Transforming the Irvine Ranch by H. Pike Oliver, C. Michael S... - 9781032127835

Name: Transforming the Irvine Ranch by H. Pike Oliver, C. Michael S... - 9781032127835
Brand: CRC Press

CRC Press

From citrus trees to spring breakers, Transforming the Irvine Ranch tells the story of Orange County\u2019s metamorphosis from 93,000 acres of farmland into an iconic Southern California landscape of beaches and modernist architecture. Drawing on decades of archival research and their own years at the famed Irvine Company, the authors bring a collection of colorful characters responsible for the transformation to life, including:\n--Ray Watson, whose nearly century-long life took him from an Oakland boarding house to the Irvine and Walt Disney Company boardrooms \n--Joan Irvine Smith, a much-married heiress who waged war against the US government and the Irvine Foundation's reactionary board and won \n--William Pereira, the visionary architect whose work became synonymous with the LA cityscape. \nSpanning the history of modern California from its Gold Rush past to the late 1970s, Transforming the Irvine Ranch chronicles a storied family\u2019s largely successful attempts to remake th""