CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 8/21/2015

Bruce Davidson: Los Angeles 1964

In Steidl's gorgeous new release, legendary American photographer Bruce Davidson writes, "Esquire's editors sent me to Los Angeles, and when I landed at L.A. International Airport I noticed giant palm trees growing in the parking lot. I ordered a hamburger through a microphone speaker in a drive-in called Tiny Naylor's. The freeways were blank and brilliant, chromium-plated bumpers reflected the Pacific Ocean but the air quality was said to be bad. People looking like mannequins seemed at peace on the Sunset Strip while others were euphoric as they watered the desert. I stood there ready with my Leica aware of my shadow on the pavement. I walked up to strangers, framed, focused, and in a split second of alienation and cynicism, pressed the shutter button. Suddenly, I had an awakening that led me to another level of visual understanding. But in the end, for some unknown reasons, the editors rejected the pictures, and I had to return home with a big box of prints put them in a drawer, and forgot all about the trip." Esquire's mistake is our reward. We highly recommend Los Angeles 1964 and Steidl's companion publication, Bruce Davidson: Nature of Los Angeles 2008-2013.