How a French Ph.D. dissertation became a Southern California beach read

Originally from Paris, Elsa Devienne spent a year studying at UCLA in the late ‘00s. With a gig as a dog sitter in Santa Monica, she had affordable rent and the chance to visit the local beaches.

“I remember, first of all, being wowed by this incredible landscape, the beauty of the Pacific Ocean,” Devienne, now based in Manchester, U.K., recalls on a recent video call. But she says the heavily built-up areas around the beaches “shocked” her. “You could find parking lots, freeways, houses...