Movie Review: L.A. Urbanism via Jonathan Gold’s Culinary Mapping

City of Gold, about Los Angeles Times food critic Jonathan Gold and the cuisine of Los Angeles, turns out to be an excellent movie for urban planners and urbanists. One of those planners was Los Angeles County parks planner Clement Lau who reviews the movie in UrbDeZine. He was pleasantly surprised that the movie turned out to be much more about the cultural landscape of Los Angeles than it was simply about its restaurants. In fact, the movie reveals that Gold is particularly interested in the food of the people, i.e., accessible and inexpensive ethnic foods from small restaurants, food stands, and food trucks, and the regions and peoples of L.A. creating that food.

The movie's urbanist interest isn’t simply fueled by its focus on the people and cultures of Los Angeles—a style made popular by Anthony Bourdain in his television series Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (2005–2012 Travel Channel) and Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN). City of Gold's urbanism bona fides are further established with appearances by Michael Dear, a professor of city and regional planning at UC Berkeley, and Gold's brother, Mark Gold, who was the president of the environmental group Heal the Bay and is currently the associate vice chancellor for environment and sustainability at UCLA. Fear refers to Gold’s work as "culinary mapping."

Concludes Lau about the movie: "If you are an Angeleno, foodie, planner, and/or aspiring writer, I highly encourage you to watch this entertaining and feel-good documentary."