''Sunset'' is a
lifestyle magazine
Lifestyle journalism is the field of journalism that provides news and opinion, often in an entertaining tone, regarding goods and services used by consumers in their everyday life. Lifestyle journalism covers travel, fashion, fitness, leisure, fo ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
. ''Sunset'' focuses on homes,
cooking
Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric stoves, to baking in vario ...
,
gardening, and
travel
Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel ca ...
, with a focus almost exclusively on the
Western United States. The magazine is published six times per year by the Sunset Publishing Corporation which was sold by
Time Inc.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
in November 2017 to
Regent
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
, a private equity firm led by investor
Michael Reinstein.
History
Establishment
''Sunset'' began in 1898 as a promotional magazine for the
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
, designed to combat the negative "
Wild West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...
" stereotypes about
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...
.
The ''
Sunset Limited'' was the premier train on the Southern Pacific Railroad's Sunset Route, which ran between
and
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
(the train is still in operation—from
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
—as part of the national
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...
system). ''Sunset Magazine'' was started to be available onboard and at the station, in order to promote the West. It aimed to lure tourists onto the company's trains, entice guests to the railroad's resort (the Hotel Del Monte in Monterey), and possibly encourage these tourists to stay and buy land, since the Southern Pacific was the largest single landowner in California and
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
.
The inaugural issue featured an essay about
Yosemite
Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...
, with photographs by noted geologist
Joseph LeConte
Joseph Le Conte (alternative spelling: Joseph LeConte) (February 26, 1823 – July 6, 1901) was a physician, geologist, professor at the University of California, Berkeley and early California conservationist.
Early life
Of Huguenot descent, h ...
. There was information about train travel, as well as social notes from Western resorts, such as this from Pasadena: "The aristocratic residence town of Southern California and rendezvous for the traveling
upper ten has enjoyed a remarkably gay season and the hotel accommodations have been sorely taxed." Poetry featuring railroad themes and a later string of short stories in which characters swapped tall tales, always aboard a train, also highlighted travel by rail. Most of these early stories were penned by
Paul Shoup, who later abandoned fiction to become president of the Southern Pacific.
Earthquake and recovery
On April 18, 1906, the
1906 San Francisco earthquake
At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sh ...
destroyed the ''Sunset'' offices.
[Meg James, "The Twilight Years for California Icon," ''Los Angeles Times,'' vol. 137, no. 363 (Dec. 1, 2018), pp. A1, A8.] The May 1906 edition was a six-page emergency issue, in stark contrast to the 214-page April 1906 edition. The issue opened with a dire communiqué from
E. H. Harriman
Edward Henry Harriman (February 20, 1848 – September 9, 1909) was an American financier and railroad executive.
Early life
Harriman was born on February 20, 1848, in Hempstead, New York, the son of Orlando Harriman Sr., an Episcopal clergyma ...
, president of the Southern Pacific: "The earthquake on the morning of April 18th was the most severe that has occurred since San Francisco became a great city". Next came a message from ''Sunset''s publishers: "This is to announce that by reason of the recent destruction by fire of the ''Sunset Magazine'' offices on April 18th, this Emergency Edition will be the only issue of the magazine for the month of May.… The priceless stock of drawing, photographs and engravings was burned.… In one day the accumulation and accomplishment of years were swept away".
Soon, however, the magazine was trumpeting its hometown's revival, in articles like "San Francisco's Future" and "How Things Were Righted After the Fire of 1906". In "A San Francisco Pleasure Cure", an early story by
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...
published in the magazine, a tired businessman revived himself through a visit to the rebuilt city.
Southern Pacific purchased the
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
-based ''
Pacific Monthly'' in 1912, and merged it with ''Sunset'', to form ''Sunset: The Pacific Monthly''. By 1914, the magazine had built strong national circulation and reputation, and the Southern Pacific sold the magazine to William Woodhead & Co.,
a group of employees who wished to continue the focus on the American West, but less corporate influence.
[Tomas Jaehn]
The Southern Pacific Launches a New Vehicle to Develop Its Market
Stanford University Libraries. The Theodore Roosevelt administration indicted the editor, writer, photographer, and aviator associated with a story entitled "
Can the Panama Canal be destroyed from the air?" citing national security concerns; the magazine was still owned by the Southern Pacific when the story was published.
The publishers announced their ambitions in the December 1914 issue; among the promises were reporting from war correspondent Arthur Street, who the magazine sent to Asia to cover the impacts of war and the opening of the
Panama Canal on the world; reporting in North America supported by the purchase of a new automobile; coverage of international expositions such as the
Panama–Pacific International Exposition; responses to inquiries of a newly-established service bureau, to field questions from readers about relocating to the western U.S. and other matters; and a renewed commitment to fiction and photography.
By 1914, ''Sunset'' had begun to publish original articles, stories and poetry focusing on the West. The format resembled other national general interest magazines of the day such as ''
Collier's
''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Collie ...
'' and ''
The Saturday Evening Post
''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...
''.
The new owners sought to "make the magazine a vehicle of Western thought and to steer the magazine into a national market," according to Stanford University librarian Tomas Jaehn.
