Spirit of America Bookstore
Fifties Culture Nostalgia
 | links |
companion subject pages on this website
homepage of Rick Walker, Private Investigator
Rick Walker's Fifties Research Page
Rick Walker's Route 66 Pages
at Maison d'Être Beatnik Coffeehouse & Bookstore
'The Beat Generation' Page
Beatnik Film Festival Page
at Magic Lantern Video & Book Store
Drive-In Movie Theaters Page
History of Radio & Television Pages
Best Picture Academy Awards 1951-1960
Hollywood Blacklist Pages
Cinema History By Decade Page - 1950s Section
at 'Readers of The Purple Sage' Western Bookstore
Hopalong Cassidy Page
The Cisco Kid & Pancho Page
The Lone Ranger Page
here at Spirit of America Bookstore
Roadside Diners & Coffee Shops Page
Surf Shack Page +
Surf Woodies Page
Googie-style roadside architecture
Books on Route 66 Pages
Nostalgic Americana Page
Old Time Radio Page
Atomic USA Page +
Atomic Film Festival Page
Pin-Up Art & Artists
Outside Links
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Conelrad [atomic civil defense]
Cold War Era Civil Defense Virtual Museum |
Books About Fifties-Era Culture
Spirit of America Bookstore's 'Books on Route 66' Pages
Magic Lantern's Cinema History By Decade Page - 1950s Section
 |  "Revolutionary Road" [rediscovered 1961 novel] by Richard Yates
Mired in creeping boredom in the suburbs, with unfulfilled lives and careers, a prosperous Connecticut couple decides to move with their two children to France to escape the consumer- ist demands of capitalist America. The book is compared to Updike, and described as 'well written, witty & intriguing' Vintage 8x5¼ pb [4/2000] for $10.17 Greenwood Press 8½x5¾ hardcover [10/71] for $89.95 |
 | feature film [DreamWorks Dec 2008]
Co-produced & directed by Sam Mendes; starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates & Michael Shannon; cast won Ensemble Performance Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Paramount widescreen color Blu-ray [6/2009] for $13.99 Paramount widescreen color DVD [6/2009] for $16.99 Nonesuch soundtrack CD [12/2008] 15 tracks for $14.99 full credits at IMDb • official movie site |
 | "The Films of The Fifties: Sunset Boulevard To On The Beach" [1976] by Douglas Brode Citadel Press 10¼x8 pb [4/90] out of print/used Citadel Press 11x8½ hardcover [8/76] out of print/used |
 | "The Fifties: The Way We Really Were" [1977] by Douglas T. Miller & Marion Novak Doubleday hardcover [5/77] out of print/used |
 | "Seeing Is Believing: How Hollywood Taught Us To Stop Worrying and Love The Fifties" [1983] by Peter Biskind
Holt 8x5½ pb [9/2000] out of print/many used Pantheon 9x6 pb [10/83] out of print/many used |
 | "Populuxe" [1987] by Thomas Hine
Fine Commns 10.4x8¾ hardcover [10/99] for $16.97 Knopf pb [11/87] out of print/used |
 | "Lost Films of The Fifties"[1988] by Douglas Brode Citadel Press 11x8¼ pb [10/88] out of print/used |
 | "When We Were Young: A Baby-Boomer Yearbook 1947-1975" [1993] by Rita Lang Kleinfelder Hungry Minds 9x6½ pb [4/93] out of print/used Smithmark hardcover [12/96] out of print/used |
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"As Seen On TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life In The 1950s" [1994] by Karal Ann Marling Harvard Univ Press 9¼x6 pb [3/96] for $20.50 Harvard Univ Press 9½x6.4 hardcover [9/94] for $27.50 |
 | "1955: What A Year It Was!" [1997] by Beverly Cohn M.M.S. Publng 11x8½ hardcover [4/97] out of print/many used |
