Fantasy Island
Now you would think that after having experienced three major disasters in their quest to discover fabulously wealthy civilizations known only to have existed in romance novels and ancient, medieval legends, the Spaniards might want to consider scaling back their conquest operations. But these conquistadors were nothing if not determined, for within two years of the Coronado debacle, another big-ticket expedition was underway.
Dawn of the Dons
The mission system came to an end in the 1840’s, but the era would not quietly dissolve into a dark, misty memory. Fifty years after the last mission was abandoned, a middle-aged tourist from Amherst, Massachusetts, would write a popular novel romanticizing the mission period beyond the recognition of all who had experienced it. Scholars would denounce it as a historical travesty, but a fast-growing state in need of a romantic legend would embrace it as gospel.
The Nouveau Rancho Riche
The Californios could never really get comfortable with out-and-out slavery, and so they devised a new and insidious system of perpetual servitude. Every Saturday afternoon, usually on the front steps of the local saloon, the Indian laborers would be paid just enough to get roaring drunk. By mid-night, most would be behind bars on charges of vagrancy and public drunkenness. Monday morning, they would be sentenced to a week of “community service” on one of the local ranchos in a self-perpetuating cycle of servitude.
Which Way to The Front?
Unlike Fremont’s earlier expeditions, which were made up of mapmakers, geologists, and botanists, this crew was made up of seasoned frontiersmen and ex-soldiers assembled on the basis of their exemplary marksmanship. The outfitting of the expedition was curious as well. Along with the usual, government issued supplies and provisions, those who made the cut were also issued a long-range, high-powered, Hawkins rifle, a brace of pistols, and a very large knife.
Going My Way?
But all those ready to leave everything behind and head out to California in hopes of finding their fortune were suddenly faced with the same disquieting dilemma—how does one get there? For those Americans east of the Mississippi River, the journey to California was more formidable and perilous than that faced by those who would approach it from nearly any other point on earth.
Who Goes There?
Those who took part in the great westward migrations of the gold rush were not the genteel, the affluent, nor those in reasonably comfortable circumstances. Instead, they were the bold and daring adventurers, the dreamers in search of a better life, the desperate in search of a purpose, and the failed in search of a second chance. They were what President Woodrow Wilson would, years later, refer to as “the colts of our society,” and they had all amassed themselves in one very specific location.
Cities of Gold
Boomtowns began popping up anywhere there was room. An abandoned schooner broke loose from its moorings and drifted up river until it finally ran aground. The beached vessel was discovered by a couple of shopkeepers who converted it into a storefront, and before a year had passed, that single old hull had grown into the city of Sacramento.
The Wild, Wild, West Coast
Never mind what you’ve heard about the wild and wooly cow towns of Abilene, Kansas or Tombstone, Arizona. In the 1850s, Los Angeles, California was the undisputed capitol of misdeeds, mayhem, and cold-blooded murder. Nearly all residents walked the streets armed to the teeth. Between the years of 1849 and 1854, they collectively spent over six million dollars on weaponry, and were more than willing to use it. For Southern Californians of the 1850s, a premature parting under unnatural circumstances awaited one in every ten residents.
Mythologizer II
The book was publicly denounced as an unconscionable misrepresentation of history among those few scholars who were familiar with the true saga of early California, but the howls of protest were too late, Ramona was a sensational hit. Under the spell of her own overwhelming enthusiasm, Jackson created a tale awash in pastoral enchantment and romance. She had unwittingly hit a nerve with rapidly urbanizing easterners desperate for a nostalgic glimpse back into a dreamy, agrarian world of old-fashioned, rural splendor.
In for a Pound
In this desperate fix, the Big Four were forced to get real creative in the formulation of a very risky, two-part survival strategy. The first part of the plan to save their failing railroad was to buy more failing railroads. To get a monopoly on all California rail service, they bought more tracks to nowhere. It seemed a crazy idea, but they wouldn’t be buying tracks to nowhere if nowhere could be transformed into somewhere. And that was the objective of part two: They had opened the door to California; now they had to sell it—that was the crazy part!
