Kind of a slog but I just won’t shut the fuck up about this book. Best read with Wikipedia open (and maybe a map of the metro area) - I think I only understood like 75% of what Mike Davis was talking about, but you can feel it out with him.

Pros: I understand Los Angeles and how it got to be this way 1000x better now

Cons: I understand Los Angeles and how it got to be this way 1000x better now

my first foray into the world of audiobooks using the audible account i got for free through a workplace wellness program starts here. maybe a bit dense to be listened to mainly while preparing dinner and doing laundry, i perhaps may have to have to modulate my choices from here towards slightly dumber shit

Super well-written and insightful account of LA and Orange County politics, land use, and general culture (or lack thereof?). The book is more a collection of essays and some of the essays are better than others, but all of them are worth reading and pondering. Most of the weird and racist politics highlighted here are still going on so the book has not dated much

¿Cómo hacer una breve reseña de un clásico que tiene 35 años y que habla sobre las cuestiones más candentes (de su momento) de la ciudad de Los Ángeles?

Por supuesto que la edad no perdona, ni siquiera al más erudito de los eruditos, de esto no se libra ni siquiera Mike Davis. Por supuesto hay debates, datos y otras cuestiones que se prestan a la crítica, desde la simple matización a la oposición de algunas de sus interpretaciones. Pero es que 35 años son una prueba de hierro para cualquier especulación sobre el futuro de cualquier entramado urbano, y uno como Los Ángeles, aún más.

Pero todo eso no resta lucidez al trabajo de Mike Davis. La forma en la cual fue capaz de prestar atención a una amplia gama de «capas» que forma el palimpsesto de esta ciudad es cuanto menos admirable. Desde sus élites económicas, entendiendo todo el conjunto de relaciones informales que han permitido imponer su agenda en la lucha por el espacio urbano, la inmigración y el desarrollo socioespacial de la metrópolis o los principales actores de la producción industrial en la periferia de la ciudad, Davis configura una descripción sublime, densa en cuanto a niveles, pero espectacularmente amena a la hora de presentarla.

Esta arqueología del «vertedero de sueños» es capaz de condensar en menos de 500 páginas el posible sueño socialista del estado que pudo ser, que la democracia de iure sin capacidad de actuar fue la cuna de su élite durante dos siglos, la importancia de dotar de contenido político concreto a los movimientos sociales y ecologistas. Aunque quizás la lección más importante, que son los actores sociales quienes construyen lo urbano y las ciudades, pero no bajo las condiciones que ellos desean, si no resultado de su pugna por el espacio, por el derecho a la ciudad. Fuera de todo sueño demiúrgico de arquitectos y urbanistas, Davis fue capaz de predecir 1992 antes de 1992.

La ciudad de cuarzo es sin duda el espejo del horror de todos las derrotas de los subalternos, es el espejo que refleja los sueños rotos de las promesas hechas a todo inmigrante, pero es también, y quizás por ello tan brillante, el escenario de todo espectro de la revolución, de la ciudad como campo de batalla, con este libro Davis aspira eso que expresó Benjamin al decir que: «la chispa de la esperanza solo le es dado al historiador perfectamente convencido de que ni siquiera los muertos estarán seguros si el enemigo vence. Y ese enemigo no ha cesado de vencer».

Quizás algún día en las calles de Hollywood se vivan esas historias que hasta la fecha en sus estudios de cine apenas han aspirado a soñar.

and the fact that it has gotten worse

A long, disenchanting, and brutal look at the history of Los Angeles. One of the most fascinating books I've ever read, Mike Davis's reckoning with the financial and political powers that created, destroyed, and now recreate Southern California provides an alternate view of the "City of Tomorrow" focused on the travails of its oppressed and ignored peoples. Davis's analysis of the literature of Southern California serves as an excellent introduction to the intrigues that shaped its industry (or lack thereof), its inner city, and its white-flight suburban satellites, and that now point Los Angeles in the direction of a multi-cultural police state with divided alliances and little concern for the poor.

A must-read for anyone that lives in the area or that is even remotely interested in the city's history. I thought the chapter devoted to the activity of the Catholic Church in the region was particularly illuminating. It both confirmed suspicions I have about the Church's desire for centralizing power and reaffirmed my belief in the faith's ability to spotlight the needs of the poor and destitute (I'll be reading more about Father Luis Olivares soon). The role that socially-minded priests have played in the city is remarkable. I was also blown away by his accounting of the development of the San Fernando Valley and the creation of Los Angeles's inner city (thanks largely to the machinations of the LAPD, which has done more to destroy the lives of poor black communities than most people can probably imagine, and the city's preference for investing in corporate projects rather than community infrastructure).

Long story made short: read this now, and be prepared to read it twice. I finished just recently, but already want to re-read large sections in order to solidify in my brain the wealth of information that Davis collected in this book.

Second time reading this book. First time was back in 2005. Then the book seemed a contemporary take on the future of LA. Reading it in 2024 was quite the experience. Both Davis’s take on LA and his facts presented seem like history, given the book is over 35 years old now. Still a great book if hoping to gain a better sense of the sprawl that is Los Angeles.

Completely fascinating, but the unexpected final chapter on Fontana may have been the most interesting.

extremely impressive, at times dull

A bit weepy, some questionable Japanese puns, and little connection to the title, its still a fantastic overview of the succession of the Los Angeles' cabals.

I found this really difficult to get through. While Davis's approach is very wide ranging and comprehensive, I often found myself struggling to keep up with all of the historical examples and various people mentioned in this account. Having never been there myself and knowing next to nothing about the area's history, I often felt myself overwhelmed, struggling to keep track of the various people and institutions that helped shape such a fractured, peculiarly American locale. I think it would have helped if I'd read a more general history of the region first before diving into something this intricately informed about its subject.