All about the Burger: A History of America’s Favorite Sandwich

Book Reviews

All About the Burger: A History of America’s Favorite Sandwich
By Sef “Burger Beast” Gonzalez
Coral Gables, Fla.: Mango Publishing, 2019
Softcover, 227, 16.99

Reviewed by Paul Sherman

The title of All About the Burger: A History of America’s Favorite Sandwich is misleading. Sure, in some sense, there is a history of the hamburger here, though that history comes from a very limited perspective. In reality, the account that burger-blogger-turned-author Sef Gonzalez offers is much more about burger chains than actual burgers. There is, of course, nothing inherently wrong with that. Yet, even if it were titled more appropriately, Gonzalez’s chain-centric burger history would still be superficial and only mildly interesting.

Cocktails Across America

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Cocktails Across America
Cocktails Across America: A Postcard View of Cocktail Culture in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s
By Diane Lapis and Anne-Peck Davis
New York: The Countryman Press, 2018
223 pages, $24.95 hardcover

Reviewed by Harold Aurand Jr.

Diane Lapis and Anne Peck-Davis probably had no plans for contributing anything to the field of commercial archeology when they were writing Cocktails Across America. Avid collectors of old linen postcards, they noticed that a big part of their collection was focused on restaurants, supper clubs, and other establishments from the 1930s through the ’50s, where drinking, especially cocktails was the order of the day.

A Guide to Architecture in Los Angeles & Southern California + Art Deco Los Angeles

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A Guide to Architecture in Los Angeles & Southern California
Gebhard, David, and Winter, Robert
Santa Barbara: Peregrine-Smith, 1977, pap. $11.95

Pildas, Ave. Art Deco Los Angeles
Text by Liza Williams
New York: Harper and Row, 1977, pap. $4.95

The commercial architecture of Los Angeles has long been renowned for its imagination and creative spirit. Two recent books prove the reality of the image. David Gebhard and Robert Winter, established experts in the area, have produced an impressive guide to Los Angeles architecture. Within electric blue covers is a valuable survey of the notable roadside restaurants from the 1920s and 1930s – what the authors call “Programatic” architecture for want of a better term.