The Rail Rumble
Then, less than four months later, on the morning of March 5, 1887, without any fanfare, the price of a one-way ticket from Kansas City, Missouri, to Los Angeles, California, on the Santa Fe line dropped from a staggering $125.00 to just $12.00. A short time later, the Southern Pacific matched it. Within minutes the Santa Fe’s price dropped to $8.00. The Southern Pacific made it $6.00. They continued slashing and counter slashing until, by noon, the price for a one-way ticket to Southern California, on either line, was $1.00. The Great Southern California land boom had begun, and now, everybody knew it.
The Prairie Schooler
His distinctive style became known as Prairie School, but it quickly spread well beyond the prairie. Wright would introduce nearly every distinctive feature of what would later be incorporated into the jubilant, modernist architecture of mid-century Southern California. Throughout the 20th century, west coast modernism would be interpreted by four types of architects: those who worked with Wright; those who were trained by Wright; those who were trained by those who worked with Wright; and those who were trained by those who were trained by Wright.
Henry Founds Ford
So, in 1901, with no money to hire an experienced driver, Ford built an underpowered entry, solicited tactical tips from a bicycle racer, ran against the country’s most celebrated factory driver, won the race, promised his wife he would never do it again, and then collected the $1000.00 grand prize as well as the financial support he needed to establish the Ford Motor Company. The nation, and especially Southern California, would never be the same again.
Neptune’s Nephew
And so, at two and four o’clock every weekend afternoon, for the rest of the summer and into the fall, a man with a megaphone would walk out on the beach and beckon the crowd to behold, “the Hawaiian Wonder, the man who could walk on water.” Freeth would then charge out into the surf with his weighty redwood plank tucked under his arm. Crowds of men and women wrapped in heavy woolen garments, from their high button shoes to their stiff, starched collars, lined the beach to watch as he paddled out; they held their breath as he lined up; and they cheered as he took off, stood up, and hurtled back towards the beach, looking, for all the world as if he truly could walk on water.
Polynesianism
Originally intended as a source of edification and entertainment, these exotic tales were received as a welcome means of escape, both literally and figuratively, for millions of city dwellers trapped within the workings of the modern, industrialized world. Through their quixotic narratives, they beckoned modern man to leave the stress and strain of civilization behind and join the primitives in paradise where the skies are always blue, the seas green, the living leisurely, and the native women beautiful and indiscriminately affectionate. Yeah, it was mostly a guy thing; a universally venerated dropout scenario, which omitted awkward details like the numerous diseases, the monsoons, the bugs, the barbarism, and the fact that very few islanders actually lived up to their idealized image.
The Boulevard Bistros
Having just made the leap from junior-grade draftsman to sole proprietor less than twelve hours earlier, McAllister could hardly comprehend the enormity of the proposition. But in the terror of the moment, he remembered his ex-boss once advising him to say yes to anything and ponder the particulars at a later date, which is exactly what he did. And so, Mr. Long left the offices of The San Diego Architectural Service Bureau unaware that he had just entrusted the most important project of his career to an unlicensed, 19-year-old, high school dropout.
Lautnerland
Heeding the workshop-rumors he had heard of a town out west where a new idea was not always regarded as a threat, he moved to Los Angeles in 1938, opened an office, and began advancing his own distinctive approach to modern design, which one might describe as one part international, two parts prairie school, and three parts his own brand of futuristic, space-aged structuralizing. Beholding to neither political doctrines, regional traditions, nor architectural dictums, Lautner reveled in the flagrant use of every conceivable material, texture, shape, and free-form design scheme—nothing was off limits.
West Coast Warriors
For the next day, all along the coast, the public was near hysterical in anticipation of a full-scale invasion. And then that night, in Los Angeles, someone thinking they had heard or seen something, hit the air-raid sirens, which set the shore batteries ablaze collectively throwing about ten tons of anti-aircraft shells into an empty night sky only to rain down upon the terrified Angelinos who mistook the friendly fallout for a Japanese naval bombardment. The mayhem ran on for thirty minutes before anyone realized it was a false alarm.
If Tomorrow Comes
Everyone with friends and/or loved ones stationed over-seas lived in constant fear of the arrival of a telegram or the sight of a military staff car stopping in front of the house. A blue star was hung in the front window of a home to acknowledge a soldier’s service; a gold star acknowledged their sacrifice. And hanging in the windows of too many of the homes along “every street USA” were the unsettling reminders that, somewhere very far away, loved ones were fighting and dying.
