19th century californian history
A01=Phoebe S. Kropp
american culture
american society
Author_Phoebe S. Kropp
california
Category=NHK
cultural memory
cultural studies
culture
el camino
el camino real
environment
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
living with the past
los angeles
los dias pasados
mexican americans
mexican marketplace
missionaries
missions
native americans
nostalgia
olvera street
panama california exposition
pubic culture
rancho santa fe
red tile roofs
san diego worlds fair
southern california
spanish colonial period
spanish mexican past
tourist highway
urban space
Product details
- ISBN 9780520258044
- Weight: 544g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 19 Aug 2008
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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The 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.
Phoebe S. Kropp is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania.
