California Romantica

A gorgeous book with beautiful photographs. Great quality paper and printing. Gave it to a newly graduated nephew who is interested in architecture and design and he loved it!

Gave this beautiful thick coffee table book and it was a hit. A must have for a fan of interior design.

As one of the three children of George and Louise Welsh who purchased one of these homes (Casa Romantica) in 1960 I am thrilled with this book. Our family considers it a work of art as well as a fitting memorial to the history of this very special architecture. My parents owned the Casa Romantica for 30 years, the longest of any of the previous inhabitants. We have a unique and enduring love of the "Casa" and the City of San Clemente who have created the Cultural Center that it is today. We sincerely thank Ms. Keaton for her love of this style and for the gift of this compilation.Karen Welsh

I bought this book for my wife on her birthday. She had seen it at SFMOMA and I thought it would be a nice, coffee table-type addition to our modest book collection. What I found, however, was a marvelous portal to a California I had only dreamed about. As orchestrated by Diane Keaton, a singular artist in film, the photographs here perfectly present the amazing Spanish and Mission architecture of Southern California while the text, by D. J. Waldie, tells the stories behind the stucco, wood and iron of the structures. The homes and furnishings presented here are at once simple and elegant; ornate and plain; expansive and private. A seemingly simple room can be a frame-work for a splash of color that takes the breath away while ornate ironwork or colorful tile nestles in a quiet setting like a found treasure.My wife and I are currently planning a vacation to Spain where we will no doubt encounter the original inspiration for the work here. But growing up working-class Chicano in L.A., our families used to drive through the rich neighborhoods to gawk at the houses and I remember thinking, "This is Hollywood; these can't be real houses for real people." The amazing structures and spaces in this book are all the more beautiful for being real places in the land of make-believe. What I thought would be an interesting diversion turned out to be much, much more.

This is a wonderful, evocative book. Takes me back to dreamy, fanciful Southern California - the one that may have existed in the early part of the previous century. If you are looking for a book that has professionally laid out, full-color photos of exteriors and rooms, don't get this one. But if you want to re-visit that romantic, magical time that is still evoked in these exquisite structures, go for it - you will be rewarded and inspired. (Actually, this is a lovely and interesting - and very large - coffee table book, as well...)

Absolutely love this book! I purchased it after I read through her book “The House That Pinterest Built!”! Great inspiration and beautiful high quality printed pages!

This is a beautiful reference book, and as designers, we rely on it for project inspiration. Dianne Keaton had a hand in this publication, and it is a treasure. We bought this as a second copy to loan to our clients, very happy to have found this on Amazon!

I love looking at Spanish colonial architecture. I have a viceral reaction to it, as does/did Diane Keaton, who is also a Californian. I would love to look at each and every photo in this book but it's very very difficult because it is so huge and heavy. You can't hold it in your lap to enjoy the pictures, so you must lay it on a table and look at each page using both hands. The black and white photos show details in the various grand houses mentioned but I was able to look them up online so I could see each house featured in the book inside and out, and in color, e.g. Leo Carillo's house, Los Quiotes. All in all, very very beautiful photography rather than inspirational. What I thought I was getting was something like a wonderful book called Red Tile Style. I can look at and read that book for hours and get the intense feeling that is somewhere in my early psyche and is brought out by seeing the Spanish Colonial and Mission Style houses, some gone, some that still exit, like those in Long Beach and Ventura, CA. I did not get that feeling from this book, but I liked what little writing there was. How I would have liked more to read. But for me, this book is not a keeper. Too much of a physical commitment to pull out and enjoy. I wonder if this book would have been published if the photos were taken by a non-celebrity. Oh well. I have always loved California architecture and Diane Keaton can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. I hope she can get into Falcon's Lair, the last home that Rudolph Valentino owned. It still exists and I'd love to see photos of the inside of the house he loved so much at the time of his death at age 31.