[Tomas Jaehn:]
The Woodhead-Field Years: Addressing a Rapidly Changing West
/ref> ''Sunset'' reported on heavy political and economic issues; contributors included Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
president David Starr Jordan
David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Univers ...
discussing international affairs and future U.S. president Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, holding o ...
discussing the League of Nations. Fiction and poetry became more ambitious, featuring authors such as Jack London
John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...
,[ ]Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade (' ...
, Mary Austin, and evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Elizabeth Semple McPherson (née Kennedy; October 9, 1890 – September 27, 1944), also known as Sister Aimee or Sister, was a Canadian Pentecostalism, Pentecostal Evangelism, evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s,Ob ...
.
''Sunset'' cover art in its early years was of high quality, with the early 20th century being the golden age of magazine illustration. Contributors of cover art included Will James, Maynard Dixon
Maynard Dixon (January 24, 1875 – November 11, 1946) was an American artist. He was known for his paintings, and his body of work focused on the American West. Dixon is considered one of the finest artists having dedicated most of their art o ...
, and Cornelia Barns.
The Lane Publishing era
In the 1920s, the magazine became unprofitable, as it grew thinner and its circulation dwindled. In 1929, Lawrence W. Lane, a former advertising executive with '' Better Homes and Gardens'', purchased ''Sunset'', and changed the format to its current Western lifestyle emphasis. The magazine became focused toward a female audience. The Lane family would own ''Sunset'' for the next 62 years.[
During the Depression, weighty ruminations on politics and economics were replaced with frivolous articles like March 1935's "Little Toes, What Now?", which began "This is the season when all the little toes are going not to market, but to have a pedicure".
Eventually, a meatier magazine emerged. ''Sunset'' began "Kitchen Cabinet", a readers' recipes feature (still featured as "Reader Recipes"). Essays on home architecture became more specifically geared to the West, with a series of sumptuously photographed articles championing the Western ranch house. Travel and garden coverage grew similarly focused and specific. In 1932, ''Sunset'' was the first national magazine to publish separate editions for different parts of its circulation area, tailoring its gardening advice to each area.
''Sunset'' eliminated the use of ]byline
The byline (or by-line in British English) on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name of the writer of the article. Bylines are commonly placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines (notably '' Reader ...
s, and articles were increasingly how-tos, giving it a voice of authority and efficiency. It was a successful formula: by 1938 the magazine was again profitable.
Under Lane's leadership, the company also produced a successful series of how-to home improvement and gardening books, which are still published today .
''Sunset'' at War
''Sunset'' initially treated World War II as if it were a temporary irritation, but it soon mobilized for war. One story featured newly minted aviation cadets at the Santa Ana Army Air Base. Aware that the federal government's victory garden
Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Germany during World War I ...
tips did not always fit Western soils and climates, magazine editors planted their own test plot near UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
so that they could give their own advice.
In 1943, ''Sunset'' devised a new motto: "The Magazine of Western Living."
At the end of World War II, ''Sunset'' presented a series featuring innovative plans for homes to be built once the war was won, by architects including Portland's Pietro Belluschi
Pietro Belluschi (August 18, 1899 – February 14, 1994) was an Italian-American architect. A leading figure in modern architecture, he was responsible for the design of over 1,000 buildings.Belluschi, Pietro. (2007). In ''Encyclopædia Britannic ...
and Los Angeles's Harwell Hamilton Harris.
When Lane took over the magazine, the population of the West was booming. A few years later, the end of World War II brought an explosion of newcomers. Drawing on his experience from the East Coast-serving ''Better Homes and Gardens'', he guessed correctly that these new Westerners would be hungry for information about how to travel, cook, cultivate, and build in their new environment.
Building ''Sunset'' headquarters
For its first five decades, ''Sunset'' was headquartered in various downtown San Francisco office buildings. In 1951, the headquarters was moved to Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County within the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the sou ...
, a suburb located south of San Francisco. The parcel was a remnant of a 19th-century estate owned by the Hopkins family. This land was originally a part of a grant to Don Jose Arguello, governor of Spanish California in 1815. Its new headquarters was designed by Cliff May
Cliff May (1903–1989) was an architect practicing in California best known and remembered for developing the suburban Post-war "dream home" ( California Ranch House), and the Mid-century Modern.
The Ranch-style house
May built Montere ...
, known for his designs of ranch-style houses, which had been featured in ''Sunset'' for two decades. May created a long, low, adobe homestead that surrounded a central courtyard. The central courtyard, or the Sunset Gardens, were designed by the landscape artist Thomas Church.
For a while, ''Sunset'' referred to the Menlo Park headquarters as the Laboratory of Western Living. Its test kitchen processes thousands of recipes a year. It tested its gardening advice in its 3,000 sq ft editorial test gardens, which was designed to achieve high performance in tight spaces. Roughly 50% of Sunset's garden photography was taken in this area.
Time Warner era
Lane Publishing, including ''Sunset Magazine'' and books, was sold to Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
in 1990, and the company was renamed Sunset Publishing Corporation. A purchase price of $225 million for the magazine and its related assets was announced. The first issue of the magazine under Time Warner was published in August 1990.