The Soldier’s Psyche
Anger and bitterness over their ordeal was rarely apparent in their demeanor; on the contrary, most returned home with an oversized sense of optimism, fun, and frivolity that would soon spread to the civilian population. This fierce determination on the part of the returning vets to seize life with both hands would energize the Southern California scene for the next two decades.
Sputniked!
On the evening of October 4th, 1957, US military monitoring facilities began receiving a strange signal from above. Was it a radio transmission of an approaching enemy plane, or a greeting from another galaxy? No, it was just a steady beep, beep, beep that signaled to the world that the Russians had beaten the Americans into outer space. The following morning the headlines revealed that, for the next three months, a Russian satellite called Sputnik would circle the earth every ninety minutes. And with this puny orb no bigger than a beach ball, the Russians shook the United States to its core.
Rancho Internationale
Throughout the Southland, May’s own company would build about 1000 of his dream homes; and when he couldn’t keep up with the demand himself, he began selling his ranch house plans, and even entire homes, in kit-form, to other builders who would best his output many times over. Gradually, as the 1940s passed into the 1950s, and the ranch house style spread throughout the region, it shed its frontier facade in favor of the new modern look, and it was through this evolution of the California Ranch house that Southlanders learned to accept, to appreciate, and even to rejoice in, the mid-century, modernist milieu.
Kustom Kalifornia
Inauspiciously starting out with a well battered Buick, 14-year-old Sam, and his 10-year-old brother George beat the body back to near original form with bricks and stones, and then layed on a fresh coat of house paint. Custom hubcaps were fashioned from dinner plates, and the grillwork was accented with drawer knobs. Though the execution of this early Barris custom was a bit inelegant, it sold straight away, and launched the careers of the most celebrated custom car builders in hot rod history.
Surfing’s Mad Scientist
At about eight feet long, his boards were on the short side, and with the up-turned nose, they vaguely resembled a giant spoon, which earned them the nickname, “Simmons’ Spoons.” He planned to test his new designs at San Onofre, but the clannish “San O” crowd was openly hostile to the asocial Simmons and his strange looking boards, so he followed a path of less resistance and moved his testing operation way up north to a lonely little spot called Malibu.
Heaps of Heaps
As Detroit was racking up record sales numbers throughout the late forties and on into the early fifties, the used car market was flooded with the pre-war models nobody wanted. Used cars could be had cheap, and the off brands (anything that wasn’t a Ford) could be had even cheaper. Any kid with a semi-liberal allowance, a part-time job, or even a paper route could buy a used car. Here, in great abundance, was the raw material for a movement that would become a centerpiece of the Southern California experience at mid-century.
The Girly’s Man
Zahn was so beguiled by the sprightly girls’ board that he purposefully “borrowed it” back just before he dumped Darrilyn for fellow Fox contract player, Norma Jean Baker. Evidently, neither he nor his new paramour had ever heard the old saying “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” for not surprisingly, retribution was swift. Darrilyn clandestinely re-appropriated her surfboard and then arraigned to have both their studio contracts terminated. However, in the case of Miss Baker, the setback was only temporary; a few years later, she would re-up with 20th Century Fox, this time as Marilyn Monroe. But Tommy would never work in movies, and he would never get that surfboard back.
Burnin’ Up the Boulevards
Though the pre-war gearheads often engaged in reckless behavior on the public thoroughfares, they were much fewer in number, a bit more mature and discrete, and were generally able to avoid attracting too much of the wrong kind of attention. But the post-war crew had nowhere to hide. At ten times their pre-war numbers and growing daily, it was impossible to run beneath the radar, and with the ranks filling with younger, daredevil vets who had faced down storm troopers and kamikazes, as well as teens swept up in the spirit of youthful defiance, many were not even willing to try. And those were the good kids!
