Alison Pearlman

Alison Pearlman is Professor Emerita of Art History at Cal Poly Pomona. She is also a McGinnis-Ritchie-award-winning writer of nonfiction. Her previous books—Unpackaging Art of the 1980s, Smart Casual: The Transformation of Gourmet Restaurant Style in America, and May We Suggest: Restaurant Menus and the Art of Persuasion—span contemporary art, design, and restaurants.

All three subjects come to the fore in her latest: Meet Me at the West Beach Café: Art, Restaurants, and the Rebirth of L.A. Pearlman tells a little-known story of how the worlds of art, restaurants, and municipal politics bonded in 1980s Los Angeles uniquely, passionately, and to profound effect. Their relationships proved mutually beneficial, nationally influential, and vital to the transformation of L.A. into a so-called global city.

Pearlman lives in Los Angeles and writes regularly about restaurants, art, design, and Los Angeles in her Substack newsletter The Eye in Dining.