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Sun Seekers: The Cure of California
Sunshine and California as a beacon of better health Since the mid-19th century, the idea of California has lured many waves of migrants. Here, writer and editor Lyra Kilston explores a less examined the region’s promise of better health. From ailing families seeking a miracle climate cure to iconoclasts and dropouts pursuing a remedy to societal corruption, the abundance of sunshine and untamed nature around the small but growing Los Angeles area offered them refuge and inspiration.
In the wild west of medical practice, eclectic nature-cure treatments gained popularity. The source for this trend can be traced to the mountains and cold-water springs of Europe, where early sanatoriums were built to offer the natural cures of sun, air, water and diet; this sanatorium architecture was exported to the West Coast from Central Europe, and began to impact other types of building.
Sun The Cure of California constitutes the second volume of The Illustrated America (following 2016's Old Glory ), Atelier Éditions’ ongoing series excavating America’s cultural past.
Lyra Kilston is a writer and editor focused on architecture, history, design and urbanism. Her work has appeared in Artforum , Los Angeles Review of Books , Time , Wired and Hyperallergic , among other publications. She was on the curatorial team of LA Constructs the Future, 1940–1990 , exhibited at the J. Paul Getty Museum and the National Building Museum.
In the wild west of medical practice, eclectic nature-cure treatments gained popularity. The source for this trend can be traced to the mountains and cold-water springs of Europe, where early sanatoriums were built to offer the natural cures of sun, air, water and diet; this sanatorium architecture was exported to the West Coast from Central Europe, and began to impact other types of building.
Sun The Cure of California constitutes the second volume of The Illustrated America (following 2016's Old Glory ), Atelier Éditions’ ongoing series excavating America’s cultural past.
Lyra Kilston is a writer and editor focused on architecture, history, design and urbanism. Her work has appeared in Artforum , Los Angeles Review of Books , Time , Wired and Hyperallergic , among other publications. She was on the curatorial team of LA Constructs the Future, 1940–1990 , exhibited at the J. Paul Getty Museum and the National Building Museum.
192 pages, Paperback
Published April 23, 2019
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About the author
Lyra Kilston
2 books7 followersLyra Kilston is a writer and editor in Los Angeles focused on architecture, design, art, urbanism, and lesser-known histories. Her writing has appeared in The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Los Angeles Times, Next City, Artforum, Wired, TIME, Hyperallergic, Art in America, ICON, frieze, museum and biennial publications, and the Artbound website for public television station KCET, which aired an award-winning documentary based on one of her essays. She is a 4th-generation Angeleno, and after 20 years elsewhere, lives there again with her family.
Like Southern Californians of a century past, she enjoys curative sun baths.
Like Southern Californians of a century past, she enjoys curative sun baths.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 26, 2025
This book was wonderful and informative. I grew up in California drenched in the culture this book so wonderfully explains. I always thought of California’s health culture as something starting sometime in the 70s, I was amazed to find that it goes much further back.
It gave wonderful context to some of the mysterious locations around Socal, such as the old hotel ruins in Altadena and Palm Springs. As well as the iconic MCM homes and their predecessors.
Books that connect the past to our current time are some of my favorite. And this book does just that, I could draw a line between the health markets of old to our new fancy Erewhons. It helped me to further connect with the place I consider home. To remind myself not everything is lost with time but rather is built upon the past.
It gave wonderful context to some of the mysterious locations around Socal, such as the old hotel ruins in Altadena and Palm Springs. As well as the iconic MCM homes and their predecessors.
Books that connect the past to our current time are some of my favorite. And this book does just that, I could draw a line between the health markets of old to our new fancy Erewhons. It helped me to further connect with the place I consider home. To remind myself not everything is lost with time but rather is built upon the past.
October 11, 2019
Loved the insight into the area that I decided to move to 4 years ago. Southern California, and gravitated to the Topanga Canyon. Really interesting story about how health informed architecture. The elements that were taken into account to combat the attack of tuberculosis. Doesn't feel like a normal book, but loved the imagery as well, and how a lot of the foods we eat today were discovered and created in the early 1900s. I felt very naive to a lot of things that felt new or fresh.
February 2, 2024
Una breve historia (mas bien brevísima) de todos aquellos pioneros que dieron origen a la filosofía hippie en California.
Y a sus ideales y creenciaa. Como el vegetarianismo, la helioterapia, el nudismo, etc.
