Sunshine technopolis: southern California's dimming future

摘要

At first glance, southern California seems an unlikely place to build a world-class technical-scientific complex. The weather promises sunny beaches and mild breezes, not the chilly ambience of an MIT or Harvard. But the SoCal industrial behemoth millions dwell within had its origins written plainly across the late 19th Century. Weather is not just a comfort-it shapes. Human enterprises. Mt. Wilson and then Mt. Palomar drew the Andrew Carnegie Foundation to build the biggest optical telescopes because they offered the best astronomical 'seeing' conditions in North America. Clarity and dependable sunlight led to Hollywood's dominance over New York. Being able to train troops out of doors drew Marines to Camp Pendelton and the Army Air Force to Edwards and other air bases. 'There is going to be a Detroit of the aircraft industry. Why not here in Los Angeles?' businessman E.J. Clapp wrote in 1926, pointing out the ease of building aircraft outdoors and flying them in clear skies. Allen Scott's study of techno-growth, Technopolis, shows that weather was less determining than determination itself.