Sand Rush - The Revival of the Beach in Twentieth-Century Los Angeles

The first history of the formidable campaign that transformed Los Angeles into one of the world''s greatest coastal metropolises, revealing how the city''s man-made shores became the site for the reinvention of seaside leisure and the triumph of modern bodies.The Los Angeles shoreline is one of the most iconic natural landscapes in the United States, if not the world. The vast shores of Santa Monica, Venice, and Malibu are familiar sights to film and television audiences, conveying images of pristine sand, carefree fun, and glamorous physiques. Yet, in the early twentieth century Angelenos routinely lamented the city''s crowded, polluted, and eroded sands, many of which were private and thus inaccessible to the public. Between the 1920s and the 1960s, LA''s engineers, city officials, urban planners, and business elite worked together to transform the relatively untouched beaches into modern playgrounds for the white middle class. They cleaned up and enlarged the beaches--up to three ti