Who Are The Key Historical Figures Mentioned In 'City Of Quartz'?

2025-06-17 16:43:38 144

3 Answers

Paisley
Paisley
2025-06-19 09:36:15
Reading 'City of Quartz' feels like peeling back layers of L.A.'s mythology. Davis resurrects figures like oil baron Edward Doheny, whose corruption trial exposed the city’s dirty money roots. The chapter on the Chandlers—especially Dorothy—reveals how media dynasties whitewashed history to sell sunshine.

What shocked me was Davis’ treatment of utopian failures. Socialist preacher Aimee Semple McPherson built her Angelus Temple, promising rapture, while Communist writer Carey McWilliams documented how the city’s dream factories exploited migrant workers. Even the architect Frank Lloyd Wright pops up—his unbuilt ‘Broadacre City’ plan mocked L.A.’s sprawl before it existed.

The book’s real protagonist might be LAPD chief Daryl Gates, whose ‘thin blue line’ rhetoric turned neighborhoods into battlegrounds. Davis shows how these figures weren’t just people—they were forces that bent geography.
Jace
Jace
2025-06-23 13:21:18
Davis’ 'City of Quartz' isn’t just history—it’s a autopsy of power. Take Mulholland: his aqueducts stole water from Owens Valley, proving L.A. would literally drain the desert to exist. The book contrasts him with radical journalist Estolv Ward, who exposed police brutality in the 1930s only to be erased from textbooks.

Then there’s the noir angle. Raymond Chandler appears not as a writer but as a symptom—his detective stories mirrored the city’s corruption. Davis digs up forgotten names like socialist councilman Ernest Debs, who fought for public housing in the 1950s before red-baiting destroyed him.

The most haunting figure might be Police Chief Parker. His ‘professional’ LAPD created the gang units that later fueled the Watts uprising. Davis ties these men to the ground—their decisions still echo in every privatized park and gated community.
Gavin
Gavin
2025-06-23 21:08:14
I just finished 'City of Quartz' and the historical figures are fascinating. Mike Davis spotlights William Mulholland, the engineer who built L.A.'s water system, literally shaping the city while drowning valleys. Then there's Harry Chandler, the newspaper tycoon whose land deals made downtown what it is—skyscrapers and all. Davis doesn’t flinch from darker figures like Police Chief William Parker, who militarized the LAPD during the 1960s, or socialist activist Job Harriman, who almost became mayor but got crushed by the system. The book’s genius is how it ties these people to L.A.’s bones—every freeway, park, and riot has their fingerprints.
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