A Fascinating and Complicated Tale

"Overdrive highlights the diverse visions, creative collaborations, and technically innovative components that were required to transform L.A.'s latent landscape into one of the most vibrant and influential regions in the world. This metropolis's rapid ascent is a fascinating and complicated tale, which we're excited to reveal through an array of engaging objects and unique perspectives. We look forward to witnessing how the exhibition's visitors will augment these narratives with their own L.A. insights in the months ahead."

--Christopher James Alexander, assistant curator of architecture and design at the Getty Research Institute and co-curator "Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940–1990."

Images from top: 

Department of Water and Power Building by A.C. Martin & Associates, Photo by Julius Shulman, 1965, Gelatin silver print, 24.4 x 20.5 cm (10 x8 1/16 in.), © J. Paul Getty Trust. Used with permission. Julius Shulman Photography Archive, Research Library at the Getty Research Institute.

Lincoln-Zephyr Showroom by John Lautner, 1948, Ink on paper, 30. 5 x 24.1 cm (12 x 9 ½ in.), The Getty Research Institute, © The John Lautner Foundation.