Magic Lands: Western Cityscapes and American Culture After 1940

The American West conjures up images of pastoral tranquility and wide open spaces, but by 1970 the Far West was the most urbanized section of the country. Exploring four intriguing cityscapes - Disneyland, Stanford Industrial Park, Sun City and the 1962 Seattle World's Fair - John Findlay shows how each created a sense of cohesion and sustained people's belief in their superior urban environment. This study of the urban West argues that Westerners deliberately tried to build cities that differed radically from their eastern counterparts. In 1954, Walt Disney began building the world's first theme park, using Hollywood's movie-making techniques. The creators of Stanford Industrial Park were more hesitant in their approach to a conceptually organized environment, but by the mid-1960s the Park was the nation's prototypical "research park" and the intellectual downtown for the high-technology region that became Silicon Valley. In 1960, on the outskirts of Phoenix, Del E. Webb built Sun City, the largest, most influential retirement community in the USA. Another innovative cityscape arose from the 1962 Seattle World's Fair and provided a futuristic, somewhat fanciful vision of modern life. These four became "magic lands" that provided an antidote to the apparent chaos of their respective urban milieus. Exemplars of a new lifestyle, they are landmarks on the changing cultural landscape of post-war America.

Table of Contents:

              LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS                       
              ACKNOWLEDGMENTS                               
              INTRODUCTION                                 

            1
The Explosive Metropolis:
Urbanization in the Far West After 1940                    
            Growth and Its Discontents         
            People and Cities in Motion       
            Cities out of Control              
            Chaos, Community, and Culture
              in the Urban West                

            2
Disneyland: The Happiest Place on Earth                    
            The Urbanization of Disneyland     
            A Controlled Western Environment   
            To Soothe and to Sell: Managing
              Customers at Disneyland          
            Disneyland in the Customer's Mind  
            Disneyland and Southern California
            A Disney World                    

            3
 Stanford Industrial Park: Downtown for Silicon Valley
           The Origins of the Park         
           A Suburban Campus for Industry  
           From "Garden of the World"
             to Silicon Valley             
           Urban Order in Silicon Valley   

           4
Sun City, Arizona: New Town for Old Folks             
           Retirement in Postwar America   
           Packaging Paradise: The Beginning
             of Sun City                   
           From Retirement Community
             to Resort Town                
           The Retirees' Community Becomes
             a Hometown                    
           Growing Together: Sun City
             and Phoenix                   

           5
The Seattle World's Fair of 1962:
Downtown and Suburbs in the Space Age                 
           The Downtown Origins of the Fair
           An American Temple of Science   
           Suburbia at Century 21          
           The Future According to 1962    
           Century 21's Legacy to Seattle  

           6
Western Cityscapes and American Culture               
           The Urban West as a Chosen Land
           Constructing Meaning in the
             Western Metropolis            
           Building a Legible City         
           A Sense of Place                

            LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS                     
            NOTES                                     
            BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY                     
            INDEX

About the Author :
John M. Findlay is Associate Professor of History at the University of Washington and the author of People of Chance: Gambling in American Society from Jamestown to Las Vegas (1986).

Review :
"Even for lay urbanists, "Magic Lands is a fascinating look at the evolution of the West. . . . The book examines the history of each cityscape, then considers its fallout. And these cities pose frightening problems for both residents and the future of urban design. . . . Readers will appreciate Findlay's research and clear focus."--Michael Singer, "Los Angeles Readers Monthly Review