City Center to Regional Mall: Architecture, the Automobile, and Retailing in Los Angeles, 1920-1950

Using vintage photos and lots of period newspaper advertisements, Longstreth presents an interesting and coherent account of the shift of the American retail center from downtown to the regional shopping center. He sees this as the most significant change to occur in U.S. cities in the 20th century, and one in which Los Angeles led the way. Longstreth, a professor of American civilization at American University, sets the stage for this transformation with a lively account of how L.A. was and is different from other cities. A young city--most of its development was spurred by the growing film industry in the 1920s--Los Angeles chose to grow outward rather than upward. The emphasis on single-family homes rather than high-rise apartments and its difference from Eastern cities were two of its major selling points. Although public transportation was excellent, by the end of WWI, so many people were driving downtown from outlying areas that parking had become a serious problem. As the everlasting struggle to find ways to stow cars downtown continued, the city grew away from downtown and the core became increasingly difficult to reach. Encouraged by residential developers eager to wean buyers from constricting downtown arteries, stores sought out virgin territories to monopolize, only to be overrun in time by competing malls. Longstreth has filled his account with insights and information about a crucial phenomenon in American cities and very neatly illustrated it with the inventive use of 252 b&w photographs, drawings, photographs of maquettes and newspaper ads. (June)