In the 1990s, the franchise began to lose touch with its demographic, who viewed the magazine as something of their parents' era. Newer, fresher-looking lifestyle magazines, such as ''Martha Stewart Living
''Martha Stewart Living'' is a magazine and former television program featuring entertaining and lifestyle expert Martha Stewart. Both the magazine and the television program focus on lifestyle content and the domestic arts.
Magazine
''Martha Ste ...
'' and ''Real Simple
''Real Simple'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. The magazine features articles and information related to homemaking, childcare, cooking, and emotional well-being. The magazine is distinguished by its clean, uncl ...
'', presented ''Sunset'' with competition. The magazine remained highly profitable, however, generating $28 million profit for Time Warner in 2000 on gross revenues of $78 million.
In 2001, Time Warner reorganized Sunset to be part of Southern Progress Corporation
Southern Progress Corporation, based in Birmingham, Alabama, is a publisher of lifestyle magazines and books owned by IAC's Dotdash Meredith.
The company publishes such magazines as '' Southern Living'', '' Cooking Light'', ''Health'' and ''Co ...
, best known for its similar home and lifestyle magazine ''Southern Living
''Southern Living'' is a lifestyle magazine aimed at readers in the Southern United States featuring recipes, house plans, garden plans, and information about Southern culture and travel. It is published by Birmingham, Alabama–based Southern Pro ...
'' (its similarity to ''Sunset'' is no coincidence: its founders came out West to see how the Lanes did it in the early 1960s).. When Katie Tamony took over as editor-in-chief in 2001, she collaborated with new creative director Mia Daminato (former creative director for Australian-based Federal Publishing Company's Magazine Group) to create a new, more modern design.
The Menlo Park campus was sold to a San Francisco real estate development firm by Time Warner in 2014 for more than $75 million.
In June 2015, ''Sunset'' announced it would be moving its headquarters to Jack London Square (Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the B ...
). The new offices opened in December 2015, and the magazine's outdoor kitchen and test gardens were relocated to Cornerstone Sonoma, a winery in nearby Sonoma County, California
Sonoma County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. It is to the n ...
. The magazine's extensive archival collection, including numerous original photographs and administrative papers, would not be brought to the new Oakland location, and was acquired by Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
.
Sale to Regent and investor Michael Reinstein
On November 30, 2017 Time Inc.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
sold Sunset to Regent, L.P. a global private equity firm led by Beverly Hills based investor Michael Reinstein. Sale price of the magazine, including both its assets and liabilities, was estimated at $12 million — a fraction of the publication's value during its heyday. After sale of the magazine to Regent, ''Sunset'' launched a round of personnel cuts, leaving it with fewer than 20 employees, a mere one-fifth of its staff just five years previously.
The publication has suffered a loss of advertising revenue in recent years, which in 2017 pushed the magazine's operating income into the red for the first time since 1938, with a loss of about $4 million posted on nearly $28 million in gross revenue. A cash-flow crisis resulted, with several freelance
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
writers complaining in the Summer of 2017 that payment for published material had been delayed, with one particularly vocal writer noting that he had been forced to wait more than four months after invoicing to receive a check for his work.
The company additionally downgraded its offices, with staff moved in September 2018 from the Jack London Square offices to a less costly facility located several blocks away. Food preparation, an important part of the magazine's content, began to be done at an externally-located kitchen in Mountain View.
In March 2020, with the magazine struggling financially due to loss of advertising revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, the company put most of its employees on unpaid leave. During the pandemic, the company briefly ceased printing the magazine but returned to print with the December 2020 issue.
Western Home Awards program
Since 1957, ''Sunset''s Western Home Awards program, cosponsored by the American Institute of Architects, has introduced readers to works by Richard Neutra
Richard Joseph Neutra ( ; April 8, 1892 – April 16, 1970) was an Austrian-American architect. Living and building for the majority of his career in Southern California, he came to be considered a prominent and important modernist architect.
He ...
, Charles Moore, Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, , FAIA (; ; born ) is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions.
His works are considere ...
, and Calvin C. Straub, amont other notables.
House of Innovation
The "House of Innovation" is an experimental showcase house, opened on September 8, 2006 in Alamo, California. It is a collaboration between ''Sunset'' and ''Popular Science
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
''. It is part of the "Idea House" program, originally launched in 1998.
Environmental reporting
''Sunsets commentary has contributed to the debate on natural features including the Mojave Desert, the Tongass National Forest
The Tongass National Forest () in Southeast Alaska is the largest U.S. National Forest at . Most of its area is temperate rain forest and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. The Tongass, which is ...
and the western U.S. National Parks.[ Occasionally, it has called for pro-environmental action, as it did with its 1969 article demanding a ban on DDT.]
References
External links
{{wikisource
''Sunset'' Magazine
*
Annual Festival
published by Stanford University in 1998
Early editions of ''Sunset''
at Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...
Food and drink magazines
Southern Progress Corporation
Lifestyle magazines published in the United States
Monthly magazines published in the United States
Local interest magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 1898
Magazines published in the San Francisco Bay Area
Tourism magazines