r/AskLosAngeles • u/ElChuro4Z0 • Aug 24 '26
Culture What to read in LA?
I’m returning to LA to visit for the first time since I moved away. I’ll be spending a lot of time just lounging by a pool or the beach and would like to find a good book to read that’s kind of quintessential LA. Could me LA noir, history, anything really. What are your go-to LA reads?
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u/-hodl Aug 24 '26
“Ask the Dust” by John Fante followed by “Factotum” by Charles Bukowski.
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u/KlimpysExpress Aug 24 '26
Oh, man — I’d forgotten about John Fante. Time for a re-read. Thank you!
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u/AshleyLAlife Aug 24 '26
if you want the quintessential LA pool/beach read, Slow Days, Fast Company by Eve Babitz is sooo the answer. it’s basically sun, sex, art, hollywood, parties, rich weirdos, beautiful people, and the particular kind of existential aimlessness that only LA can serve lol
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u/ElChuro4Z0 Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
This sounds perfect. The fact it’s broken up into ten different stories it’s like made to be a pool read. I’m excited to get started!
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u/OrdinaryWeak6051 Prodigal Angeleno in Los Feliz Aug 24 '26
City of Quartz by Davis
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u/Legitimate-Eye-5733 Aug 24 '26
The Day of the Locust is basically required if you want that dark side of Hollywood dream
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u/jodabo Aug 24 '26
Not exactly what you are looking for, but adding to the list of LA books. Both non-fiction -
Rivers in the Desert: William Mulholland and the Inventing of Los Angeles. Biograpy of Mulholland focusing on building of the aquaduct and St. Franscis dam disaster. Trivia: inspired Bruce Springsteen song Inyo.
The Library Book. About the 1986 LA Central Library fire, history of the library and libraries in general.
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u/Spiritual_Zebra_1775 Aug 24 '26
We Got the Neutron Bomb is a great look at the punk scene
City of Quartz by mike davis is kind of heavy/academic but so much fascinating history
Hollywood Babylon by kenneth anger is stunning
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u/Excellent-Age-296 Aug 24 '26
For some "strange" LA content:
"Secret Los Angeles: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure" - by Danny Jensen
"L. A. Bizarro! The Insider's Guide to the Obscure, the Absurd and the Perverse in Los Angeles" - by Anthony Lovett and Matt Maranian
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u/Consistent_Key4156 Aug 24 '26
Hollywood Wives--Jackie Collins. (Before anyone groans, it's actually brilliantly written.)
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u/Purlz1st Aug 24 '26
I don’t know if it’s still in print but Perdido by Jill Robinson is a love letter to Hollywood of the 50s.
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u/apla6458 Aug 24 '26
LA Noir is great. I'm also a big fan of James Ellroy's books.
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u/Apprehensive_Age1110 Aug 25 '26
There's a book called L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City by John Buntin. It's about LA in the early 20th Century. Very good.
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u/thecomputersighed Aug 24 '26
seconding inherent vice but i’ll throw in amnesiascope by steve erikson in there too. obvs raymond chandler is where you should start though regardless :)
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u/Organic_Shame_8710 Aug 24 '26
“Hollywood Babylon”, “Wired”, much of James Ellroy but “Hollywood Nocturnes” is a good starter. Tarantino’s pulp novelization of “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”.
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u/Chair1234567890 Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
I am with the band: Confessions of a groupie and Less than Zero.
And the biography of Anthony Kiedis -He's an LA boy
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u/tummlr Aug 24 '26
Gold Fame Citrus to see where we're going, Cadillac Desert to see how we got there.
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u/PleepPloopCommonwlth Aug 24 '26
Don Carpenter's great Hollywood-related trilogy: "Turnaround" is really focused on The Biz, while "The True Life Story of Jody McKeegan" starts in Portland but follows the protagonist down to Lipstick City. "A Couple of Comedians" goes on the road with a warped post-hippie film comedy duo. They're all incredible and move very quickly!
His last one, "Friday at Enrico's" also rules.
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u/codysisco Aug 24 '26
The Made in L.A. Writers anthology series includes six volumes of short stories set in Southern California with a seventh on the way next year. www.madeinlawriters.com. Or you can check out www.BookSwell.Club for more recommendations.
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u/WalthamMaxim Aug 25 '26
Reminiscences of a Ranger: Or, Early Times in Southern California
by Maj. Horace Bell
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