The Blue Flameout
He stressed that the only way to overcome Ford’s lead, which was based on decades of costly, backyard research and development, was to expedite the hot rodder’s transition to Chevy by doing all that grunt work in-house, producing their own line of “ready-engineered parts for higher output.” In effect, what he was suggesting was that Chevrolet division, backbone of the largest and most prestigious corporation in the world, begin building hot rods, an undertaking long considered to be within the exclusive purview of pump jockeys and juvenile delinquents. Management, in a move totally at odds with their characteristic conservatism, opted to heed the advice of their wild Russian, and in 1955, Chevrolet very quietly integrated high performance into its product line.
In the Garden of Googie
In sharp contrast to the strictly regulated International Style, Googie architecture existed outside the boundaries of academic convention and universally recognized standards of good taste. Forget New York and its Museum of Modern Art, or Harvard and its Ivy League school of architecture; real, spontaneous, unrestrained ultra-modernism was thriving on the commercial thoroughfares of Southern California.
Exotica
The songs, which relied heavily on Latin dance rhythms, were designed to take the listener on a musical adventure deep into the heart of a remote “jungle of the mind” without leaving the safety and comfort of the living room sofa. It was clear just by looking at the album’s cover that this record was going places few listeners had ever been before. In bold primary colors, four stone-faced tiki statues stand guard, while an elegant couple in formal attire wrestles with force of their own savage passions let loose by the sound of native drums. Oh yeah! This was some sizzlingly sensual salve for suburban trailblazers.
Cruisin’ California
Arrivals and departures were often announced through short bursts of tire burning acceleration, and/or a throaty rumble punctuated by a deafening roar. It was customary, upon entering the strip, to take a few laps around the course before lining up in one of the select, burger stand parking lots where the real street carnivals took place. From sun-down till the curfew hour, these lots were filled with a continuously revolving retinue of hot rods, customs, and carousing teenagers out for a good time.
Tiki Time
For mid-century suburbanites, the well-appointed backyard served as a personal theme park, where the tired, work-a-day warrior could stroll out to the patio for an evening’s vacation. Out there, in the midst of all the primordial atmospherics, it was easy to imagine that the rules of modern society had given way to the law of the jungle. In the dim glow of a near spent tiki torch, every working stiff was Tarzan, and every harried housewife, Jane. Oh yeah—recess for adults.
The Cream Puff Cavalcade
On the inside, they offered a living room on wheels, with sofa-plush, Dial-O-Matic self-adjusting power seats, deep-pile carpeting, and a padded dash all “color-tuned” in a perfect harmony of hues. Dashboards maintained the aerospace aesthetic with Flash Gordon inspired button clusters, dials, switches, and levers. Visual contact with the outside world was maintained through Sweep-Sight, Scena-Ramic, Sea-Tinted, wraparound windshields.
Tubesteak and the Malibu Pit Crew
Tracy, who was known on the beach as Tubesteak (a nickname he picked up waiting tables at Tube’s Steak and Lobster House) was a founding member, and unofficial ring-leader, of a loosely structured, yet extremely influential band of Malibu regulars known as the “pit crew.” Though his chunky physique did not beg comparison with any particular example of Greek statuary, in his wayfarer sunglasses and baggy shorts, he was the very essence of Southern California surfer cool. His laid-back, non-conformist approach to life made him a hero to his peers and to future generations of surfers.
The Pied Piper of Malibu
But the very next day she stunned everyone when she appeared in front of Tubesteak’s shack and again declared that she wanted to learn to surf. This time, before the hazing could get too rough, Tubesteak stepped in and asked, “What’s in the bag,” referring to the brown paper bag she was carrying. “My lunch,” she replied. So Tubesteak proposed a trade – her lunch for a ride on his board. Both parties agreed, and as Kathy dragged the board towards the brine, Tubesteak enjoyed a delicious repast of peanut-butter-and-radish sandwiches.
The House of Roth
It was during a lull at a Disneyland show, that Roth impetuously turned his attention toward the park’s main mouse and created his masterwork, re-imagineering the Mick, as a sweaty, toothy, pot-bellied green rat with bulging, bloodshot eyes dressed in sloppy overalls. Roth’s Rat Fink was the anti-Mickey with a “screw everything attitude,” and right away people began lining up to have his subversive countenance emblazoned upon their own custom t-shirt.
Let’s Get Fenderized!
