Unreal estate
Subtitle: money, ambition, and the lust for land in Los Angeles
By: Michael Gross
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Broadway Books
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New  York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 533
ISBN-13: 9780767932653; 9780767932660
Subjects: Buildings, structures; Social life and customs; Mansions; History
Description: Michael Gross, chronicler of America's rich and powerful, goes west to uncover the very secret history of Los Angeles, specifically those wealthiest and most private of enclaves--Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Holmby Hills, and Beverly Park--through their most mind-boggling estates, and the fascinating, fabulous folks who created and populate them. Gross begins with the mob-driven history of the newest mega-mansion district in L.A., Beverly Park. Using the century-long evolution from adobe huts to $100 million mansions as the baseline of the story, he reveals how a few powerful and often ruthless oil and railroad magnates imposed their idyllic vision of the good life on the Los Angeles landscape to create the legendary communities known as the Platinum Triangle. But the stories of these homes are just a window onto the lives of their owners and occupants over the course of the twentieth century.--From publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [505]-511) and index.
Table of contents: title: McMansions, 1911-2011 --; title: Ranchos, 1539-1906  --; title: Lots for sale, 1906-1932  --; title: Great estates, 1932-1959  --; title: White elephants, 1958-1979  --; title: Trophy houses, 1980--2011.