California Crazy. American Pop Architecture

At the dawn of the automobile age Americans 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 monstrosities. Yet they flourished especially along Americas Sunbelt and in particular in Southern California as proprietors indulged their creative impulses in the form of giant eccentric constructions 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 Californias architectural anomalies have regained their integrity and are now being celebrated in this freshly revised compendium of buildings California Crazy. 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. In addition California Crazy features David Gebhards 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.