A witty, honest, and savvy guide to Santa Monica, Venice, and environs: where to eat, shop, learn, discover and explore.

Across the globe, from established tourist destinations such as Venice or Prague to less traditional destinations in both the global North and South, there is mounting evidence that points to an increasing politicization of the topic of urban tourism. In some cities, residents and other stakeholders take issue with the growth of tourism as such, as well as the negative impacts it has on their cities; while in others, particular forms and effects of tourism are contested or deplored. In numerous settings, contestations revolve less around tourism itself than around broader processes, policies and forces of urban change perceived to threaten the right to ‘stay put’, the quality of life or identity of existing urban populations. This book for the first time looks at urban tourism as a source of contention and dispute and analyses what type of conflicts and contestations have emerged around urban tourism in 16 cities across Europe, North America, South America and Asia. It explores the various ways in which community groups, residents and other actors have responded to – and challenged – tourism development in an international and multi-disciplinary perspective. The title links the largely discrete yet interconnected disciplines of ‘urban studies’ and ‘tourism studies’ and draws on approaches and debates from urban sociology; urban policy and politics; urban geography; urban anthropology; cultural studies; urban design and planning; tourism studies and tourism management. This ground breaking volume offers new insight into the conflicts and struggles generated by urban tourism and will be of interest to students, researchers and academics from the fields of tourism, geography, planning, urban studies, development studies, anthropology, politics and sociology.

An icon of Southern California and one of Americas most imaginative and vibrant citiesthe fitting destination at the end of Route 66Santa Monica lies on the brink of the West and is known throughout the nation for its beaches and its Hollywood A-list locals With a foundation built by the Gabrielino Indians and molded by Spanish and Mexican land grants, railroad battles, and a constant influx of settlers, Santa Monica became an oceanside haven for actors and airplane companies, road races and ranchers.

As west as metropolitan Los Angeles's trendy Westside gets, Santa Monica has enjoyed a colorful history as both a resort community and a bedrock hometown on the Southern California coast. As a playground and ready-made set for Hollywood, traditional hotbed of progressive politics, and amorphous fun zone for a greater century of visitors, the city of Santa Monica has remained at the forefront of the evolution of California culture. Prior to World War II, Santa Monica was a collection of distinct neighborhoods--Santa Monica Canyon and Ocean Park among them--and its pier, built in 1909 beneath the bluffs of Palisades Park, became a regional draw, especially after the nation's largest dance emporium, La Monica Ballroom, was built on it. The vintage photographs in this tour through Santa Monica's beginnings and its growth through the early 20th century were selected from the archives of the Santa Monica Historical Society Museum.

At Dwell, we're staging a minor revolution. We think that it's possible to live in a house or apartment by a bold modern architect, to own furniture and products that are exceptionally well designed, and still be a regular human being. We think that good design is an integral part of real life. And that real life has been conspicuous by its absence in most design and architecture magazines.

Hometown Pasadena is a new breed of city guide, an in-depth, personality-rich, four-color book written by locals for locals. The five co-authors Colleen Dunn Bates, Jill Ganon, Sandy Gillis, Mel Malmberg and Mary Jane Horton are all longtime San Gabriel Valley residents, and the foreword authors are Larry Mantle (from NPR's KPCC) and Larry Wilson (editor of the Pasadena Star-News). The book is rich in history, arts, culture, restaurants, gardens, architecture, children's activities, sports and much more, and it is filled with interviews with people who make a difference in the community. It is written and designed with wit, style and intelligence. Hometown Pasadena became an immediate success, going into its fourth printing in less than one year. 256 pages, four-color throughout, flexibound binding with flaps, extensive photography and color maps

My song lyrics were a consequence of being a captive in my automobile twice a month from 1978 to 1981 while driving eight hours at a stretch, mostly at night. This opportunity to reminisce made me recall incidents and people who, for one reason or another, left an indelible impression on my mind.With a small cassette tape recorder by my side, I decided one day to express my thoughts, memories, and feelings. As the words formed phrases and sentences they fell into a rhythm and evolved into melodies that became my form of self-expression for about two years. I never tried, consciously, to be poetic or profound.Writing in the first person singular seemed the easiest way to go. Taking advantage of poetic license it worked well even when I, personally, had the experience only as an observer.Because I have had no musical training I depended on a friend to transcribe the songs from tape to lead sheet form and piano accompaniment.Where I used real names, the songs were intended to be a tribute to the persons. Where a fictitious name was used, it was no less a tribute.

Urban and suburban growth is a burning local issue for communities across the United States and many other parts of the world. Concerns include protecting habitats, high costs of infrastructure, social inequalities, traffic congestion, and more intangible worries about "quality of life." Citizens pressure public officials to intensify development regulations, flying in the face of local "growth machines." Builders and growth boosters oppose regulation as unfair and bad for local economies. Based on a systematic comparative study of urban areas in Southern California, this book provides a much-needed examination of the true impacts of local development controls, including the ways that they have and have not made a difference. The authors draw general implications for communities elsewhere and how to better understand theories of growth and urban governance.

We live these days in a virtual nation of cities and celebrities, dreaming a small-town America rendered ever stranger by purveyors of nostalgia and dark visionaries from Sherwood Anderson to David Lynch. And yet it is the small town, that world of local character and neighborhood lore, that dreamed the America we know today—and the small-town boy, like those whose stories this book tells, who made it real. In these life-stories, beginning in 1890 with frontier historian Frederick Jackson Turner and moving up to the present with global shopkeeper Sam Walton, a history of middle America unfolds, as entrepreneurs and teachers like Henry Ford, George Washington Carver, and Walt Disney; artists and entertainers like Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, Carl Sandburg, and Johnny Carson; political figures like William McKinley, William Jennings Bryan, and Ronald Reagan; and athletes like Bob Feller and John Wooden by turns engender and illustrate the extraordinary cultural shifts that have transformed the Midwest, and through the Midwest, the nation--and the world. Many of these men are familiar, icons even—Ford and Reagan, certainly, Ernie Pyle, Sinclair Lewis, James Dean, and Lawrence Welk—and others, like artists Oscar Micheaux and John Steuart Curry, economist Alvin Hansen and composer Meredith Willson, less so. But in their stories, as John E. Miller tells them, all appear in a new light, unique in their backgrounds and accomplishments, united only in the way their lives reveal the persisting, shaping power of place, and particularly the Midwest, on the cultural imagination and national consciousness. In a thoroughly engaging style Miller introduces us to the small-town Midwestern boys who became these all-American characters, privileging us with insights that pierce the public images of politicians and businessmen, thinkers and entertainers alike. From the smell of the farm, the sounds and silences of hamlets and county seats, the schoolyard athletics and classroom instruction and theatrical performance, we follow these men to their moments of inspiration, innovation, and fame, observing the workings of the small-town past in their very different relationships with the larger world. Their stories reveal in an intimate way how profoundly childhood experiences shape personal identity, and how deeply place figures in the mapping of thought, belief, ambition, and life's course.