Customer Reviews

Hollywood Views of the Past and Present

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

 

 

I love this book. It is the most comprehensive
collection I have seen of vintage Hollywood photographs
juxtaposed against their present-day counterparts.

There is another inferior book out there called "Hollywood Then & Now," which is not nearly as good. Some of the shots were out of focus, the historical anecdotes were incorrect and there was no attention paid to shooting the new shots from the same vantage points.

In this work, the photographer obviously took great pains to

capture the current vistas from precisely the same
vantage point as their vintage partners.

The captions weave a colorful tapestry of the
city's history while the photos provide all the
visual splendor that comes with the famed Hollywood cityscape.

This book also features a Forward by Johnny Grant the Mayor of Hollywood, who has included this work in a time capsule to be opened in 37 years, on the 150th birthday of Hollywood. This is a must have!

I was raised in Hollywood in the 1950s. I was given Rosemary Lords book and found it to be inaccurate and poorly photographed.

I then found this book and I was thrilled. This book contains superb photographs, great nostalgia, and certainly captures the feeling of Old Hollywood as I remember it. I liked the writing style of the author and also think it's up-beat as opposed to lamenting in tone. The look and graphics in the book are also well designed.

THIS BOOK IS THE ONLY BOOK(HOLLYWOOD NOW & THEN)
THAT TELLS THE TRUE STORY OF HOLLYWOOD IN PHOTOGRAPHS,
WITH MR. JOHNNY GRANT WRITING THE INTRO YOU CAN'T LOSE
IT IS JUST A WONDERFUL BOOK!

I have seen mixed reviews but ordered this book used nonetheless. We live in the hills right over Hollywood Blvd so love the before and after photos and minor details about the development of the area. This isn't a scholarly work - it is a coffee table book for people who love this area. As that, it's entertaining.
Having said that I think the book is a bit thin. The 'Discover Hollywood' magazine that comes out in our neighborhood quarterly has a lot of similar stuff in it and a year or two of that free magazine is probably about as much content as is in this book. But I suppose wanting more does suggest that what I did get I liked :)

Another piece of drivel from the crayons of George Ross Jezek. Don't let the lovely cover fool you, the interior contains nothing of value. Jezek's photos are incredibly poor and badly shot. Of course there's also the unappetizing prerequisite of factual errors which are far too common throughout Jezek's work. I'm surprised this stinkster even remembered to remove the cap when taking the pictures. This book was made for gullible tourists. If Amazon would allow to me to leave "0" stars for this book, it would still deserve a negative. If you're in the market for a suburb book on Hollywood, I suggest go out and buy Rosemary Lord's book. Jezek's book doesn't even have a discount, he's a greedy fella he is.