The history of Los Angeles is a history of the families that shaped it. Oral historian and author Jean Stein tells the stories of five families who shaped our city in her new book, West of Eden, including her own family, the Steins. Her father was Jules Stein, founder of the media giant MCA in the 1920s. The Dohenys, the Garlands, the Warners and the Selznicks round out the cast of characters in West of Eden. Stein’s works, few but incredibly influential, tackle similar themes: The cult of celebrity, the loneliness of fame, and the tensions between West Coast and East Coast ideas of success.
KCRW
