Prophesying through water : hydraulic visions and historical metaphors -- Imperial ironies : the dreams and realities of social irrigation -- Aqueduct cities : foundations of urban empire -- From Oz to Oildorado : the rise of Los Angeles in the 1920s -- Boosting Babylon : planning, development, and ballyhoo in jazz-age Los Angeles -- The people of the city : oligarchs, babbitts, and folks -- USC, electricity, music, and cops : the emergence of institutional Los Angeles -- Designs for living : architecture in southern California, from the Bradbury Building to the Watts Towers -- Anacapa and Arcadia : the Santa Barbara heritage -- Castles in Spain : the Santa Barbara alternative -- Opinion and the aristocracy of art : the search for common ground in emergent Los Angeles -- The book triumphant : bibliophilia and Bohemia in greater Los Angeles -- On the blue train through Dijon : Pasadena begins its literary career -- Material dreams (from contents)