most enigmatic city




From the first known photograph taken in Los Angeles to its most recent sweeping vistas, this photographic tribute to the City of Angels provides a fascinating journey through the city's cultural, political, industrial, and sociological history. It traces the city's development from the 1880s' real estate boom, through the early days of Hollywood and the urban sprawl of the late 20th century, right up to the present day. With over 500 images, L.A. is shown emerging from a desert wasteland to become a vast palm-studded urban metropolis.



Events that made world news including two Olympics, Bobby Kennedy's assassination, and the Rodney King riots reveal a city of many dimensions. The entertainment capital of the world, Hollywood, and its celebrities are showcased along with many other notable residents, personalities, architects, artists, and musicians. The city's pop cultural movements, its music, surfing, health food fads, gangs, and hot rods are included, as are its notorious crimes and criminals. This book depicts Los Angeles in all its glory and grit, via hundreds of freshly discovered images including those of Julius Shulman, Garry Winogrand, William Claxton and many other superb photographers, culled from major historical archives, museums, private collectors, and universities. These are given context and resonance through essays by renowned California historian Kevin Starr and Los Angeles literature expert David Ulin.



About the editor:

Cultural anthropologist and graphic design historian Jim Heimann is Executive Editor for TASCHEN America, and author of numerous books on architecture, pop culture, and the history of the West Coast, Los Angeles and Hollywood. His unrivaled private collection of ephemera has featured in museum exhibitions around the world and dozens of books.


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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

About the contributing authors:

Kevin Starr holds a PhD from Harvard University and is Professor of History at the University of Southern California. His many articles and books have won him a Guggenheim Fellowship, Gold and Silver Medals of the Commonwealth Club, the Centennial Medal from Harvard, and the Humanities Medal from the National Endowment of the Humanities.


David L. Ulin is the books editor of the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of "The Myth of Solid Ground: Earthquakes, Prediction, and the Fault Line Between Reason and Faith," and the editor of "Another City: Writing from Los Angeles" and "Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology." He has written for The Atlantic Monthly, The Nation, and The New York Times Book Review.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 572 pages
  • Publisher: TASCHEN America Llc; Mul edition (October 1, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 3836502917
  • ISBN-13: 978-3836502917
  • Product Dimensions: 13.4 x 1.8 x 9.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
(19)
4.6 out of 5 stars
Taschen has really done something incredible here. A. Goel  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
This book is home to a spectacular range of LA images, all beautifully printed. N. Greene  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Sun and neon November 13, 2009
Format:Hardcover
At last, the city at the end of the rainbow gets the Taschen treatment: a large, chunky, 570 page, visual history. This is more than just an ordinary picture book though because so many of the photos, after the Thirties, have been taken by named photographers (there are biographies of thirty-nine of them at the back of the book) and it's the mixing of their work and anonymous photos that I thought gave the book a special feel. Another interesting theme reflects the creativity of the city with the use of quotes from well-known historical books and movies that appear throughout the pages, nicely with a graphic of the jacket or poster.

Having looked through the pages a few times it does seem amazingly comprehensive. The seven chapters run from 1862 to the last photo in 2005. Each starts with a several hundred word overview followed by a spread with a period map then by captioned photos. Cultural, political and sports personalities, architecture (including street scenes plus industry) and historic news photos are the dominant themes and I thought the selection was rather impressive, there doesn't seem to be any image that would make me say "Just why is that one included".

What I really love about the book is its big page size. Pin-sharp photos from before 1940 are frequently run over a spread and look terrific as do news photos from later decades (all printed with a 175 screen). Tying in with the historical book and movie links throughout the book the back pages carry a recommended list of viewing, listening and reading material that sum up this intriguing city.

A slightly similar photo book of Los Angeles but with images selected from the last few decades which might be worth checking out is Looking At Los Angeles, with many of the same well-known photographers as Jim Heimann's book.

