The Arroyo Seco

The Arroyo Seco PDF Author: Rick Thomas
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 9780738556086
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
The Arroyo Seco, Spanish for "dry wash," drains the southwestern San Gabriel Mountains and flows through Pasadena to its confluence with the Los Angeles River. The arroyo's banks became a transportation corridor of trails, railroads, and highways and an enclave for industrialists and artists. For more than a century, its very name evoking more than a stream, it has been a Los Angeles County region overlaying municipalities, eras, and cultures. Eight museums are located in or around the arroyo. Famous attractions included Busch Gardens and Cawston Ostrich Farm, as well as a real-life field of dreams, Jackie Robinson Stadium, and the granddaddy sporting field of them all, the Rose Bowl. The nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory's storied principals used this wide dry wash to launch the forerunners of space probes.

The Arroyo Seco

The Arroyo Seco PDF Author: Rick Thomas
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 9780738556086
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Arroyo Seco, Spanish for "dry wash," drains the southwestern San Gabriel Mountains and flows through Pasadena to its confluence with the Los Angeles River. The arroyo's banks became a transportation corridor of trails, railroads, and highways and an enclave for industrialists and artists. For more than a century, its very name evoking more than a stream, it has been a Los Angeles County region overlaying municipalities, eras, and cultures. Eight museums are located in or around the arroyo. Famous attractions included Busch Gardens and Cawston Ostrich Farm, as well as a real-life field of dreams, Jackie Robinson Stadium, and the granddaddy sporting field of them all, the Rose Bowl. The nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory's storied principals used this wide dry wash to launch the forerunners of space probes.

Freewaytopia: How Freeways Shaped Los Angeles

Freewaytopia: How Freeways Shaped Los Angeles PDF Author: Paul Haddad
Publisher: Santa Monica Press
ISBN: 1595807861
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
Freewaytopia: How Freeways Shaped Los Angeles explores how social, economic, political, and cultural demands created the web of expressways whose very form—futuristic, majestic, and progressive—perfectly exemplifies the City of Angels. From the Arroyo Seco, which began construction during the Great Depression, to the Simi Valley and Century Freeways, which were completed in 1993, author Paul Haddad provides an entertaining and engaging history of the 527 miles of road that comprise the Los Angeles freeway system. Each of Los Angeles’s twelve freeways receives its own chapter, and these are supplemented by “Off-Ramps”—sidebars that dish out pithy factoids about Botts’ Dots, SigAlerts, and all matter of freeway lexicon, such as why Southern Californians are the only people in the country who place the word “the” in front of their interstates, as in “the 5,” or “the 101.” Freewaytopia also explores those routes that never saw the light of day. Imagine superhighways burrowing through Laurel Canyon, tunneling under the Hollywood Sign, or spanning the waters of Santa Monica Bay. With a few more legislative strokes of the pen, you wouldn’t have to imagine them—they’d already exist. Haddad notably gives voice to those individuals whose lives were inextricably connected—for better or worse—to the city’s freeways: The hundreds of thousands of mostly minority and lower-class residents who protested against their displacement as a result of eminent domain. Women engineers who excelled in a man’s field. Elected officials who helped further freeways . . . or stop them dead in their tracks. And he pays tribute to the corps of civic and state highway employees whose collective vision, expertise, and dedication created not just the most famous freeway network in the world, but feats of engineering that, at their best, achieve architectural poetry. Finally, let’s not forget the beauty queens—no freeway in Los Angeles ever opened without their royal presence.

Inventing the Dream

Inventing the Dream PDF Author: Kevin Starr
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199923264
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 415

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Book Description
This second volume in Kevin Starr's passionate and ambitious cultural history of the Golden State focuses on the turn-of-the-century years and the emergence of Southern California as a regional culture in its own right. "How hauntingly beautiful, how replete with lost possibilities, seems that Southern California of two and three generations ago, now that a dramatically diferent society has emerged in its place," writes Starr. As he recreates the "lost California," Starr examines the rich variety of elements that figured in the growth of the Southern California way of life: the Spanish/Mexican roots, the fertile land, the Mediterranean-like climate, the special styles in architecture, the rise of Hollywood. He gives us a broad array of engaging (and often eccentric) characters: from Harrision Gray Otis to Helen Hunt Jackson to Cecil B. DeMille. Whether discussing the growth of winemaking or the burgeoning of reform movements, Starr keeps his central theme in sharp focus: how Californians defined their identity to themselves and to the nation.

American Character

American Character PDF Author: Mark Thompson
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
ISBN: 9781559705509
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
Charles Fletcher Lummis began his spectacular career in 1884 by walking from Ohio to start a new job at the three-year old Los Angeles Times. By the time of his death in 1928, the 3,500 mile "tramp across the continent" was just a footnote in his astonishingly varied career: crusading journalist, author of nearly two dozen books, editor of the influential political and literary magazine Out West, Los Angeles city librarian, preserver of Spanish missions, and Indian rights gadfly. Lummis both embodied and defined our vision of the West, and of America itself.

