David Boulé on The Orange and the Dream of California at the LAVA Sunday Salon, July 2014

On the last Sunday of each month, LAVA welcomes interested individuals to gather in downtown Los Angeles, for a structured Salon featuring formal presentations and opportunities to meet and connect with one another. If you’re interested in joining LAVA as a creative contributor or an attendee, we recommend Salon attendance as an introduction to this growing community. 

At the July  2014 LAVA Sunday Salon, David Boulé presented on The Orange & the Dream of California.

Cloaked in mystery and available only to the elite until modern times, the orange has been known as the fruit of the gods, the food of emperors, a token of gratitude and a symbol of health, wealth and love. Since it entered history, the dream of California has been that it is a place of plenty, of potential, of personal opportunity. The orange became a glowing symbol of this dream. David Boulé, author of the recently released The Orange and the Dream of California (Angel City Press), will take a lively, literary and extraordinarily visual look at this colorful and captivating history and reveal the tremendous impact of the orange on the culture and development of California, and how these two entities have built on one another to feed the imagination and conjure a compelling fantasy.

A third generation Californian, David has a lifelong fascination with the history, culture, achievements and uniqueness of the region. “The enduring image of California as paradise and the orange as unique among all fruit is because, partially, these things are true. These traits have then been magnified by poets and boosters, artists and hucksters, songwriters and bureaucrats—with both artistic and commercial motivation—to appeal to people’s continuing desire to believe that such exceptional perfection can really exist,” he says.

Event link. Video link.