Material Dreams

Southern California through the 1920s. A study of the origins and development of the California dream, which covers an era of larger-than-life individuals, from movie stars to grandiose town planners and business tycoons. The author explores how the 1920s established Los Angeles at the heart of the American myth. The third of Kevin Starr's monumental studies of the origins and development of the California dream covers the decade, which perhaps glittered the most brightly in the history of the Golden State - the 1920s. This was the era of colourful, larger-than-life individuals - from movie stars to evangelists to grandiose town planners; the era of Valentino, as well as that of William Ellsworth Smyth, tireless crusader for the irrigation of the desert. It was also the period in which the characteristics of Los Angeles' vital culture were established.