The los Angeles Coast as a Public Place

Abstract.

In the public‐space discourse Los Angeles is usually portrayed as more “anti‐city” than city. Its landscape is overrun by houses, “private‐public” squares and plazas, theme parks, shopping malls, and so on and lacks inclusive public places. Yet this discourse has essentially disdained to contemplate a major public space that contradicts its general thesis: the Los Angeles coast. The coast is meaningful public place in two specific senses. First, it symbolizes Los Angeles as a whole and therefore provides a basis for regional public identity. Second, Angelinos themselves take the coast seriously as a public place, and they have striven to make it inclusive in practice.

Key words:

• beaches
• California
• coastal access
• Los Angeles
• public place.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ronald A. Davidson

DR. DAVIDSON is a visiting assistant professor of geography at California State University, North‐ridge, California 91330.

J. Nicholas Entrikin

DR. ENTRIKIN is a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095.