The City of Angels' story is told through a fun and colorful collection of old photos, picture postcards, brochures, ads, and other vintage ephemera, accompanied by author Peter Moruzzi's candid and insightful commentary.

Featured are rare glimpses of the city's early years as a dusty pueblo; Chinatown's evolution; the miraculous orange empire; backyard oil wells; Venice of America; the roaring 1920s and corrupt 1930s; colorful evangelists; glamorous Wilshire Boulevard; fabulous nightclubs; movie studios and lavish stars' estates; and theme parks such as Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, and Marineland of the Pacific. Witness the birth of midcentury modernism, futuristic Googie coffee shops, and space-age LAX. Recall a postwar suburban paradise of drive-ins, bowling palaces, beach parties, Dodgers baseball, hot-rod culture, and mushrooming tract developments.

California natives, newcomers, and visitors alike will discover a largely forgotten history of Los Angeles, much of it lost to progress, as chronicled from the late 1800s through the mid-twentieth century.