Picturing Los Angeles [Hardcover]

Jon Wilkman (Author), Nancy Wilkman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 2006

Picturing Los Angeles illustrates the creation, evolution, and ever-changing face of Los Angeles. Through stunning photography, the city's intriguing, important, and unexpectedly influential past is revealed. These images function like frames from a movie, offering glimpses of an ever-evolving metropolis. Drawing upon more than two hundred years of images and human experience, the authors have gathered a telling array of newspaper photos, historical snapshots of the movie industry, and photos that offer a glimpse into the sports, politics, industry, social change, crime, disasters, arts, and everyday life of each decade.
Chapters are organized by decade:
Introduction: The First 130 Years
Strangers in Paradise: 1900-1910
Dynamite, Waterworks, and Picture Shows: 1910-1920
The Great American Boomtown: 1920-1930
Brother, Can You Spare a Dream?: 1930-1940
From Battlefields to Barbeques: 1940-1950
Sprawling toward Tomorrow: 1950-1960
Homesteading on the New Frontier: 1960-1970
Whose Future Is It?: 1970-1980
The World Comes to Stay: 1980-1990
Remembering the Future: 1990 and Beyond

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Picturing Los Angeles
Picturing Los Angeles is the most comprehensive pictorial history of America's second-largest, and in many ways, most influential city. Lavishly illustrated with more than five hundred and fifty photographs, it is the story of a colorful, complex and often-misunderstood metropolis.
Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmakers and writers Jon and Nancy Wilkman tell a fast-paced story filled with fascinating characters-beginning with the region's Mexican roots and Wild West youth . . . to the water wars of the turn of the twentieth century . . . the birth and influence of the movies . . . the evolution of an automobile-enthralled city, driven by experimentation and a search for personal fulfillment . . . scandals, injustices, and unkept promises . . . the development of a major center of innovation and technology . . . the creation of America's busiest gateway for international trade . . . and the unexpected emergence of the world's most multicultural metropolis.
Los Angeles has been called a mirror to America and a reflection of the future. If you think you know L.A., it's time to look again. From the arts and entertainment, sports, people, politics and social change, there's no better place to discover, or rediscover, the City of Angels than through the wide-ranging pages of Picturing Los Angeles.

From the Back Cover

To fully appreciate America you need to explore the enormity and ambiguities of Los Angeles. Even if you think you know the City of Angels, it's time to look again, and celebrate 225 years of the city's exuberant, turbulent history.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith; 1 edition (September 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586857339
• ISBN-13: 978-1586857332
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #461,972 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The recipient of national and international awards for his documentaries, Jon's most recent work is the seven-part Turner Classic Movies series, "Moguls and Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood." He began his career in New York with the CBS News documentary unit. During his seven years with CBS, he worked with Walter Cronkite as a writer/director on the Emmy-award winning "Twentieth Century" and "21st Century" series.

After forming his own production company in 1971, Jon wrote, directed and produced documentaries for PBS, HBO ABC, CBS, NBC, A&E and the History Channel, as well as major corporate and institutional clients. Awards include a Trieste International Film Festival Award for "Stranger Than Science Fiction," a Sigma Delta Chi Award for the PBS documentary "Attica," a CINE Golden Eagle honor for the series, "American Images," and Emmys for the public television series "Turning Points" and "The Los Angeles History Project"

Pursuing his special interest in historical subjects, Jon is also the author of the books "Black Americans: From Colonial Days to the Present," and with his wife and partner Nancy, "Picturing Los Angeles" and "Los Angeles: A Pictorial Celebration."

In addition to an active career as a producer, director and writer, Jon has lectured on the history of film and documentary production at Fordham University, and taught nonfiction writing in the Department of Cinema/Television at the University of Southern California. He was a three-term president of the International Documentary Association, during which he was a leader in the founding of the First International Documentary Congress in association with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT READ!!!!, December 22, 2006

By 

Jeffrey Rohlen "(just Jeff)" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Picturing Los Angeles (Hardcover)

Whether you are a lifelong resident, transplant, or just interested in the history of the city, Picturing Los Angeles by Jon and Nancy Wilkman is the perfect book. The title may lead you to the conclusion that it is just another coffee table "picture book," but it is far more. It chronicles the history of "L.A." from the beginning in the 1700's up to present-day. It is just the right mix of photos and text. Most pages contain a photo annotated with a detailed caption. Just skimming through the photos and reading their captions gives you a quick idea of what the city is about. Each page of text complements the accompanying photo. I have lived in Los Angeles for forty years and "discovered" many facts about my city previously unknown to me. Highly recommended! Makes a great gift!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Photographical introduction to the history of Los Angeles, June 21, 2007

By 

LinAnne "Lin22" (Puget Sound) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Picturing Los Angeles (Hardcover)

This book is basically a photographical introduction to the history of Los Angeles . If you are interested in knowing about the history of Los Angeles, from it's very early beginnings , up until the early 2000's, then you will find this book very informative.


There are many many photos that go along with the historical text. All photos are in black and white.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the dazzling history of the city with no history, January 5, 2007

By 

D. Wolf (Los Angeles CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Picturing Los Angeles (Hardcover)

This looks like a coffee table book, but it's really an incisive narrative accompanied by fascinating pictures. The authors give us a whirlwind tour of the explosive pattern of growth and change that is the true history of Los Angeles. Propelled by a colorful array of eccentrics and geniuses we see the city constantly reinventing itself and leaping into the future. I had so much fun reading it I almost forgot how bad the damn traffic is here!