California Vieja: Culture and Memory in a Modern American PlaceThe characteristic look of Southern California, with its red-tiled roofs, stucco homes, and Spanish street names suggests an enduring fascination with the region’s Spanish-Mexican past. In this engaging study, Phoebe S. Kropp reveals that the origins of this aesthetic were not solely rooted in the Spanish colonial period, but arose in the early twentieth century, when Anglo residents recast the days of missions and ranchos as an idyllic golden age of pious padres, placid Indians, dashing caballeros and sultry senoritas. Four richly detailed case studies uncover the efforts of Anglo boosters and examine the responses of Mexican and Indian people in the construction of places that gave shape to this cultural memory: El Camino Real, a tourist highway following the old route of missionaries; San Diego’s world’s fair, the Panama-California Exposition; the architecturally- and racially-restricted suburban hamlet Rancho Santa Fe; and Olvera Street, an ersatz Mexican marketplace in the heart of Los Angeles. California Vieja is a compelling demonstration of how memory can be more than nostalgia. In Southern California, the Spanish past became a catalyst for the development of the region’s built environment and public culture, and a civic narrative that still serves to marginalize Mexican and Indian residents. |
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California Vieja: Culture and Memory in a Modern American Place Phoebe S. Kropp Limited preview - 2023 |
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Adobe advertisement Aleš Hrdlička Angeles Examiner appeared architecture authenticity automobile Avila Adobe became Berkeley boosters building California Press California Southland Camino Real century Charles Christine Sterling Club conquest costumes covenant Cupeño dons Ed Fletcher El Camino Real ethnic fair fiesta Forbes Goodhue Helen Hunt Jackson highway Hrdlička Jackson labor land landscape Lee Shippey living Los Angeles Examiner Lummis McGroarty Mexican American Mexico missions modern narratives native nostalgia Nusbaum Olvera Street padres Painted Desert Pala Panama-California Exposition PCEC picturesque Plaza political postcard promoters Pueblo race racial Ramona Rancho Santa Fe regional Requa residents road romantic San Diego Union Sánchez Santa Fe Progress Santa Fe Railway señoritas SFLIC Shippey Simpson social Southern California Anglos Southwest space Spanish past Spanish style Sterling's suggested tion Touring Topics tourists University of California University Press urban visitors West women York