Close this window to return to the Previous page

#RH-17 - “California- A Guide to the Golden State” - 1945 - $10.00 Hardbound in green cloth lettered in black, this book measures approx. 5.5” x 8.25” and has 713 pages. Compiled and written by the Federal Writer’s Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), it was published by Hastings House Publishers, New York in 1939, this being the 4th. edition. This is the best in-depth, pre-WWII guide to California we’ve seen. It was shortly after the war that a huge increase in emigration began, augmented by the Baby Boom, both of which dramatically changed the face of California forever. I have firsthand memories of these rapid and dramatic changes, having been born in Santa Monica in 1940, and didn’t emigrate to Oregon until 1973. Briefly, this one volume provides a history of the state, looks at its natural resources, and gives broad overviews of commerce, industry, finance, education, the Motion Picture industry, arts and architecture. Cities singled-out for more detailed scrutiny are Berkeley, Fresno, Hollywood, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Monterey, Oakland, Pasadena, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Barbara and Stockton. These are followed by descriptions of Auto Tours and 4 special destinations... Death Valley Nat. Mon., Sequoia N.P., Yosemite N.P. and the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. Appendices include a Chronology of the state from Mexican occupation on, and a Select Reading List of California Books. In addition there are nearly 100 photographs, and a dozen maps illustrating the text. The condition is VeryGood, with light bumping and rubbing at the corners and edges, some sun fading of the spine and lighter fading of a couple of edges of the front cover. A map pocket on the inside back cover is empty. Otherwise, this book is crisp, clean, tight, bright and complete throughout.