Page 645 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

INTRODUCING C ALIFORNIA  643

job markets are in the service industries mark here as well. Recent influential
and in Silicon Valley. architects include residents Frank Gehry
Most visitors usually come to see and Joe Esherick.
California’s two main cities – San Francisco Over the years, California has been
and Los Angeles. In the north and south home to scores of successful writers,
of the state respectively, they define the including Nobel Prize-winner John
opposing sides of its character. San Steinbeck and Beat authors Jack Kerouac
Francisco is more compact, and prides and Allen Ginsberg. The tradition
itself on its nonconformity and open- continues with Amy Tan (The Joy Luck
mindedness. It has evolved into a Club), and detective novelist Sue
pro-labor hotbed, with a history Grafton, among others. Pop music
of activism (the Bay Area led also plays a major role, for this
the anti-Vietnam War is where the Beach Boys, Janis
movement). It also has one Joplin, the Grateful Dead, and the
of the world’s largest Red Hot Chili Peppers launched
concentrations of gays and their careers.
lesbians. Los Angeles, in contrast, Beat writer Californians love to eat out,
is a sprawling city without a focal Jack Kerouac and chefs Wolfgang Puck and
point, where illusions of wealth, Alice Waters have achieved fame
fame, and glamor have created a promoting “Cali fornia cuisine” – a blend
dimensionless image of bright lights of local ingredients and Asian techniques.
and conservative politics. The conflicting This, combined with a selection of
power that the two cities exert on world-class local wines, is proof that
the politics of the state and the nation Cali fornians take good care of their palates.
explains why California may appear a They are generally body-conscious and
little schizophrenic. frequent gyms, or participate enthusi-
astically in sports and a wide range of
Culture & the Arts activities. Luckily, surrounded by some
For most people, California’s contri butions of the nation’s most beautiful coun tryside
to culture are Hollywood blockbusters or and the gentlest climate, they don’t
televised sitcoms. But another creativity have to go far to enjoy a satisfying
reveals itself through its history of outdoor experience.
landscape painting, portraiture, and
20th-century avant-garde art. Modern
artists such as John McLaughlin and
Elmer Bischoff, and such pioneers of
photographic art as Imogen Cunningham
and Ansel Adams, have all achieved
international recog nition. British artist
David Hockney lived here for many years,
capturing the state’s sun-soaked image on
canvas. California is also home to some of
the world’s finest art museums, including
the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
the San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art, and the J. Paul Getty Museum.
The Bay Area’s Victorian architecture has
always been a major tourist attraction,
and visiting designers Frank Lloyd Wright
and Daniel Burnham have left their San Francisco’s cable car, a good way to get around

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