"To those of us who look at Los Angeles and see no sense at all, Landscapes of Desire offers a vivid account of the particular visions that drove the period of Anglo dominance in the Los Angeles region, from about 1850 to about 1985. William McClung's essay, supported at every point by illustrations, shows that Anglo settlers and developers wanted nothing more than to make sense of their surroundings, but that their two dominant paradigms were at war with each other.

Anglophone Los Angeles, McClung says, has tried strenuously to reconcile two competing mythologies of place and space: one of an acquired Arcadia - a found natural paradise - and the other of an invented Utopia - an empty space inviting development. Examining designed spaces, including buildings, parks, freeways, and whole neighborhoods and communities, McClung gives readers a strong sense of the contradictions, failures, and triumphs that continue to govern L.A.'s image of itself."--BOOK JACKET.