Los Angeles Then and Now FROM THE PUBLISHER
When you think of Los Angeles, you think of show business, where to be you, beautiful, and recognized is to have it all. This is the land of impossibly rich movie stars, surfers, valet parking, "ladies who lunch," and shopping on Rodeo Drive. However, there is also a rich history in this sun-drenched city that stretches from the Pacific Ocean to the downtown skyscraper and beyond.
In 1769, Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola dedicated the new town: Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles - Our Lady the Queen of the Angeles. Since then the city has been a colorful melting pot of humanity and cultures. Wagon trains brought pioneers in the mid-1800s, and during the Gold Rush local farmers made their fortunes by supplying hungry prospectors with food. All were drawn to Los Angeles by dreams of untold riches and balmy weather. Some succeeded and invested in the growing city, managing to establish businesses and building the hotels, libraries, museums, and theaters that are such an important part of Los Angeles's culture and history.
The movie industry came to the area in the late 1800s, but it wasn't until filmmakers like D.W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille arrived, drawn to the mild climate and long daylight hours, that Hollywood was born. Today, the Native America and Spanish architectural and cultural influences sit comfortably alongside the glitz of Tinseltown and the cosmopolitan sophistication of Los Angeles. Los Angeles Then and Now is a captivating chronicle of history and change since the dawn of the camera age. It pairs archive photographs, many views of the same scene as it appears today, showing how Los Angeles has evolved and changed and also how it has preserved its heritage.
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