The California dream is alive and well in all its sun-dappled, glamorous, high-design glory within the pages of California Dream State: Stylish Living from Canyon to Coast, the beautiful new book from C Magazine, published by Rizzoli on the twentieth anniversary of the magazine’s founding by Jennifer Smith. Arriving just when we need it most, this coffee-table book is at once a historical record, a source of garden and design inspiration, and a celebration of the people and places that make this state an exemplar of the Western good life.
Photograph by Dewey Nicks.
With a charming and heartfelt introduction by Malibu denizen Cindy Crawford and a selection of transporting photography and stories drawn from the magazine’s gorgeous archives, California Dream State shows the shiniest facets of this gem of a place and makes it glimmer all the more brightly. Organized into chapters themed around Canyon, Coast, Valley, City, Garden, Mountain, and Desert, its topics and topography range widely. We see the rarified interiors of Malibu retreats, learn about the conservation of Catalina, tour the art-filled grounds of Sonoma’s Donum Estate winery, and so much more—from San Francisco to Joshua Tree and beyond—captured vividly in stunning photographs by some of the West’s best photographers.
Photo by Philip Dixon.
With fashion shoots at iconic locations like Kelly Lynch and Mitch Glazer’s Richard Neutra retreat, Pasadena’s Huntington Library, and Santa Barbara’s fantasia of a private botanical garden, Lotusland, California looks as fashionable ever. But California Dream State is not about escapism. Rather, it’s a masterclass in context, showing how architecture, landscape, art, and lifestyle collide to create something distinctly Californian. The book brims with stories that illustrate this synergy in action: milliner Nick Fouquet’s Topanga Canyon dome home, which he transformed from “Flintstones to Jetsons” while running one of L.A.’s most creative ateliers; jewelry designer Sarah-Jane Wilde’s gothic-glam Bel Air retreat with views sweeping to the Pacific; and Richard Shapiro’s fantastical Broad Beach château, where ancient European design language meets oceanfront modernism. Each chapter feels like an invitation to step through the lens of C Magazine’s editors and photographers into the inner sanctums of California’s most creative visionaries, whose lives are as captivating as the settings they inhabit.
Photograph by Adrian Gaut.
Perhaps most striking is how the book ties together the state’s extremes, from Big Sur’s wind-swept cliffs and Catalina’s carefully conserved wildlands to the vineyard-studded valleys of Sonoma, where world-class art installations rise among the vines. Throughout, there is a thread of resilience and reinvention: a reminder that California is not just a place but a state of mind—ever evolving, ever open to new ideas. For readers dreaming of their next road trip, design refresh, or simply a moment of inspiration, California Dream State is an object lesson in living beautifully, wherever you are.
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Courtesy of Rizzoli.
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