 | "A Cultural History of The United States Through The Decades - The 1950s" [grades 6-10; 1998] by Stuart A. Kallen Covers the stark contrasts between the black and white populations of the U.S., between the affluence of the postwar period (and innovations in science & technology) and the tensions of nuclear proliferation, and between the straitlaced, anti-Communist 'establishment' and radical new expressions in music, literature, and film Greenhaven Press 8½x5½ pb [1/2000] out of print/used Lucent Books 9x7¾ hardcover [9/98] out of print/used |
 | "1959: What A Year It Was!" [1998] by Beverly Cohn M.M.S. Publng 11x8½ hardcover [10/98] out of print/many used |
 | "Going Home To The Fifties" [1999] by William Yenne
The ideal of suburban (Middle Class) living as presented to America by magazine advertising illustrations. Last Gasp 9½x9 pb [11/2005] for $17.79 |
 | "Remembering Muscle Beach: Where Hard Bodies Began - Photographs & Memories" [1999] by Harold Zinkin, with Bonnie Hearn (Hill) Angel City Press 9½x9½ hardcover [6/99] out of print/used see also the Muscle-Head Film Festival at Magic Lantern |
 | "Fabulous Las Vegas In The 50s: Glitz, Glamour & Games" [1999] by Fred E. Basten & Charles Phoenix Angel City Press 9½x9½ hardcover [10/99] for $18.86 |
 | "Historical Dictionary of The 1950s" [2000] by James S. Olson intended for use by scholars, universities & libraries Greenwood Press 9½x6½ hardcover [7/2000] for $107.95 |
 | "Diners, Bowling Alleys and Trailer Parks: Chasing The American Dream In Postwar Consumer Culture" [2001] by Andrew Hurley Basic Books 8x5 pb [2/2002] for $17.95 Basic Books 8½x6 hardcover [2/2001] out of print |
 | "Southern California In The '50s: Sun, Fun & Fantasy" [2001] by Charles Phoenix Angel City Press 9¼x9½ hardcover [9/2001] for $24.50 |
 | "All-American Ads of The 50s" [2002] Edited by Jim Heimann Taschen 10½x8 pb [3/2002] for $29.19 |
 | "Bowled Over: A Roll Down Memory Lane" [2002] by Gideon Bosker & Bianca Lencek-Bosker Diane Publng Co. 7x7 hardcover [4/2004] for $16.00 Chronicle Books 7½x7¼ hardcover [8/2002] out of print/many used |
 | "Everyday Fashions of The Fifties As Pictured In Sears Catalogs" [2002] Edited by JoAnne Olian Dover Publns 11¾x9 pb [9/2002] for $10.17 |
 | "Forever '50s: The Decade of Spins, Fins, and Late-Night Drive-Ins" [2003] A compilation of the 'best of' Universal Newsreels, short subjects, and movie trailers, which magically captures the essence of the decade. See the newsmakers, sports heroes, movie stars, personalities, celebrity weddings, and 'latest' fashions – President Eisenhower, Princess Grace, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Ford's Edsel, Sputnik, Sugar Ray Robinson, hula hoops, Joe DiMaggio, Richard Nixon, Elizabeth Taylor, Smokey the Bear, tiki culture, swimsuits, Communists, and the atomic bomb! • not listed on IMDb V.C.I. Video color/b&w DVD [4/2003] 3 disks for $35.99 |
 | "Lost America: The Abandoned Roadside West" [2003] by Troy Paiva Motorbooks Intl 9x9 pb [6/2003] for $13.97 |
 | "The Fifties: Transforming The Screen, 1950-1959" [2003] by Peter Lev (History of American Cinema, Vol. 7) Univ California Press 10x7 pb [11/2006] for $18.15 Scribner's 10¼x7½ hardcover [7/2003] out of print/used |
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"The 1950s: American Popular Culture Through History" [2004] by William H. & Nancy K. Young Greenwood Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [4/2004] for $49.35 |
 | "Scene of The Crime: Photographs From The L.A.P.D. Archive" [2004] Foreword by Chief William J. Bratton, Introduction by James Ellroy, Essay by Tim B. Wride Harry N. Abrams 13½x8½ hardcover [10/2004] for $23.80 |