The sudden emergence of Fender guitars and amplifiers caught the major manufacturers completely off guard. Within two years’ time, some anonymous appliance repairman from some Southern California hamlet no one had ever heard of had soundly trumped the biggest names in the business.
It Came from the Garage
Nearly the entire canon of surf rock hits was composed by pimply-faced high-school kids who had yet to pass their driver’s tests. The Chantays, from Santa Ana High School recorded a single called Move It that never moved onto radio playlists. It wasn’t until a bored DJ flipped the disc to the B-side and played Pipeline, that the Chantays had their one-and-only top-40 hit.
Ballad of the Pendletones
Having been so preoccupied with the unsolicited name change, they forgot that the local radio stations also received promo copies of Surfin, and one of the biggest, radio KFWB, had been playing it all day long. By the following day, Surfin was in regular rotation on the two biggest stations in L.A., the Pendletones were history, and the Beach Boys were on their way to becoming the Southland’s foremost pop-cultural icons.
Beach Blanket Bonanza
To fill the roles of the lead beach boy and bunny, AIP went way against type with two raven-haired Italians from the east coast. As Southern California surfers, Avalon and Funicello were hopelessly miss-cast. Neither was fond of the beach, nor at ease in the water, but they brought some name recognition to the project at an affordable price, and, as an added bonus, the genuine chemistry between them easily transferred to film.
The Endless Summer
Brown intended to purchase three round trip tickets for himself and his two protagonists, Robert August, and Mike Hynson, when his travel agent pointed out that he could save $50.00 if he just continued eastward making a complete trip around the world. Suddenly, there it was all laid out before him; the hook that would make this film stand out from all the others: not only would they search for the perfect wave, they would do it by following the summer season around the world.
We Loved Them Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
It was during those dark days, in the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination, that we cherished our little diversions just a little bit more than usual, and one of our most beloved amusements was a Sunday-night variety show broadcast live from New York City. From 1948 to 1971, anybody who was anybody in the world of entertainment performed on the Ed Sullivan Show. And on the evening of February 9, 1964, among the usual clowns, magicians, acrobats, and stage acts, Mr. Sullivan presented us with a real surprise, “Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles!” And with those five words, the balance of pop-cultural power shifted to the Brits as millions of American teens were captivated by the Mersey beat sound. What the British Empire couldn’t do in two wars, four blokes did in fifteen minutes of airtime.
Monterey Pop
The new folk-rock scene offered a second chance for the Southland’s ex-surf rockers and coffeehouse troubadours. Even America’s foremost folkie, Bob Dylan, made the switch to folk rocker when he strapped on a Stratocaster at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, and walked out onstage to a hail of boos and jeers served up by a traditionalist audience that refused to see that “the times they are a changin.”
Castoff Cool
Tied for the number one spot in the category of mid-century, pop-cultural kitsch now regarded as trivial, dated, and irrelevant were the tokens of the tiki trend, the festive ornaments left over from a nearly two decades long World War II wrap party, along with all the great, googie styled roadside architectonics. Even the more serene and sensible of the modernist themes were fast fading from the field. Without a universal belief in a better tomorrow, all that lighthearted artifice seemed insignificant.
The Garden of Evil
The trial of Charles Mason and four of his disciples lasted eight months and exposed the American public to the absolute depths of madness and depravity lurking within the darkest precincts of the counterculture. Manson, and his equally demented and drug-addled “family,” put faces to the nation’s fears regarding the youth-culture of the late 1960s.
Hippie Hiatus
But it wasn’t just the one incident that brought down the dream; it was a whole host of hang-ups that would turn many of the hip, young apostles towards the realization that a utopia without utopians, could not endure. Real life caught up with the revolution, and in real life, you can’t stay young, feckless, and vainglorious forever.
Song of the Southland
But astonishingly, no sooner had the mid-century era passed into history than it almost immediately re-emerged as nostalgia. With so much that was going so wrong in the 70s, the Viet Nam War, the Watergate scandal, the energy crisis, and rising rates of unemployment and inflation, the country was in no mood to wait out the usual 20 year-long fallow period before rediscovering a past that seemed to glow brighter than the future that lay ahead. In the time between the Kennedy assassination and the Watergate break-in, that brief period of post-war promise and prosperity had become America’s golden age of record, and it has remained so to this day.