Main entry:

Longstreth, Richard W.

Title & Author:

City center to regional mall : architecture, the automobile, and retailing in Los Angeles, 1920-1950 / Richard Longstreth.

Publication:

Description:

xxx, 504 pages : illustrations, maps ; 29 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 353-471) and index.
The perils of a parkless town. Metropolis ; Settlement ; Automobile --The problem solved. Skyscrapers ; Department stores ; Expansion ; Parking -- Westward ho for business. Origins ; Development ; Chain stores ; Boom -- Hollywood-Los Angeles other half. Aladdin cities ; Stores ; Business diversity ; Promotion ; Struggle -- Fabulous boulevard. Transformation ; Bullock's ; Miracle mile -- A guaranteed neighborhood. Precedents ; Palos Verdes ; Westwood Village -- A hindrance to business. Beverly Hills ; Main Street -- Hold on! Remodeling ; Parking ; Predicament -- Markets in the meadows. Market conditions ; Department stores ; Crenshaw Center ; Westchester ; Design ; Valley Plaza -- Grass on Main Street. Shopping courts ; Experiments ; Models -- No automobile ever bought a thing. Emergence ; Stein ; Gruen ; Realization ; Lakewood Center ; Sequels.

Summary:

"Ten years in the making, City Center to Regional Mall is a sweeping yet detailed account of the development of the regional shopping center. Richard Longstreth takes a historical perspective, relating retail development to broader architectural, urban, and cultural issues. His story is far from linear; the topics he covers include the emergence of Hollywood as a downtown in miniature, experiments with the shopping center as an amenity of planned residential developments, the branch department store as a landmark of decentralization, the evolution of off-street parking facilities, and the obscure origins of the pedestrian mall as a spine for retail complexes." "Longstreth takes seriously the task of looking at retail buildings - one of the most neglected yet common of building types - and at the economics of real estate in the American city. He shows that Los Angeles in the period covered was a harbinger of American metropolitan trends during the second half of this century. Over 250 illustrations, culled from a wide variety of sources, constitute one of the best collections of old LA photographs published anywhere."--Jacket.

Resources:
Book review (H-Net)

ISBN:

0262122006 (hc ; alk. paper)
9780262122009 (hc ; alk. paper)
9780262621250
0262621258

Subject:

Central business districts California Los Angeles Metropolitan Area History.
Retail trade California Los Angeles Metropolitan Area History.
Automobiles Social aspects California Los Angeles Metropolitan Area History.
City and town life California Los Angeles Metropolitan Area History.
Centres-villes Californie Los Angeles, Agglomération de Histoire.
Commerce de détail Californie Los Angeles, Agglomération de Histoire.
Automobiles Aspect social Californie Los Angeles, Agglomération de Histoire.
Vie urbaine Californie Los Angeles, Agglomération de Histoire.
Automobiles Social aspects
Central business districts
City and town life
Retail trade
Winkelcentra.
Auto's.
Stedelijke economie.
Stadscultuur.
Stedelijke ontwikkeling.
Bouwkunst.
Central business districts California Los Angeles History.
Retail trade California Los Angeles History.
Automobiles Social aspects California Los Angeles History.
City and town life California Los Angeles History.
Vie urbaine États-Unis Los Angeles (Calif.)
Sociologie urbaine États-Unis Los Angeles (Calif.)
Automobile Aspect social Etats-Unis Los Angeles (Calif.)
California Los Angeles Metropolitan Area

Form/genre:

History
Books.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 134579
Call No.: ID HF5429.5.L7; ID:97-B499
Status: Available