Landscapes of desire : Anglo mythologies of Los Angeles

To those of us who look at Los Angeles and see no sense at all, this text offers a vivid account of the particular visions that drove the period of Anglo dominance in the Los Angeles region, from about 1850 to about 1985.

William McClung's essay, supported by illustrations, shows that Anglo settlers and developers wanted nothing more than to make sense of their surroundings, but that their two dominant paradigms were at war with each other.

Anglophone Los Angeles, McClung says, has tried strenuously to reconcile two competing mythologies of place and space: one of an acquired Arcadia - a found natural paradise - and the other of an invented Utopia - an empty space inviting development.

The collision between these two underlying ideals is still present in the ambivalence at the heart of the city's and region's understanding of themselves.