Hollywood in Vintage Postcards [Paperback]

Rod Kennedy Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 2003

$14.95 gatefold paper * 1-58685-145-4 * April 7-1/2 x 8-1/2 in, 96 pp, Color Illustrations Throughout Rights: W, History/Regional Hollywood in Vintage Postcards is a colorful celebration of Hollywood's storied and glamorous past. What began as a thriving agricultural community-promoted by developers as a place of year-round sunshine and citrus-scented air-slowly transitioned into the thriving metropolis it is today. Hollywood now strives to preserve the elegant architecture that illustrates her undeniably glorious history, from the Hollywood Bowl to Grauman's Chinese Theatre to the Capitol Records tower. The formal Beaux Arts and the ornamental Spanish Colonial Revival reflect her self-confident extravagance, while newer Art Deco and Moderne structures bespeak her lofty dreams for sophistication; those dreams and more are captured forever in the historic postcards collected here. Rod Kennedy Jr.'s books include Lost New York in Old Postcards, The Brooklyn Cookbook, and The County Fair Cookbook, with Lyn Stallworth; and Atlantic City: 125 Years of Ocean Madness, with Lee Eisenberg and Vicki Levi. He lives in New York City. Elizabeth Ellis is an archivist with a MLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She collaborated previously with Rod Kennedy on Lost New York in Old Postcards, and is currently working on a book of short stories. Hollywood Heritage, Inc., is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of Hollywood. (20030808)

Editorial Reviews

Review

#10 on the Entertainment Weekly Must List! (Entertainment Weekly )

From the Inside Flap

Foreword Acknowledgements Chapter 1: Hollywood: The Place-An Immaculate Conception Chapter 2: Hollywood: The Illusion-Moviemaking in Paradise Chapter 3: Movie Palaces: From Main Street to City Lights Chapter 4: Home Sweet Hollywood: Keeping Up with the Fairbankses Chapter 5: Star Shine: Restaurants and Nightclubs Chapter 6: Radio City West Epilogue

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith, Publisher; 1 edition (April 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586851454
• ISBN-13: 978-1586851453
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 6.7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,643,823 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "From Hollywood, on paper", August 25, 2003

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hollywood in Vintage Postcards (Paperback)

A delightful book of postcards that captures the exuberance and excitement of Tinsel town in the first half of the last century. One reason I love this book is the simple presentation, book designers, when confronted with colorful graphic images such as postcards, always seem to want to present them angled and overlapping each other. Fortunately, designer Kurt Wahlner keeps them upright and puts a drop-shadow on two sides of each card, a simple elegant solution. The color of the cards is very true to the originals. Author, Rod Kennedy, writes just enough historical detail into the captions to keep me interested. The chapter on the homes of the stars I found the most fascinating. Predictably, with money no object, so many of these houses are a fantasy of architectural styles and I suppose this only confirms that most Hollywood folk had no taste.

I have another book of postcards covering the same subject, Jim Heimann's 'Hooray for Hollywood' (ISBN 0877013012) equally as good though some of the pictures are in black and white. I would have preferred it if both these books included some information about publishers of these postcards, I guess most of those shown are from the Curt Teich company. Both books have an index and useful bibliography.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.