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 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. 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. Jon and Nancy Wilkman are husband and wife documentary filmmakers and writers, with a special interest in history. Their documentaries have received numerous awards and have been seen around the world. Long-time Angelenos, Jon and Nancy share a passion for their city's rich and underappreciated past, as well as L.A.'s vibrant and multicultural present. Jon and Nancy Wilkman are husband and wife documentary filmmakers and writers, with a special interest in history. Their documentaries have received numerous awards and have been seen around the world. Long-time Angelenos, Jon and Nancy share a passion for their city's rich and underappreciated past, as well as L.A.'s vibrant and multicultural present. Compared to Cairo, Beijing, London or New York, the history of Los Angeles may be relatively short, undervalued and often misunderstood, but to find it you only need to look. There is no more evocative way to begin than with a photograph. Used Book in Good Condition