Rating: 
Summary: Delivers the info, but without any style
Review: HOLLYWOODLAND indeed contains many facts, and many anecdotes, about the history of Los Angeles. Specifically, this book features the entertainment industry, basically treating this industry and the city in which it is centered as one and the same. The information offered by author David Wallace mostly dates back to the creation of the modern city of Los Angeles at the turn of the Twentieth Century.HOLLYWOODLAND is an interesting and thought-provoking book which drops many of the industry's largest names, from studio heads such as Harry Cohn and Sam Goldwyn to directors such as Frank Capra and Victor Fleming. The stars are included, too, the greats of the first half of the Twentieth Century, such as Cary Grant, Clark Gable and Rudolf Valentino. Neither are the scandals neglected. Jean Harlow's death is covered, and so is Jayne Mansfield's. There are two significant problems with this book. One is that many of these famous stories, these allegations of the lesbianism of about a dozen of the greatest movie stars in history, are unsubstantiated. The second problem is sloppy editing. This book is rife with typos; it reads as if it is an unedited first draft, or a draft transcribed directly from dictation without being proof-read. In one spot, the word that should have been "and" becomes "an." Throughout the volume, articles and prepositions are missing. The book was brought out by a reputable publisher, and it reflects poorly on that publishing house to release such an unprofessional work. There's also a strange chapter with "a day in the life" of a fictious aspiring actress, c. 1925. The chapter serves little purpose other than to make a reader wonder whether this book even had an editor. Still, for anyone with a curiosity about the early years of the film industry, HOLLYWOODLAND is a worthwhile book.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Title; Poor content
Review: It's disappointing that not one, but two books by this author, filled with inaccuracies, could find their way to publication. A glance through the chapter about Blondes relates the tired Jean Harlow/Christian Science/Evil Mother Jean story that first appeared in Irving Shulman's 1964 best selling, but totally made-up HARLOW, AN INTIMATE BIOGRAPHY. Mr. Wallace apparently missed both the excellent David Stenn and Eve Golden bios of Jean Harlow that were written in the early 1990's, which refute that legend based on hospital records and other 'minor' facts, etc.
If you are in the mood for salacious gossip unrooted in reality, read Kenneth Anger's books; they are 'classics' of this genre that will leave you howling and hungry for more, unlike copycats like HOLLYWOODLAND, which reminds one of stale bread.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrific follow up to LOST HOLLYWOOD
Review: Wallace has reinvented Hollywood history books by ecscavating its ruins to make it new and once again undeniably glamorous, scandolous and absurd. It's one of those things, those books, that you look through again thinking, of course, of course this had to be written, and all the while feeling as though you couldn't have imagined it before you read it the first time.
Rating:
Summary: Hollywoodland misfires
Review: While I believe Mr. Wallace is earnest, he is often inaccurate or incomplete. His chapters are thumbnail sketches based on rumor and his subject matter from the fictious life of a Hollywood [hopeful] to the fashion designers is pure fluff. How can you have a chapter on Hollywood fashion and not even mention Edith Head? Even an interesting chapter on one of the first African-American architects is made dull in Wallace's hands. The re-tread of old deaths like Thelma Todd and Paul Bern reads like a transcript of a conversation in a beauty salon. There is neither nuance in his writing nor sustenance to keep a reader turning pages. For true Hollywood history buffs, save your money. If you must read all you can on Hollywood, I suggest checking out your local library.
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