> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Documenting life one billboard at a time - URL: https://www.smdp.com/documenting-life-one-billboard-at-a-time/ - Published: 2007-02-19T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T00:04:59.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: local, Main St, #archive-import *COMMUNITY PROFILES FRED BASTEN Rewriting the past from along the roadside* *By IRENE MANAHAN Special to the Daily Press* MAIN STREET Documenting history is one thing, but actually making it is another.Author of more than 30 books, Fred Basten has succeeded in doing a little of both. While he was born in Chicago, Basten claims he’s a Santa Monican through and through. “I’ve lived in Santa Monica almost forever. It’s just home to me,” he said last week. “I’m comfortable here.I have my favorite streets and I know some great people.” Basten has written five books about his adopted home, including his first effort:“Santa Monica Bay: The First 100 Years... A Pictorial History of Santa Monica, Venice, Ocean Park, Pacific Palisades, Topanga & Malibu”(1974). Since moving to Santa Monica, Basten has amassed a wealth of photographs of the city, spawning the idea of putting them all together in a series of books. Basten describes his publications as being “evergreen”— a book with a long shelf life. “One book lead to another and another,” Basten said. “I’ve written a new book almost every year since 1974.” Basten was first inspired to write by an uncle who wrote travel columns. “I’ve always been interested in writing,” Basten said.“(My uncle) got to go to these exotic places and write about them. Now, I am somewhat following in his footsteps.” In addition to his budding writing career, Basten received his Commercial Art degree at UCLA and worked at A&W Root Beer as a director of publicity, art and advertising for 14 years. “I love what I do and it’s all I want to do,”he said.“Once you find it, you got to stick with it.” Basten has collaborated with a number of people in developing his books. > “Some ideas come to me, and others are pitched.” — States “The voice always depends on the content of the book,”Basten said.“But I love to use a lot of quotes in them. It’s especially great because the people I collaborate with know everything and have all the contacts.” Basten regularly does his research and obtains resources and images for his collections from historical societies and library archives. His Beverly Hills book, “Life at the Marmont” (The Chateau Marmont Hotel) (1976) took just three months to write. Upon completion, Basten not only received a key to the city, but has seen the library call “Life at the Marmont”the definitive book of Beverly Hills. With some of his books depicting the lives and styles of people living in cities outside California, Basten often gets to travel while working on his projects. In writing “Fabulous Las Vegas in the Fifties: Glitz, Glamour and Games” (1999), Basten reminisced about the launch party. “Famed 50’s singer Keely Smith even sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to me,”he smiled. The signs were all there The idea for Basten’s latest book — “Great American Billboards: 100 Years of History by the Side of the Road” (2006) — came over lunch with Joe Blackstock,an archivist at Foster and Kleiser Advertising Company, one of the biggest advertising companies in the United Blackstock had collected memorabilia since the 1930s from his time with Foster and Kleiser and one day shared his personal archives with Basten. “There was a whole century of advertising in there!” Basten said. “He let me keep anything I wanted. I went back to get some stories for the book and worked them into it.” Basten explained that a century ago, travel was a slow business.Billboards were usually long and descriptive. When cars came around, however, words were cut down and the billboards made into something easily memorable. Great American Billboards includes 245 images of the country’s most famous billboards that have made a tremendous impact on American culture. “I am so proud of this book. There’s some really good stuff in here,” Basten said. “Fans of art, graphics, pop art, travel and advertising design... It covers everything possible: automobiles, movies, elections, Olympics, fashion brands, war and propaganda. “It contains every possible great American billboard over the last 100 years up to 2005,from Times Square all the way to the Sunset Strip,” Basten said. “I really love the billboards from way back then because they have so much character and originality.” Meanwhile, Basten still works at the Santa Monica Visitors Bureau on Main Street, helping visitors find their way around the town he loves and documents. He has worked four and half years as a supervisor and travel counselor. “It’s a really fun place to work,” he said. “There are great, appreciative people.”Basten is currently working full-time on three new books. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/021907-04_01.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/021907-04_02.jpg) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 19, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/021907.pdf?ref=smdp.com)