West Coast Wild<\/p>\n
California\u2019s architectural anomalies<\/p>\n
At the dawn of the automobile age, Americans\u2019 predilection for wanderlust prompted a new wave of inventive entrepreneurs to cater to this new mode of transportation. Starting in the 1920s, attention-grabbing buildings began to appear that would draw in passing drivers for snacks, provisions, souvenirs, or a quick meal. The architectural establishment of the day dismissed these roadside buildings as \u201cmonstrosities\u201d.<\/p>\n
Yet, they flourished, especially along America\u2019s Sunbelt, and in particular, in Southern California, as proprietors indulged their creative impulses in the form of giant, eccentric constructions \u2014 from owls, dolls, pigs, and ships, to coffee pots and fruit. Their symbolic intent was guileless, yet they were marginalized by history. But, over the past 40 years, California\u2019s architectural anomalies have regained their integrity, and are now being celebrated in this freshly revised compendium of buildings, California Crazy.<\/p>\n
Brimming with the best examples of this architectural genre, California Crazy includes essays exploring the influences that fostered the nascent architectural movement, as well as identifying the unconventional landscapes and attitudes found on Los Angeles and Hollywood roadsides which allowed these buildings to flourish in profusion.<\/p>\n
In addition, California Crazy features David Gebhard\u2019s definitive essay, which defined this vernacular movement almost forty years ago. The California Crazy concept is expanded to include domestic architecture, eccentric signage, and the automobile as a fanciful object.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
West Coast Wild California\u2019s architectural anomalies At the dawn of the automobile age, Americans\u2019 predilection for wanderlust prompted a new wave of inventive entrepreneurs to cater to this new mode of transportation. Starting in the 1920s, attention-grabbing buildings began to appear that would draw in passing drivers for snacks, provisions, souvenirs, or a quick meal….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":108461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[4516,13533],"product_tag":[6124,1683],"class_list":["post-108460","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-architecture-en","product_cat-books","product_tag-architecture-en","product_tag-pop-culture","pa_author_att-jim-heimann-en","pa_cover-hardcover","pa_format-156-x-217-cm-en","pa_isbn-20878","pa_language-eng","pa_pages-480-en","pa_published-2025-09-10","pa_publisher-taschen-en-en","first","instock","sold-individually","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\n