Coast of Dreams

Zusatztext Vivid! precise! and astute. . . . Starr's cultural range has always been broad and his grasp sure. Most important! he's able to put tastes and ways of life in historical context. Los Angeles Times Book Review Kevin Starr is nothing short of the John Muir of our times. . . . [He] is utterly fascinated by California and how it has evolved. Los Angeles Times Starr brings his magnificent! multivolume series Americans and the California Dream! the product of a quarter-century of work up to the present. An unfailingly interesting! highly readable contribution to Starr's grand series. Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Extraordinary. . . . Sweeping! deeply personal and insightful Tucson Gazette Informationen zum Autor Kevin Starr Klappentext From O.J. to Arnold Schwarzenegger, earthquakes to rolling blackouts, silicon valley to riots in the street, California state historian Kevin Starr has assembled the history of the Golden Gate State since 1990 to create a vivid snapshot of a state constantly on the edge of tomorrow. Coast of Dreams captures an extraordinary place, from its rich and exceptionally diverse palette of people, cultures and values; to its economy that is larger than most nations and mirrors the economic state of the country; to a political landscape so roiled that a Governor can be recalled scant months after his re-election and replaced by a Hollywood action star. This is a book that is sweeping in scope, intimate in detail and altogether fascinated with the splendor of California. Leseprobe Chapter 1 Surf's Up! Most sunny afternoons in Newport Beach, Orange County, in the fall of 1997, Veronica Kay, a five-foot-eleven sun-bleached blonde Valkyrie, a junior at Newport Harbor High, could be found surfing toward shore on a killer wave. It may have cost Veronica $1,600 to do this bit of surfing-that's the fee she would collect that afternoon in Los Angeles after modeling for Union Bay jeans, J. Crew, Sunglass Hut, or any other company that was seeking a knockout blonde with the Southern California surfer look. Veronica Kay was certainly that: she had won Seventeen magazine's New Star Showcase (supermodel Niki Taylor got her start in the same contest), and was already the star of modeling sessions in Tahiti for Wave Action magazine and heading for Bali in May for another shoot. Kay was also a ranked surfer, obsessed with the waves since the age of thirteen, winning at the end of her sophomore year her first national competition at Trestles, a surf spot near San Clemente. Without the surf, Kay might have been just another lost California kid. Her parents divorced when she was six. The split plunged Kay's mother and two siblings into poverty. Only contributions of groceries from friends kept them fed. Her brother and sister struggled with drug addiction. It was the same old California story, sadly, and at thirteen Kay might very well have been expected to follow the drill; but she picked up a surfboard instead, and in May 1996 was discovered by a modeling agency. ("She surfs," says her agent, "and it just so happens she's absolutely adorable and has an amazing figure.") Soon she had her first client, Oakley of Foothill Ranch, a maker of sunglasses, for whom she posed while continuing to surf competitively. "The first image I saw of her," remembers surf contest promoter Allan Seymour of Capistrano Beach, "was a picture of her at Waikiki holding a board and kind of looking over her shoulder and laughing. So I figured, 'Oh, she's a model. She can't surf.' Then I found out she's one of the top short-board women in the world. I was like, 'Wow.' " With Kay's income, her brother and sister-to whom she remained devoted-got off drugs and into college. Her mother had no trouble with the groceries. "I'll model as long as it doesn't interfere with my surfing," Kay not...

#8220;Vivid, precise, and astute. . . . Starr's cultural range has always been broad and his grasp sure. Most important, he's able to put tastes and ways of life in historical context.”–Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Kevin Starr is nothing short of the John Muir of our times. . . . [He] is utterly fascinated by California and how it has evolved.” –Los Angeles Times

“Starr brings his magnificent, multivolume series Americans and the California Dream, the product of a quarter-century of work up to the present. An unfailingly interesting, highly readable contribution to Starr's grand series.” –Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Extraordinary. . . . Sweeping, deeply personal and insightful”–Tucson Gazette


Autorentext
Kevin Starr

Klappentext
From O.J. to Arnold Schwarzenegger, earthquakes to rolling blackouts, silicon valley to riots in the street, California state historian Kevin Starr has assembled the history of the Golden Gate State since 1990 to create a vivid snapshot of a state constantly on the edge of tomorrow.

Coast of Dreams captures an extraordinary place, from its rich and exceptionally diverse palette of people, cultures and values; to its economy that is larger than most nations and mirrors the economic state of the country; to a political landscape so roiled that a Governor can be recalled scant months after his re-election and replaced by a Hollywood action star. This is a book that is sweeping in scope, intimate in detail and altogether fascinated with the splendor of California.

Leseprobe
Chapter 1

Surf's Up!

Most sunny afternoons in Newport Beach, Orange County, in the fall of 1997, Veronica Kay, a five-foot-eleven sun-bleached blonde Valkyrie, a junior at Newport Harbor High, could be found surfing toward shore on a killer wave. It may have cost Veronica $1,600 to do this bit of surfing-that's the fee she would collect that afternoon in Los Angeles after modeling for Union Bay jeans, J. Crew, Sunglass Hut, or any other company that was seeking a knockout blonde with the Southern California surfer look. Veronica Kay was certainly that: she had won Seventeen magazine's New Star Showcase (supermodel Niki Taylor got her start in the same contest), and was already the star of modeling sessions in Tahiti for Wave Action magazine and heading for Bali in May for another shoot. Kay was also a ranked surfer, obsessed with the waves since the age of thirteen, winning at the end of her sophomore year her first national competition at Trestles, a surf spot near San Clemente.

Without the surf, Kay might have been just another lost California kid. Her parents divorced when she was six. The split plunged Kay's mother and two siblings into poverty. Only contributions of groceries from friends kept them fed. Her brother and sister struggled with drug addiction. It was the same old California story, sadly, and at thirteen Kay might very well have been expected to follow the drill; but she picked up a surfboard instead, and in May 1996 was discovered by a modeling agency. ("She surfs," says her agent, "and it just so happens she's absolutely adorable and has an amazing figure.") Soon she had her first client, Oakley of Foothill Ranch, a maker of sunglasses, for whom she posed while continuing to surf competitively.

"The first image I saw of her," remembers surf contest promoter Allan Seymour of Capistrano Beach, "was a picture of her at Waikiki holding a board and kind of looking over her shoulder and laughing. So I figured, 'Oh, she's a model. She can't surf.' Then I found out she's one of the top short-board women in the world. I was like, 'Wow.' " With Kay's income, her brother and sister-to whom she remained devoted-got off drugs and into college. Her mother had no trouble with the groceries. "I'll model as long as it doesn't interfere with my surfing," Kay noted. "Modeling is jus…

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