For a generation, the modern American Dream was born on TV. Midsummer, 1955, the dedication of Disneyland was carried live, Ronald Reagan welcoming children into Frontierland. Women's Home Companion described the theme park as "the closest yet to life-as-we-wish-it-were, combined with life-as-it-is."
Disneyland kicked off a pop-culture campaign crowning the west coast a "magic kingdom"; where all the girls were Gidgets, coupled with endless Beach Boys, surfing, hot-rodding, shining.
The California teen template swept the country, a watershed, and a white-wash. Maybe why so many were surprised at Watts riots, Berkeley protests, and a generation of kids who desperately wanted not to be California.
