American twentieth-century culture is not best explained through the architectural legacy of individual monuments but by the patterns and forms of its places. The spaces that are created and the way people use space dictate a lifestyle. The commercial architecture created by Wayne McAllister created much of the character of Southern California. His Fred and Ginger nightclubs and glinting steel and blazing neon circular drive-ins brought Busby Berkeley's Hollywood to life. His Sands Hotel in Las Vegas became the home of the Rat Pack; the mythology of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. owes a great deal to the swank glamour of the Copa Room and the Sands Hotel, McAllister's finest Nevada hotel.

Wayne McAllister was an iconoclast, a designer with no formal architectural training who changed the fabric of cities, a quiet conservative who created some of the most outlandish and sometimes garish spaces in North America. His works are defined by the monumental roadside sign at the edge of the highway, the rambling, relaxing scale of everything-a leisurely freedom of space spread over vast acreage, with rolling lawns, open patios, winding paths and miles and miles of neon beckoning to the automobile.

From the famous Sands, Fremont and Desert Inn hotels in Las Vegas to neon-laden drive-ins such as Bob's Big Boy, McDonnell's and Simon's to extravagant dinner houses like Lawry's the Prime Rib, Richlor's and Melody Lane, The Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister explores the history of this architect's best-known projects.

Lieu d'édition : Layton (Utah)

Niveau d'autorisation : Public