Sunset (magazine)

American lifestyle magazine

Sunset is a lifestyle magazine in the United States. Sunset focuses on homes, cooking, gardening, and travel, 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. in November 2017 to Regent, a private equity firm led by investor Michael Reinstein.

Sunset began in 1898 as a promotional magazine for the Southern Pacific Railroad, designed to combat the negative "Wild West" stereotypes about California. The Sunset Limited was the premier train on the Southern Pacific Railroad's Sunset Route, which ran between New Orleans and San Francisco (the train is still in operation—from Los Angeles—as part of the national Amtrak 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. The inaugural issue featured an essay about Yosemite, with photographs by noted geologist Joseph LeConte. 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.

On April 18, 1906, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed the Sunset offices. 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, 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 Sunsets 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 published in the magazine, a tired businessman revived himself through a visit to the rebuilt city. Southern Pacific purchased the Portland 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. 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. 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 and The Saturday Evening Post. Sunset reported on heavy political and economic issues; contributors included Stanford president David Starr Jordan discussing international affairs and future U. S. president Herbert Hoover discussing the League of Nations. Fiction and poetry became more ambitious, featuring authors such as Jack London, The magazine became focused toward a female audience. The Lane family would own Sunset for the next 62 years. 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, 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.

Lane Publishing, including Sunset Magazine and books, was sold to Time Warner 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. 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 and Real Simple, 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. and the magazine's outdoor kitchen and test gardens were relocated to Cornerstone Sonoma, a winery in nearby Sonoma County, California. 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.

On November 30, 2017 Time Inc. 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. During the pandemic, the company briefly ceased printing the magazine but returned to print with the December 2020 issue.

Since 1957, Sunsets Western Home Awards program, cosponsored by the American Institute of Architects, has introduced readers to works by Richard Neutra, Charles Moore, Frank Gehry, and Calvin C. Straub, among other notables.

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. It is part of the "Idea House" program, originally launched in 1998.

Sunset's commentary has contributed to the debate on natural features including the Mojave Desert, the Tongass National Forest 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.