The Santa Monica Mountains: Range on the Edge (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Tom Gamache (Photographer)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 203 pages
• Publisher: Angel City Press (February 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883318513
• ISBN-13: 978-1883318512
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #706,446 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #86 in

  Books > Travel > United States > States > California > Los Angeles

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seeing What We Often Miss, January 31, 2007

By	John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If they were located nearly anywhere else the Santa Monica Mountains would be considered such a small range of mountains that they might not even be given a name. But since these forty six miles of mountains go right through the city of Los Angeles, they certainly have a name.

Now they even have a book about them. And it's very, very informative. Normally we drive right by them, rarely giving them a thought. But here in a story told in a mixture of photography and text is a view of the mountains that show that beauty, wildlife, even the rugged outdoors is there, even when you need only lift your eyes to see the signs of civilization.

You might consider this to be a 'coffee table' book because of its brilliant pictures and quality printing, but it's really more than that. It's a lesson on how an artist can see exactly what we see and make it into something really special. Here are views and places that are not far away, that could well be made a part of a day off.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three Journeys of One Mountain Range Bisecting the Noise of Los Angeles, January 17, 2007

By	Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Author Matthew Jaffe and Photographer Tom Gamache have created a Valentine for Angelenos in this beautifully created and produced homage to the Santa Monica mountain range. And while the audience for this book is obviously for those who live in and around the title range in the basin of Los Angeles, the book is so well written and presented that it deserves wide circulation.

Jaffe and Gamache approach the Santa Monica Mountains from three vantages: Mulholland Drive where perilous houses and more than a few mysteries cling to the canyons created by the mountains; Backbone Trail uncovers the natural flow of nature as it is graced by waterfalls and wildlife; and Pacific Coast Highway where the mountains kiss the Pacific Ocean in a love affair that is dotted with mansions and clashes with nature's raw arguments of storms.

Throughout the book Jaffe's dialogue is informative and full of history as well as nearing poetry in his descriptions so well illustrated by the abundant fine photographs by Gamache. The range is captured is every form of foliage and light and some of the images here will remain embedded in the brain as rare glimpses of natural beauty that are too often overlooked by both Los Angeles outsiders and insiders. THE SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS: RANGE Of MAJESTY FROM THE SEA TO THE CITY is a romantic delight - an aspect of Los Angeles too seldom applauded. Grady Harp, January 07

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent photo/narrative of SMM's, September 28, 2009

By	Amazonian55 (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

Anyone who hikes, bikes, drives the SMM's should have this book on their coffee table. Excellent pictures with historical/environmental narrative. I first saw it in a dentist office waiting room in Thousand Oaks. Surprisingly, it is not in catalog of the Thousand Oaks library. Wake up, Thousand Oaks.