 | "Let's Go Bowling!" [2005] by Eric Dregni Motorbooks Intl. 9½x9 hardcover [10/2005] for $15.56 |
 | "The Great Black Way: L.A. In The 1940s & The Lost Negro Renaissance" [2006] by R.J. Smith PublicAffairs pb [8/2007] for $11.53 PublicAffairs 9¼x6½ hardcover [6/2006] for $26.95 |
 | "American Culture In The 1950s" [2007] by Martin Halliwell Edinburgh Univ Press 9x6½ pb [8/2007] for $29.50 Edinburgh Univ Press 9¼x6½ hardcover [8/2007] for $100.00 |
 | "1959: The Year Everything Changed" [2009] by Fred Kaplan Kindle Edition from Wiley & Sons [6/2009] for $8.44 Wiley & Sons 8½x5½ pb [4/2010] for $8.88 Wiley & Sons 9½x6½ hardcover [6/2009] for $18.63 |
 | "It Came From The 1950s!: Popular Culture, Popular Anxieties" [2011] Edited by Darryl Jones, Elizabeth McCarthy & Bernice M. Murphy Palgrave Macmillan hardcover [11/2011] for $68.07 |
 | "Mid-Century Ads: Advertising From The Mad Men Era" [2012] Edited by Jim Heiman, Introduction by Steven Heller Taschen 2-volume 14x10¼ slipcover hardback edition [4/2012] for $40.03 |
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"1947: Where Now Begins" [2017] by Elisabeth Åsbrink, Translated by Fiona Graham The year 1947 marks a turning point in the XXth Century, a year that defined the modern world; Swedish author interweaves historical events around the globe with key moments from her personal history, and that of others; won English PEN Award Kindle Edition from Other Press/Penguin Random House [1/2018] for $16.99 Scribe Publns 8¼x5¾ pb [10/2017] import/used Other Press 8½x5¾ hardcover [1/2018] for $15.68 |
Books About Fifties Cars
 | "Automobiles of The '50s" [1993] by the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide
Publications Intl. Ltd. 10¾x9 hardcover [1999] out of print/many used Publications Intl. Ltd. 11x9¼ hardcover [6/93] out of print/many used |
 | "Cars of The Fabulous '50s: A Decade of High Style and Good Times" [1995] by James M. Flammang contains more than 1,600 photos & illustrations, most in full-color; year-by-year overviews of cultural events; product & personnel timelines for automakers; period advertising and promotional material Publications Intl. Ltd. 11¾x9 hardcover [3/2000] out of print/many, many used |
 | "Fifties Flashback: The American Car" [1996] by Dennis Adler 125 color photographs and 30 b&w historical photos Motorbooks Intl. 10x10 pb [7/2004] out of print/used Crestline 10¼x10 hardcover [4/2012] for $11.69 |
 | "50s Cars: Vintage Auto Ads" [2003] Edited by Jim Heimann Taschen Icons 7½x5½ pb [5/2003] out of print/used |
 | "Cars of The 1950s" [2005] by the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide contains year-by-year summaries of each major American make, with hundreds of excellent photos of vintage cars, original ads and promotional illustrations – over 700 images – and informative essays about each year of the 1950s Publications Intl. Ltd. 8¼x11 wide hardcover [5/2005] out of print/used |
 | "Cars of The Fantastic '50s" [2005] by Dan Lyons
Forty-five examples that illustrate the decade of fins and chrome and three-tone paint jobs, with exterior and interior and under-the-hood photographs. Krause Publns 11¼x11 hardcover [11/2005] out of print/used |
 | "Cars of The 50s" [2008] by the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide contains year-by-year summaries of each major American make, with hundreds of excellent photos of vintage cars, original ads and promotional illustrations, and informative essays about each year of the 1950s Publications Intl. Ltd. 12x9 hardcover [9/2008] for $24.98 |
 | "Cars of The 50s" [2009] Edited by Jim Heimann Taschen Icons 25th Anniv Edition 7¾x5½ pb [7/2009] out of print/used |
