Beyond Monuments: The Built Environment of Las Vegas and Los Angeles in the Twentieth Century

Using Las Vegas and Los Angeles as case studies, this dissertation examines how aspects of the built environment have become emblematic of the cities where they reside, and more generally, of the modern American West. It explores how the public has interacted with and been affected by that urban built environment in the twentieth century. This history of the modern West examines how casino resorts and wedding chapels in southern Nevada and freeways and film studios in southern California became emblematic of an urban West. Drawing on urban, suburban, social, cultural, environmental, and public histories, this dissertation shows how these structures came to serve as monuments in their design, their size, their economic impact, and their place in popular culture and public memory. I argue that these structures are more accurate representations of historical processes than traditional monuments are. Still, like monuments, these structures have a more complex and compelling history than is outwardly visible to the public. This dissertation allows us to better understand the history of the modern urban West by revealing the ideological foundations on which these structures, and their host cities, were built. It examines how and why these structures were planned and constructed, the roles they have played in the growth and development of their respective metropolises, and the ways in which the public has known and interacted with them.