Toda una tribu con sus ritos y creenciaa. Una forma de vida que ha sido uno de los principales atractivos de esa floreciente región de los Estados Unidos.
En realidad, se titula Sun Seekers (Buscadores del sol).
Refrescante.
Y a sus ideales y creenciaa. Como el vegetarianismo, la helioterapia, el nudismo, etc.
Toda una tribu con sus ritos y creenciaa. Una forma de vida que ha sido uno de los principales atractivos de esa floreciente región de los Estados Unidos.
En realidad, se titula Sun Seekers (Buscadores del sol).
Refrescante.
July 16, 2024
Found it at pile of books sitting on the architecture firm I used to work for, asked if I could borrow it and was able to read it. Great quasi investigation on the ideas of health that pioneered people moving to California in the 20th century and other stuff. Can’t explain but a fast read I recommend.
August 18, 2023
4.5
Read this for my bachelor's thesis on current US diet trends and visited California for the first time last year so I found this book super interesting (and relevant)!
Sun Seekers is a very readable and accessible short history of ways in which Western discourse and print media since the 19th century has marketed California and its climate as an illness 'cure' and as a place to obtain better health. Kilston details a range of examples of architectural trends as well as diets and lifestyle ideals experimented with and promoted by various 'health seekers', several of which can clearly be seen in contemporary diet and lifestyle trends.
I found it interesting to learn about modernist architectural values and examples of direct relations to ideas of healthy domestic spaces, a link I wasn't aware of. I was particularly interested in learning about historical links between current diet and fitness trends in the context of Los Angeles, some of which were mentioned in the book with examples such as vegetarianism and raw food. Would love to read even more in depth about this. As the book was published in 2019, I also would've loved for Kilston to have included extra chapters on newer health trends in the 80s through the 2010s – I can definitely see the historical link to current health-oriented brands in L.A. and online trends.
Enjoyed the book's interior design as well!
Read this for my bachelor's thesis on current US diet trends and visited California for the first time last year so I found this book super interesting (and relevant)!
Sun Seekers is a very readable and accessible short history of ways in which Western discourse and print media since the 19th century has marketed California and its climate as an illness 'cure' and as a place to obtain better health. Kilston details a range of examples of architectural trends as well as diets and lifestyle ideals experimented with and promoted by various 'health seekers', several of which can clearly be seen in contemporary diet and lifestyle trends.
I found it interesting to learn about modernist architectural values and examples of direct relations to ideas of healthy domestic spaces, a link I wasn't aware of. I was particularly interested in learning about historical links between current diet and fitness trends in the context of Los Angeles, some of which were mentioned in the book with examples such as vegetarianism and raw food. Would love to read even more in depth about this. As the book was published in 2019, I also would've loved for Kilston to have included extra chapters on newer health trends in the 80s through the 2010s – I can definitely see the historical link to current health-oriented brands in L.A. and online trends.
Enjoyed the book's interior design as well!
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November 18, 2019Excellent. I appreciated the broad historical context regarding migrations to California for reasons of health --the medical advances (and fads) underlying various ailments and proposed cures that spurred travel or re-location. Main sections include 1) "Health Seekers"-- historical health sanitoriums, (Europe and beyond); 2) "Building a Cure" -- interesting interplay between health and architecture. Open, natural spaces- e.g., Wright,Schindler, Neutra; and the influential Dr. Philip Lovell with a strong connection to Netura; and 3) "Hermits in the Canyons" -- back-to-nature, or back-to-the-land movements with examples such as William Pester near Palm Springs. Also detailed are various natural food philosophies growing in California, vegetarian restaurants and health food stores, etc.
A quote from back flap: "Sun Seekers-The Cure of California constitutes the second volume of The Atelier Editions, an ongoing series excavating America's cultural past."
( Atelier Editions: "An independent publishing house and creative consultancy established in 2015")
Many archival photos. Detailed, but with a strong thesis explained well. ( only in some places does it read like a doctoral dissertation, maybe it is/was?)
A quote from back flap: "Sun Seekers-The Cure of California constitutes the second volume of The Atelier Editions, an ongoing series excavating America's cultural past."
( Atelier Editions: "An independent publishing house and creative consultancy established in 2015")
Many archival photos. Detailed, but with a strong thesis explained well. ( only in some places does it read like a doctoral dissertation, maybe it is/was?)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews