Customer Reviews

Dream Palaces of Hollywood's Golden Age

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

When Lucy and Ethel took the bus tour of the movie star homes on "I Love Lucy", you will undoubtedly recall Lucy finding herself bobbing for grapefruit at Richard Widmark's palatial estate. Now we can all see what is behind the other side of the barrier wall thanks to this elegant coffee table book compiled by fervent Hollywood historian David Wallace. With some beautiful photos and descriptive, trivia-laden text, he includes twenty-five buildings and homes that were designed and built during Hollywood's golden era.

Painstakingly restored to their original grandeur, they represent a variety of eclectic architectural styles from Art Deco to Mediterranean and Spanish Colonial. While the typical landmarks such as Graumann's Chinese Theater are here, the book is highlighted by the homes of screen legends like Carole Lombard, Gloria Swanson, Cecil B. DeMille, Chales Laughton, Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, and Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard. The furnishings within the homes are not so much lavish as surprisingly idiosyncratic and insightful to the personalities inhabiting the settings. The photographs by Juergen Nogai are often stunning and give evidence of both the creativity and decadence pervasive at the time. This is definitely a fun one to peruse.

I loved this book. Something about the pictures... one feels like you're actually there... technically part of it is that the human eye sees inside and outside. Photographers get one of the other... but not both. In these pictures it feels like you are walking through a house... seeing it as a guest of the famous resident... and seeing it as you would if you were there in person. You can look at the room, the furniture, or out the window. There's an emotional quality that was stirred in me.

Likewise, the text is telling tidbits and gems that the famous owner might reveal to a friend... One learns things that you wouldn't dare ask. Its a great marriage between the past private and public lives of people that we all know. Though they are long in their graves, they come to life in this fascinating book.

I'd been in some of these homes. The Charles Laughton home in Palos Verdes, Portugese Bend, was a fascinating journey as a kid... walking over Peacock Flats, through the Vanderlip estate... looking for feathers, and hoping not to be caught. The fear that Quasimodo would emerge and chase us, I can still feel it. I think that going back there in the book, this was my favorite.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from cover to cover. There are so many interesting stories and tid bits about the stars of Hollywood's golden age. From the suave Cary Grant to the powerful DeMille to the comic W.C. Fields. The homes are anywhere from spectacular to homey. This book also covers some famous theaters and restaurants. I highly recommend it!

A nice coffee table book that has wonderful photos and very interesting commentary on each house. Not only are the associations with various movie people interesting but equally good was reading how most of the houses had to be rehabilitated and what was involved. A nice book to read in short spurts.

Wonderful photos and stories,a good read, if you like old hollywood,you will love this book

The images and text in this book are of poor quality. If you are expecting a coffee table quality book of the same caliber as an Architectural Digest, look somewhere else.