Customer Reviews

Los Angeles: Deluxe

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

 

 

Weighing in at nine pounds and a huge lap full at 18" X 15" X 2" LOS ANGELES, the book, is as spectacular and huge as the city it emulates! This is a splendid spectrum of photographic views of all that is Los Angeles.

Diane Keaton provides the spunky introduction to this lavish volume and few could have better summarized what makes Los Angeles unique. What then follows are Tim Street-Porter's photographic explorations of the idiosyncratic homes that span the gamut of style and period, the boulevards with the trademark palm trees, the landscapes that touch this city at the mountains, the desert, and the ocean perimeters, and the architectural wonders that continue to sprout and blossom here. Space is generously given to Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall, to the Mineo Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, to the early Hollywood art deco theaters, and to the various neighborhoods that make Los Angeles a city of cultural miscegenation.

As is standard for Rizzoli Books the paper and color reproductions are of the highest quality. There are many fold out pages which, in a book this size, result in panoramas beneath the sun and the stars that spread for sixty inches! There are no holds barred at making this hefty tome a true homage to the City of the Angels and will surely build the city's reputation as a place of beauty wherever it is sold. A high end but gorgeous gift! Grady Harp, October 05

I can't tell you how much I love Los Angeles and yet I live in Australia, so I obviously bought this up as soon as I saw it released. It is like one gigantic souvenier for me to look back at each time I get 'home sick'. The book is absolutely beautiful and the work involved in it is spectacular. The buildings and streets seem to come alive in here and it's a book for anyone who loves LA or wants to see it but hasn't been yet, or for someone into beautiful buildings etc. It's a costly purchase, but something you'll have for a lifetime. I really highly recommend this book as a luxury treat for yourself or someone you love.

I was impressed when I finally got my copy of this book. I have never been to LA despite having been born in San Francisco back in the mid 60s and moving east when I was 7. Having said that I was initially put off by none of the pictures having words to describe what each picture was, until I found out that this massive tomb has the index in the back, each with a smaller thumbnail of the picture.
I would guess that they chose to do it that way so as to allow the full page to be taken up with the pictures which works out very nicely. Again let me stress that there are no margins in the pages of this book , just the pictures in all their beauty. Also the fold out pages are a nice touch placed throughout. This book is a nice mix of the new and the old and makes me want to now visit LA to see it all for myself.
I almost took off a star for the steep price. Really this is a great great picture book but $155, that is a little too steep. If that is too much, then do what I did and buy it used through Amazon's terrific used book network.

This books takes what many feel is an ugly, spawling city and shows it the way I have always seen it. Gorgous, bright, colorful and diverse. A hot bed of new and unusal design. This is a new city in regards to the East, but it has a very rich Architectual history. It is a city alive and thriving.

I do wish more attention had been payed to the eastside and more of south central or south L.A. as it is now called. Then again who could have lifted such a heavy book had Tim Street-Porter done that.

This book transcends everything Tim has done to date. It's a gorgeous, cinematically sweeping vista of a magnificent city. Whether you love or hate LA makes no difference here. Examine the nuances and curves of the city's lines, the pageantry of its people and edifices, and sheer daring of neighborhoods that connect with each other without losing their own character or charm. An all-round magnum opus....truly a treasure to vist over & over.

I agree with some of the other reviewers that this book is overpriced--so I am glad that I found it in a discounter for $35 (and an original number/signed copy).
I can also agree with those who would have liked it to have been more comprehensive. Overall I believe Tim Street-Porter has been poorly served by his editor/publisher. I have three main gripes (in addition to the above):
1) Absence of captions. It is an increasingly frequent habit of certain kinds of glossy photo-books that information on each picture is only listed at the end of the book. This is mind-bogglingly irritating and stupid. With this huge and unwieldy (A3 size) book, it is especially dumb and inconvenient. Is it a Gen X/Y thing or what? Inexplicable.
2) Absence of a map. In such a sprawling megalopolis as LA it is impossible to really comprehend without the bearing a map brings. Indeed it should have a mini-map on each page with the location of the photo/building shown to aid orientation.
3) Following from (2) there is no particular organizing principle to the book. While one could imagine various possibilities (eg. by era of construction, or style) the sprawl and scale of LA probably makes organization by geography the logical one.
These features, or lack of, have seriously spoiled this book (though it is a good buy at $35!) and the definitive book on LA city photography and its architectural heritage remains to be written.