Tiki Culture
Tiki Culture entry at Wikipedia
Les Baxter [1922-96]:
browse music •
official website •
Wikipedia
Martin Denny [1911-2005]:
browse music •
Vik's fansite •
Wikipedia
vibist Arthur Lyman [1932-2002]:
browse music •
Wikipedia
Don Tiki band:
browse music •
official website
 | "Leis, Luaus & Aloha: The Lure of Hawaii In The Fifties" [1999] by Fred E. Basten Island Heritage 12½x10 hardcover [11/99] for $13.57 |
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"The Book of Tiki: A Guide For The Urban Archeologist" [2000] by Sven A. Kirsten Taschen 10x8½ pb [6/2003] for $19.99 Taschen hardcover [9/2000] out of print/used |
 | "Tiki Road Trip: A Guide To Tiki Culture In North America" [2003] by James Teitelbaum Santa Monica Press 9x6 pb [5/2003] for $11.87 |
 | "Hula: Vintage Hawaiian Graphics" [2003] Edited by Jim Heimann Taschen Icons 7½x6 pb [10/2003] out of print/used |
 | "Tiki Modern and The Wild World of Witco" [2007] by Sven A. Kirsten Taschen 10¾x9½ hardcover [9/2007] for $26.39 |
 | "Adventures in Paradise" [2009] by The Waitiki 7 Granson Music Co. MP3 album [8/2009] download 13 tracks for $8.99 |
http://www.amazon.com/The-Aloha-Shirt-Spirit-Islands/dp/1582700346/
http://www.amazon.com/The-Aloha-Shirt-DeSoto-Brown/dp/159700586X/
http://www.amazon.com/Tiki-Quest-Duke-Carter/dp/0974328308/
http://www.amazon.com/Hawaiiana-Hawaiian-Design-Schiffer-Collectors/dp/0764312200/
Videos & DVDs About Fifties-Era Culture
  | "David Halberstam's The Fifties" [A&E/History airdate Nov 1997] TV miniseries narrated by Edward Herrmann; featuring Gene Autry, Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Fidel Castro, Fats Domino, Duke Ellington, John Kenneth Galbraith, Dizzy Gillespie, Rita Hayworth, Hugh M. Hefner, Danny Kaye [1913-87], Grace Kelly, Jack Kerouac, Alfred Kinsey, Elaine May, Prince Rainier of Monaco, Thelonious Monk, Marilyn Monroe, Mike Nichols, Richard Nixon, Charlie Parker, Jackson Pollock, Elvis Presley, Sam Rayburn, Carl Reiner, Dinah Shore, Elizabeth Taylor, Fred M. Vinson, Guy Williams & Hank Williams DVD/Blu-ray not available • A&E VHS [2/98] 6 tapes out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb "The Fifties" [1993] by David Halberstam Fawcett pb [6/94] for $12.21 Random House hardcover [4/96] out of print/used Villard 9½x6½ hardcover [6/93] out of print/used Random House Audio [6/93] out of prodn/many used |
  | "New York In The Fifties" [indep Feb 2001] 72-minute documentary film co-produced & directed by Betsy Blankenbaker; based on the book by Dan Wakefield; featuring William F. Buckley, Joan Didion, John Gregory Dunne, Bruce Jay Friedman, Nat Hentoff, Norman Mailer, C. Wright Mills, Norman Podhoretz, Robert Redford, Gay Talese, Nan Talese, Calvin Trillin, Mark Van Doren & Dan Wakefield, with archive footage of James Baldwin, Allen Ginsberg & Jack Kerouac First Run Features color/b&w DVD [11/2001] for $22.49 First Run Features color/b&w VHS [11/2001] out of prodn/used full credits at IMDb "New York In The Fifties" [1992] by Dan Wakefield Greenpoint Press 8½x5½ pb [3/2011] for $15.60 Houghton Mifflin hardcover [5/92] out of print/dozens used |
 | "The Decade You Were Born: 1950s - A Decade of Change In America" [12/2011]
Mill Creek Ent. 248-minute color DVD [8/2012] for $5.00 90-minute TV special; bonus material includes trailers, nostalgic TV commercials, feature film "The Last Time I Saw Paris" [1954] starring Elizabeth Taylor & Van Johnson, and TV episode "Dragnet: The Big .22 Rifle For Christmas" [NBC-TV Dec 1952] starring Jack Webb bare video credits at IMDb |
