Bohemian Los Angeles: and the Making of Modern Politics
Daniel Hurewitz
Abstract
This book brings to life a vibrant and all-but-forgotten milieu of artists, leftists, and gay men and women whose story played out over the first half of the twentieth century and continues to shape the entire American landscape. It is the story of a hidden corner of Los Angeles, where the personal first became the political, where the nation’s first enduring gay rights movement emerged, and where the broad spectrum of what we now think of as identity politics was born. Portraying life over a period of more than forty years in the hilly enclave of Edendale, near downtown Los Angeles, the book ... More
This book brings to life a vibrant and all-but-forgotten milieu of artists, leftists, and gay men and women whose story played out over the first half of the twentieth century and continues to shape the entire American landscape. It is the story of a hidden corner of Los Angeles, where the personal first became the political, where the nation’s first enduring gay rights movement emerged, and where the broad spectrum of what we now think of as identity politics was born. Portraying life over a period of more than forty years in the hilly enclave of Edendale, near downtown Los Angeles, the book considers the work of painters and printmakers, looks inside the Communist Party’s intimate cultural scene, and examines the social world of gay men. In this vivid narrative, it discovers why and how these communities, inspiring both one another and the city as a whole, transformed American notions of political identity with their ideas about self-expression, political engagement, and race relations.
Keywords:
artists,
gay men,
gay women,
Los Angeles,
Edendale,
Communist Party,
self-expression,
political engagements,
race relations
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2007 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780520249257 |
Published to California Scholarship Online: March 2012 |
DOI:10.1525/california/9780520249257.001.0001 |