Philip J. Ethington is professor of history and political science at USC, and North American editor of the journal Urban History. He is the author of The Public City: The Political Construction of Urban Life in San Francisco, 1850-1900 (1994). His digital publications include “Los Angeles and the Problem of Urban Historical Knowledge,” American Historical Review 105:5 (December 2000). He is currently completing a dual print- and online book: Ghost Metropolis, Los Angeles, 1900-2001: A Cartography of Time.