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Hollywood Eden: Electric Guitars, Fast Cars, and the Myth of the California Paradise
Bottom of the pile
15
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
13/100Critics
17/100Scholars
Author:
Joel Selvin
Publisher:
House of Anansi Press
Date:
April 6, 2021
The former longtime music critic of the San Francisco Chronicle explores the California mythos created by early 1960s rockers Jan & Dean, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, the Mamas & the Papas and othersâall of whom struggled with personal problems that belied the paradise portrayed in their music.
What The Reviewers Say
The author’s style is blunt, unpretentious and brisk; he knows how to move things along entertainingly. Hollywood Eden brings the lost humanity of the record business vividly back to life. The era he explores, however, was as fragile as the perfect wave.
Selvin goes deep, drilling down to the musical localism of individual high schools, most notably West L.A.’s University High.
Entertaining and informative, Selvin’s book brings together bunches of Hollywood stories.
The book is full of fascinating, larger-than-life character.
