Available From UC Press

Influenced by popular notions that the West is a place of vanishing Jews and disappearing Judaism, most people draw a blank at the words “Los Angeles Jew.” Yet, the region is home to the second largest number of Jews in North America, and boasts the fourth largest Jewish population in the world, behind only Tel Aviv, New York City, and Jerusalem. This book, and its companion exhibition at the Autry National Center, reveals how Los Angeles has shaped Jewish identities and how Jewish Angelenos have shaped the metropolis.

Six incisive essays look at the mutual influence of people and place as they examine Jewish engagement with frontier society, yidishe kultur and union activism, ethnic identity and Hollywood movies, Jewish women and local politics, and Jews making music in Los Angeles. The book is illustrated with a wealth of images that illustrate how Jews, operating both at the center and the margins of power, have contributed to the place and myth called Los Angeles.

Karen Wilson is the Kahn Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies, a lecturer in the UCLA Department of History, and guest curator of the Autry National Center’s exhibition, Jews in the Los Angeles Mosaic.

"This is the first serious book on Los Angeles Jewish history to come along in half a century. It covers the gamut of LA Jewish life from labor unions to the movies and music to three distinctly different Jewish women who shaped Los Angeles politics."—Bruce A. Phillips, Senior Research Fellow at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture

"Los Angeles Jewry, its past and its present, deserve a book like this. The history of the Jews of this city goes back into the middle of the nineteenth century. Given this span of time, the internal developments and diversity of the Jews of Los Angeles and their impact on America as a whole make their history a subject worthy of study. This is a fine piece of work."—Hasia Diner, New York University

"Thank you Karen Wilson for opening the door. From “Becoming Angelenos” to “White Christmases and Hanukkah Mambos” the five topical essays in this collection reveal the complex and intertwined relationship between Los Angeles and its Jewish population. L.A. has the 4th largest Jewish population, but no uniform Jewish identity. Readers who engage with Jews in the Los Angeles Mosaic will be led on a thought-provoking journey through a community where the idea of a stereotypical Jew is oxymoronic."—Ava F. Kahn, co-author of Jews of the Pacific Coast