Eden by Design

Eden by Design PDF Author: Greg Hise
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520224159
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
"Eden by Design is a compelling and fascinating description of a possible Los Angeles that never came to be. Greg Hise and William Deverell have resurrected the Olmsted Brothers' 1930 plan for Los Angeles County, and then, in a wonderful introduction, put the plan in context so that to read it now is to see not only what seemed dangerous and possible in 1930 but also how and why one route to the present was chosen over others. In their hands, the plan acts like a ghost of Los Angeles, reminding us about a vanished past, lost possibilities, and the secrets that our present masks."—Richard White, author of The Organic Machine "The Report is not only a vital document in the history of Los Angeles . . . but a lost classic of a neglected golden age of city planning and landscape architecture. . . . It embodies a truly regional perspective; an ecological perspective; a long-range vision; an integration of design with finance and administration; and a truly grand interpretation of public space. It deserves to be known to every serious student of the American planning tradition."—Robert Fishman, author of Bourgeois Utopias: The Rise and Fall of Suburbia "An essential document for understanding the history of the West's largest city. Los Angeles had the opportunity to become an extraordinarily beautiful environment, a Paris in the desert. The editors make clear why, sadly, it did not; but also they hold out hope that portions of this brilliant but neglected plan might still be recovered."—Donald Worster, author of Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas "A welcome addition to the literature of American urban planning history."—Roger Montgomery, Professor of Architecture Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley

Wild Suburbia

Wild Suburbia PDF Author: Barbara Eisenstein
Publisher: Heyday Books
ISBN: 9781597143639
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Wild Suburbia guides us through the process of transforming a traditional, high water-use yard into a peaceful habitat garden abounding with native plants. Author Barbara Eisenstein emphasizes that gardening is a rewarding activity rather than a finished product, from removing lawns and getting in touch with a yard's climate to choosing plants and helping them thrive. Supplementing her advice with personal stories from her decades of experience working with native plants, Eisenstein illuminates the joys of tending a native garden--and assures us that any challenges, from managing pests to disapproving neighbors, should never sap the enjoyment out of a pleasurable and fulfilling hobby. For plant lovers curious about their own ecosystems, Wild Suburbia offers a style of gardening that nurtures biodiversity, deepens connection to place, and encourages new and seasoned gardeners alike to experiment and have fun.

The Road Taken

The Road Taken PDF Author: Henry Petroski
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1632863618
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
A renowned historian and engineer explores the past, present, and future of America's crumbling infrastructure. Acclaimed engineer and historian Henry Petroski explores our core infrastructure from both historical and contemporary perspectives, explaining how essential their maintenance is to America's economic health. Petroski reveals the genesis of the many parts of America's highway system--our interstate numbering system, the centerline that divides roads, and such taken-for-granted objects as guardrails, stop signs, and traffic lights--all crucial to our national and local infrastructure. A compelling work of history, The Road Taken is also an urgent clarion call aimed at American citizens, politicians, and anyone with a vested interest in our economic well-being. Physical infrastructure in the United States is crumbling, and Petroski reveals the complex and challenging interplay between government and industry inherent in major infrastructure improvement. The road we take in the next decade toward rebuilding our aging infrastructure will in large part determine our future national prosperity.

Prisoner's Dilemma

Prisoner's Dilemma PDF Author: William Poundstone
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 038541580X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
A masterful work of science writing that’s "both a fascinating biography of von Neumann, the Hungarian exile whose mathematical theories were building blocks for the A-bomb and the digital computer, and a brilliant social history of game theory and its role in the Cold War and nuclear arms race" (San Francisco Chronicle). Should you watch public television without pledging?...Exceed the posted speed limit?...Hop a subway turnstile without paying? These questions illustrate the so-called "prisoner's dilemma", a social puzzle that we all face every day. Though the answers may seem simple, their profound implications make the prisoner's dilemma one of the great unifying concepts of science. Watching players bluff in a poker game inspired John von Neumann—father of the modern computer and one of the sharpest minds of the century—to construct game theory, a mathematical study of conflict and deception. Game theory was readily embraced at the RAND Corporation, the archetypical think tank charged with formulating military strategy for the atomic age, and in 1950 two RAND scientists made a momentous discovery. Called the "prisoner's dilemma," it is a disturbing and mind-bending game where two or more people may betray the common good for individual gain. Introduced shortly after the Soviet Union acquired the atomic bomb, the prisoner's dilemma quickly became a popular allegory of the nuclear arms race. Intellectuals such as von Neumann and Bertrand Russell joined military and political leaders in rallying to the "preventive war" movement, which advocated a nuclear first strike against the Soviet Union. Though the Truman administration rejected preventive war the United States entered into an arms race with the Soviets and game theory developed into a controversial tool of public policy—alternately accused of justifying arms races and touted as the only hope of preventing them. Prisoner's Dilemma is the incisive story of a revolutionary idea that has been hailed as a landmark of twentieth-century thought.

Constantinople

Constantinople PDF Author: Clara Erskine Clement Waters
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Istanbul (Turkey)
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
A history and contemporary cultural commentary by author and traveler Clement. The history includes extensive quotations from other sources, which Clement wove together with her own observations and romantic commentary. After recounting the history of the city from 324 to 1895, Clement includes descriptions of St. Sophia, the antiquities of the city, shops and bazaars, the habits of Turkish ladies (probably upper- and middle-class women), funeral customs, birth, circumcision, marriage customs, "superstitions" and other Islam-specific cultural practices, and finally a chapter on contemporary education.

The Gardens of Eden

The Gardens of Eden PDF Author: Gestalten
Publisher: Gestalten
ISBN: 9783899559903
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Step into innovative little gardens of Eden created on small terraces and city rooftops, as well as out in the suburbs and countryside. As our lifestyles become more sustainable, so does the way we interact with the outdoors. Today's gardeners aim not only to create decorative outside spaces but also to give something back. No matter what size your patch is, it's easy to create diverse and rich environments for plants and insects, or grow your own vegetables or fruits. This book presents spaces that are more imaginative, diverse, and sustainable. Learn how to grow food in the city, get creative with native plants, and design greener corners within urban areas. The Gardens of Eden looks at fascinating examples around the world, teaching what you can do for nature while revealing what a garden can do for you.