Songs in the Key of Los Angeles: Sheet Music from the Collection of the Los Angeles Public Library

If you love Los Angeles as I do --this book shines a light on the various ways music can be a call to action.In this particular case for love, to bring people out of the eastern cold to sunny California. The songs sell oranges and avocados --and they sell a life style. Some of the music is of course dated in its rhythm, but so in step with creating images of the past. A time when the state was experiencing spurts of growth and development unlike any other area of the country. California was the state of milk and honey. Los Angeles was home to rolling hills, the Pacific Ocean and orange groves and weather to die for.The pictures of sheet music covers with songs like “California and You,” “Los Angeles Waltzes,” “Long Beach by the Sea,” “When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano,” and Little Ol’ Los Angeles,” are great, colorful and tell you about the composer and lyricists.The collection of sheet music is from the archives of the Los Angeles Central Library. The library is most wonderful place to visit when in Los Angeles. A delightful book great on the coffee table and if you play the piano it can be a lot of fun with friends singing these old tunes about a bygone era.

I heard about this book on NPR a while back and thought it would be a perfect gift for my dad... a music & history lover.The problem is that I thought this would be more of a sheet music/history book for songs about LA. It does have a couple of sheets of music twds the center of the book, but it is mostly sheet music COVERS with short stories that people have written about their memories of Los Angeles.The book is gorgeous, super high quality prints and beautifully done. In fact, I was tempted to cut out some of the pages and have them framed!Beautiful effort, but I wish they would have had a companion book with the actual sheet music included at the very least.Hope this review helps others in finding what they are looking for.

Wonderful book about the history of music publishing, songs and night life in L.A., going back to the early 1900s. For a 3rd generation Angeleno, this is a treat. Well done!

Gorgeous prints throughout !A wonderful history of sheet music & song -a part of Los Angeles that not many people know ofor are aware of.

Great history of music and also of L.A.