 | "The Nifty Fifties: 50 Classic Features Movie Set" DVD Box Set [2012]
Mill Creek Ent. DVD set [4/2012] 12 disks for $13.65 contains 50 feature-length films, 1949-1958; eight are in color and eight are TV shows: "A Bolt of Lightning" TV show [CBS-TV/Studio One Nov 1951] starring Charlton Heston; "A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court" TV show [CBS-TV/Studio One 1952] starring Thomas Mitchell & Boris Karloff; "A Life At Stake" [1954] starring Angela Lansbury & Keith Andes; "A Tale of Two Cities" TV show [A.B.C. Monodrama April 1953] starring Wendell Corey & Jack Manning; "The Admiral Was A Lady" [1950] starring Wanda Hendrix, Edmond O'Brien, Johnny Sands, Richard Erdman, Steve Brodie & Rudy Vallee; "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" TV show [CBS-TV/Climax 1955] starring John Carradine & Thomas Mitchell; "Affair In Monte Carlo" [1952] starring Merle Oberon, Richard Todd & Leo Genn; "Africa Screams" [1949] starring Abbott & Costello, Clyde Beatty, Frank Buck, Max Baer, Buddy Baer, Shemp Howard & Joe Besser; "The Angel With The Trumpet" [1950] starring Eileen Herlie, Maria Schell & Oskar Werner; "Battles of Chief Pontiac" [1952] starring Lon Chaney Jr., Lex Barker & Helen Westcott; "Behave Yourself" [R.K.O. 1951] starring Farley Granger, Shelley Winters, William Demarest & Lon Chaney Jr.; "Beneath The 12-Mile Reef" [Fox Tech- |
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nicolor 1953] starring Gilbert Roland, Robert Wagner, J. Carrol Naish & Terry Moore;
"The Bigamist" [1953] directed by & starring Ida Lupino, also starring Edmond O'Brien & Joan Fontaine;
"Borderline" [1950] starring Fred MacMurray, Raymond Burr & Claire Trevor;
"Buffalo Bill In Tomahawk Territory" [1952] starring Clayton Moore {as 'Buffalo Bill' Cody};
"Captain Scarface" [1953] starring Barton MacLane, Virginia Grey & Leif Erickson;
"The Capture" [R.K.O. 1950] directed by John Sturges, starring Lew Ayres, Teresa Wright & Victor Jory;
"Cause For Alarm!" [M.G.M. 1951] starring Loretta Young, Barry Sullivan & Bruce Cowling;
"Chained For Life" [1951] starring siamese twins Violet & Daisy Hilton;
"The Con-quest of Everest" documentary [Technicolor 1953] featuring Sir Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay;
"Cyrano de Bergerac" [1950] music by Dimitri Tiomkin, starring Jose Ferrer, Mala Powers & William Prince;
"The Groom Wore Spurs" [1951] starring Ginger Rogers, Jack Carson & Joan Davis;
"Home Town Story" [M.G.M. 1951] starring Jeffrey Lynn, Donald Crisp, Marilyn Monroe, Marjorie Reynolds & Alan Hale Jr.;
"The Hoodlum" [1951] starring Lawrence Tierney;
"Indiscretion of An American Wife" [Italy 1953] directed by Vittorio De Sica, starring Jennifer Jones & Montgomery Clift;
"The Jackie Robinson Story" [1950] starring Jackie Robinson as himself;
"The Lady Says No" [1952] starring Joan Caulfield & David Niven;
"The Last Time I Saw Paris" [Technicolor 1954] directed by Richard Brooks, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon & Donna Reed;
"Lay That Rifle Down" [Republic Pictures 1955] starring Judy Canova;
"The Life and Loves of Mozart" [Germany Eastmancolor 1955] starring Oskar Werner;
"Lilli Marlene" [Monarch/R.K.O. 1951] starring Lisa Daniely;
"The Limping Man" [Lippert 1953] starring Lloyd Bridges & Moira Lister;
"Love Island" [1952] starring Paul Valentine & Eva Gabor;
"The Man Who Cheated Himself" [Fox 1950] starring Lee J. Cobb, Jane Wyatt & John Dall;
"The Man Who Had Influence" [CBS-TV/-Studio One 1950] starring Robert Sterling & Anne Bancroft;