***SEE SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A Wondrous Portrait of a Hard-to-Navigate City November 26, 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
To a life-long New Yorker, Los Angeles is a foreign country, filled with vivid impressions -- warm all the time, unseemly pink and tourqouise neon pillars at the airport, lush vegetation, endless freeways, glittering Disney Center, lovely bungalow neighborhoods, downtown that stretches to Santa Monica, Hollywood emblazoned on the hill, Century City sprouting from somewhere, the Getty Center gleaming from its perch, Wilshire Boulevard marching through time and linking it all together, mammouth city hall, nostalgic Union Station, pinata and flower markets, new rapid transit, cars, cars, cars.... Of course, we all have mental images of the place, products of the media -- cops, movie stars, immigrants, water wars -- that shape a superficial understanding of LA. But in many ways it's a hard-to-navigate place -- I am not talking about the famed transportation routes, but about its culture and history. For the discerning visitor, there are visual hints of the past, wonderful surprises in the canyons and a shadow of a long-gone community here and there, but its full imprint is gone. At least it was gone until Los Angeles, Portrait of a City appeared this fall.

Here, the city unfurls in word (Kevin Starr is simply brilliant) and in image (Jim Heimann's selections, extraordinary). We can see who made the city what it is today. We can sense the hopes, drive and ambition of its inhabitants over time and view its developing and ever-changing landscape. This book is a masterpiece.It makes the city no longer hard-to-navigate, no longer a foreign country but a beloved American icon.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars I'm lovin' it December 6, 2009
By Ryan
Format:Hardcover
I am a Northern California native, but moved to Los Angeles 10 years ago. This is a great book for anyone who wants to know more about a city that is often accused, mostly by outsiders, of being shallow, one-dimensional or soulless. It provides a unique glimpse into the real Los Angeles, one that is rich in history, complex and ever-changing. Great book. Highly recommended...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars what a great portrait of LA.
can not wai't to go to LA . what a superb portrait ! love the explanation about history how the town. very very detailed and achieved master pieces.
Published 4 months ago by Cbesnier
5.0 out of 5 stars amazing!
if you are very visual person ,you have to buy this book cause its absolutely fantastic!!! great reference pictures and it takes you back in time.
Published 5 months ago by ketevan
5.0 out of 5 stars Big and Beautiful
The quality of the photos in this volume is outrageously good and the choice of images is the very best. Love this book.
Published 5 months ago by M. Davison
2.0 out of 5 stars Just Ok
More of a hotel lobby book bc there are 4 or 5 languages translated throughout. So there is a lot of space that is sort of wasted from a non commercial personal use perspective. Read more
Published 8 months ago by D. Ogier
5.0 out of 5 stars Ultimate Coffee Table Book
I live on the East side of Hollywood (aka I'm not some Midwestern transplant working as a PA on the weekdays and telling people i'm a screenwriter on the weekends). Read more
Published 13 months ago by History Buff
5.0 out of 5 stars Los Angeles, Portrait of a City
This book was requested & purchased as a gift. It is a beautifully published and printed historical reference of the city through written word and photography.
Published 19 months ago by Peggy Robinson
5.0 out of 5 stars Rare combination - Great Photos & Evocative Text
I'm not typically a fan of coffee table books - mostly they feature banal photos and text - celebrating gloss and superficiality more than anything. Read more
Published on January 2, 2011 by Randall L. Wilson
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Visual History of LA
A great book to look at Los Angeles how it was in the golden age.
Published on August 15, 2010 by WeHoLancer
3.0 out of 5 stars Los Angeles: Portrait of a City (Taschen)
As long time Angelenos, we were certainly excited to receive our invitation to Taschen Books headquarters for the new release party for their latest coffee table opus `Los Angeles... Read more
Published on December 31, 2009 by BlogOnBooks
5.0 out of 5 stars LA
This is a phenomenal book about Los Angeles. Beyond being a exquisite art book with stunning photographs, it is also an in-depth social history of the city. Read more
Published on December 9, 2009 by Benjamin Rowe
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