La ruée vers le sable: Une histoire environnementale des plages de Los Angeles au XXe siècle (The sand rush: An environmental history of twentieth-century Los Angeles beaches)

Abstract

A 2005 article by Ronald A. Davidson and J. Nicholas Entrikin, “The Los Angeles Coast as a Public Place,” challenged a common misconception that beach disputes over public space are less significant than similar fights in urban centers (Ronald J. Davidson and J. Nicholas Entrikin, “The Los Angeles Coast as a Public Place,” Geographical Review, Oct. 2005, pp. 578–93). Moreover, the article put forth the argument that as much as Los Angeles is understood as deficient in public space, “the beach is a symbol of the public. This ideal remains strong even as the mapping of income levels … makes the beaches appear as spatial extensions of the wealthiest residential areas” (p. 581). Since the publication of this essay, there have been few scholarly attempts to tell a comprehensive history of the Los Angeles public beaches. There is terrific work, of course, on cultural representations of beaches, the relationship...