Introduction

Summary

In 1950, photographer William Garnett made a series of aerial photographs of the construction of Lakewood Park, a California suburb. Four of Garnett's images soon became iconic. The first was a bulldozed landscape – a large tract of earth with no topographical features, no trees or grass, indeed no visible life of any kind. In the second photograph, the tract had dozens of foundations in lines stretching indefinitely beyond the frame. Except for the utility poles and the piles of lumber by each foundation, nothing rose more than a few feet above the ground. The third photograph showed the wood skeletons of the houses-to-be. In the fourth photograph, the roofs and walls were done. The ground was still bare and the streets unpaved. But the tract was about to become a neighborhood.

The photographs were commissioned by the developers. Like Levittown, Lakewood Park exemplified a revolutionary new way of building, and the developers took great pride in the project. “This is planning as businessmen can do it,” one told Time magazine. The development was a gigantic undertaking, covering 3,500 acres and costing $135 million. The plans called for the assembly line construction of 17,000 homes. The community would also have 17 churches, 20 schools, 37 playgrounds – and a shopping center with department stores, supermarkets, banks, service stations, offices, movie theaters, and recreation facilities. In two years, the developers predicted, more than 70,000 people would live in Lakewood Park.