Readings
You can choose any of these readings for your final project.
Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight
Film Noir, Disneyland, and the Cold War (Sub)Urban Imaginary
November 1, 2004
(The Book is available through the UCI Library)
This article takes popular cultural expressions as a window onto the transformation of the American city after World War II...Together, film noir and Disneyland illuminate the meanings assigned to the structural transformation of the mid-century American city and reveal the cultural underpinnings of a grass-roots conservatism that prized white suburban homeownership.
Chavez Ravine: Community to Controversial Real Estate
September 13, 2012
Now fifty years old, Dodger Stadium has become a Los Angeles landmark, steeped in baseball nostalgia and traffic angst. But the Dodgers' recent change of ownership has brought new attention to the real estate possibilities associated with the team's hilltop perch, reminding us that before the land served as home to athletes in white-and-blue jerseys, it was the site of a thriving Mexican American community named Chavez Ravine.