"The Man With The Golden Arm" [1955] directed by Otto Preminger, from the novel by Nelson Algren, music by Elmer Bernstein, starring Frank Sinatra, Darren McGavin, Kim Novak & Eleanor Parker;
"Manfish" [1956] starring John Bromfield, Lon Chaney Jr., Victor Jory & Barbara Nichols; "The Mark of The Hawk" [Technicolor 1958] starring Sidney Poitier, Eartha Kitt & John McIntire; "Martin Luther" [Germany 1953] starring Niall MacGinnis; "My Outlaw Brother" [1951] adapted from a Max Brand novel by Gene Fowler Jr., starring Mickey Rooney, Robert Preston & Robert Stack; "Never Wave At A W.A.C." [R.K.O. 1952] co-written by Frederick Kohner, starring Rosalind Russell & Paul Douglas; "The Night America Trembled" TV show [CBS-TV/Studio One 1957] featuring Edward R. Murrow, Alexander Scourby, Warren Oates & Warren Beatty; "The Painted Hills" [Technicolor 1951] starring Lassie the Dog & Gary Gray; "Plan For Escape" TV show [CBS-TV/Studio One 1952] starring Peggy Ann Garner; "The Second Woman" [1951] starring Robert Young & Betsy Drake; "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" [Fox Technicolor 1952] music by Bernard Herrmann, starring Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, Ava Gardner & Hildegard Knef; "St. Benny The Dip" [1951] directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, starring Dick Haymes, Lionel Stander, Roland Young & Nina Foch; "Three Husbands" [1951] starring Eve Arden, Ruth Warrick, Vanessa Brown, Howard Da Silva & Shepperd Strudwick; "The Trial of John Peter Zenger" TV show [CBS-TV/Studio One 1953] starring Eddie Albert & Marian Seldes; and "The White Orchid" [color 1954] starring William Lundigan, Peggie Castle & Armando Silvestre |
Fifties-Era Transportation Culture
Transportation Dept. on Rick Walker's Fifties Research Page
Spirit of America Bookstore's Automobile Brands Nostalgia Page
![Natl. Hot Rod Assn. [est. 1951]](images/NHRA.gif)
![Wally Parks NHRA Museum, Pomona CA [est. 1998]](images/NHRAmuseum.gif)
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"Cars: American Retro" [2000] Edited by Alison Moss Sourcebooks 6½x6¾ hardcover [10/2000] for $12.95 |
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"Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth: His Life, Times, Cars & Art" [2003] by Pat Ganahl CarTech 10.3x10.3 hardcover [3/2003] for $27.97 |
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"Rat Fink: The Art of Ed Big Daddy Roth" [2003] by Ed Roth & C. R. Stecyk Last Gasp of SF pb & CD [6/2003] for $20.97 Last Gasp of SF hardcover & CD [4/2003] out of print/used |
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"Cruisin': Car Culture In America" [1997] by Michael Karl Witzel & Kent Bash Motorbooks Intl 9¾x10¼ hardcover [9/97] for $24.47 |
Music of The Fifties
Spirit of America Bookstore's Jazz Music Page
'Your Hit Parade' 1935-55
'Your Hit Parade' 1955-59
browse Les Baxter [1922-96] music catalog at Amazon
browse Martin Denny [1911-2005] music catalog at Amazon
browse vibist Arthur Lyman [1932-2002] music catalog at Amazon
 | "The Black Music History of Los Angeles, It Roots: A Classical Pictorial History of Black Music In L.A. From 1920-1970" [1992] by Tom Reed, with photos by Howard Morehead & others Black Accent on L.A. hardcover [10/92] out of print/used |
 | "Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz In Los Angeles" [1998] Edited by Clora Bryant Univ CA Press 9x6 pb [12/99] for $13.97 Univ CA Press 9½x6½ hardcover [3/98] out of print/used |
Spirit of America Bookstore's Fifties Culture Nostalgia Page
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