Seeking the Good Life

COMING TO CALIFORNIA: HISTORY GALLERY SECTION 07

From the turn of the twentieth century into the Roaring Twenties, the Golden State experienced relative prosperity for many. But at what cost? This section details the housing and automotive boom in Southern California during that era, and the environmental and social impacts that resulted.

The Arts and Crafts Movement had a powerful stylistic influence on the architecture and graphics of Los Angeles during the early decades of the twentieth century, something my typographic choices emphasize.

I sought out some period-authentic type in Kelmscott Roman, a recent revival of William Morris' Golden type which he designed for the books of his Kelmscott Press. Spanish was set in Letterhead's Californian, a script which has a distinct Mission Style.

This time period saw the rise of the motion picture industry in Los Angeles, so information graphics were fashioned to resemble silent movie title cards. The designs for these projections were finalized with the assistance of Amanda Boesen.

This section features several examples of embedded exhibit text. Here is text formatted as a typical industrial notice sign on an oil derrick, and quotes on wood blocks at a building site.

In a more complex display of embedded content, a work site at a Mission Style suburban home of the 1920s presents images, maps, facts, figures, and quotes from the period as if they were pieces left on a contractor's tabletop. Tools affixed to the surface and leaning up against the frame structure of the house complete the scene.

This 'For Sale' sign was designed and constructed to match vintage examples from the 1920s, using imagery from a period real estate sales brochure. Typography also recalls the times, in this case, Letterhead's Grant's Antique.

This large vernacular piece is based on a magazine cover from the 1920s. The final art from the digital original was hand-painted by local artisan Gil Flores.