Essayist Lynell George muses on California and the two cities—Los Angeles and San Francisco—that own a part of her heart.
Los Angeles
Posted inEditor's Pick
State of Being: Envisioning California
“California, the best of it, is what lives and prospers in a liminal, unnamed space—somewhere between dreams, disappointments, and recalibration.” An essayist describes how California—Los Angeles and San Francisco in particular—moves through you.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Hellish Days in the City of Angels: Michelle Tea on the L.A. Places She Hit Rock Bottom
At Buzzfeed, sober writer Michelle Tea takes readers on a tour of some L.A. establishments where she partied hard in 2001, the year she says she was hitting rock bottom with her addictions.
Posted inNonfiction
Looking for Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles
Tracing Raymond Chandler’s early days in L.A.
Posted inNonfiction, Story
Looking for Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles
Tracing Raymond Chandler’s early days in L.A.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
David Axelrod Could Have Created This Guy in a Laboratory
Andrew Romano writes about Eric Garcetti—the Instagramming, jazz-loving, bilingual Jewish mayor of Los Angeles.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Wild Times of Billy Idol
Before there was pop-punk, there was Billy Idol. More than any other artist of his era, the man born William Broad brought the style and attitude of punk rock into the American mainstream, via massive hits including “White Wedding” and “Rebel Yell.” For this, he was both celebrated and vilified. Fans adored Idol’s bad-boy image […]
Posted inFiction, Quotes
Angela Carter on Myth and Deception in Hollywood
Angela Carter’s short story “The Merchant of Shadows” first appeared in The London Review of Books in 1989. Set in Hollywood, the narrator is a young, male student conducting research on a famed but mysterious director. The story bends and twists, ricocheting between dark comedy, deep camp, and Carter’s signature surreal, Gothic sensibility. Carter was an ardent fan […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
What Separated Los Angeles from Its River?
In the early twentieth century, a booming Los Angeles was separated from the river in three decisive steps. First, an aqueduct was built more than 200 miles north to water to the city from the Sierra Nevada—a move mythologized in the movie Chinatown. Then, the city took control of all water rights on the river. Finally, the […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Garlic, Grilled Chicken and Murder in Los Angeles
In the April 2008 issue of Los Angeles magazine reporter Mark Arax wrote about Los Angeles’ beloved Zankou Chicken chain, and how one owner tore the founding family apart by murdering two of its members and killing himself. The story is a compelling mix of family dynamics, fast food and the complex American dream. It was […]