This summer, I read my way around Los Angeles and highly recommend the experience.<\/p>\n
There were plenty of freshly published L.A. novels to dive into: My literary journey began in pre-Eaton fire Altadena (\u201cBug Hollow<\/a>\u201d) and ended in a run-down Hollywood mansion crawling with influencers (\u201cIf You\u2019re Seeing This, It\u2019s Meant for You\u201d); other novels transported me to West Adams Heights post-World War II (\u201cThe Great Mann<\/a>\u201d), Laurel Canyon of the mid-\u201960s (\u201cL.A. Women<\/a>\u201d), contemporary Glendale (\u201cThe Payback<\/a>\u201d) and, farthest afield, Salton Sea (\u201cSalt Bones<\/a>\u201d). And while the novels varied greatly, each was engagingly local. The familiar L.A.-ness of narratives populated with malls, dreamers and celebrities real and fictionalized added to those books\u2019 appeal, while others set in less familiar (to me) communities enriched my understanding of the area.<\/p>\n To help you choose your next L.A. literary adventure, we asked five authors to tell us why they set their latest novels in and around SoCal, along with their favorite local spots to visit. <\/p>\n (Phoebe Lettice Thompson)<\/p>\n \u2018L.A. Women\u2019Ella Berman<\/p>\n The title of this retro novel<\/a> telegraphs its setting while echoing an earlier work by Eve Babitz, a famous L.A. scenester who contributed to Movieline magazine when I worked there decades ago, though as a newcomer to the city I did not appreciate it then. Berman\u2019s novel centers on two, rather than one, woman: A pair of frenemies \u2014 reminiscent of Joan Didion and Babitz<\/a> \u2014 circle each other in the Laurel Canyon creative scene during the mid-\u201960s to early-\u201970s, navigating relationships with rock stars and visits to the Troubadour and Chateau Marmont as the free love vibe begins to sour.<\/p>\n Why L.A.? <\/b>\u201cThis story couldn\u2019t have been set anywhere other than Los Angeles,\u201d says Berman. \u201cThe central relationships, conflict and emotional stakes are all a product of this beautiful city during this period of cultural upheaval.\u201d To get the period details straight, she relied on a friend \u201cwho had lived in Hollywood since the late 1950s,\u201d writing the first chapter from a hotel room in West Hollywood after lunch with her. \u201cLater, I walked up to the Canyon Country Store immortalized by Jim Morrison in \u2018Love Street\u2019 and I felt a sense of wonder for the ghosts of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n Fave hangout spots: <\/b>\u201cI love anywhere that feels like I\u2019m time traveling so a classic margarita at Casa Vega, the eggplant parmigiana at Dan Tana\u2019s, a show in the close-up gallery of the Magic Castle or a martini at Musso & Frank\u2019s always deliver,\u201d says Berman, who also loves to browse the Rose Bowl Flea Market for midcentury treasures and vintage band T-shirts.<\/p>\n Once a Hollywood costume designer, Jada is working in an unspecified mall that seems suspiciously like the Glendale Galleria when Cauley\u2019s novel<\/a> begins, but that job doesn\u2019t last either. Sticky fingered and bogged down with college debt, she ends up recording ASMR videos to make money while fleeing the debt police \u2014 until she and her pals come up with a scheme to erase their financial woes. The storyline will surely resonate among those saddled with their own college debt or just feeling pinched by rising costs at the grocery store.<\/p>\n Why Glendale?<\/b> \u201cI wanted my main character, Jada, to feel truly kicked out of Hollywood, as she is,\u201d the writer with credits on \u201cThe Daily Show With Trevor Noah\u201d explains. \u201cSo part of me was like, well, where\u2019s the farthest place, vibe-wise, you can get from Hollywood, and still, in Jada\u2019s case, feel very L.A., and the Glendale Galleria fit.\u201d Cauley much prefers the Galleria to the Americana and says fellow transplant Jada feels the same.<\/p>\n Favorite spot:<\/b> \u201cThese days I\u2019ve been hanging out at Taqueria Frontera in Cypress Park because I\u2019m unable to fight my massive addiction to their carne asada queso-taco. It\u2019s perfect. The meat is tender and just the right amount of salty. The cheese is present without being overwhelming. It comes with a handsome scoop of quality guac and a charming green salsa,\u201d she says. \u201cBut also the restaurant itself is a vibe. It feels more outdoor than indoor because of a big row of stools out front that\u2019s alongside the kitchen. And it attracts a large, laid-back crowd that feels like a party.\u201d<\/p>\n Far from L.A.\u2019s suburban sprawl, a Salton Sea butcher is haunted by the disappearance of girls in a novel<\/a> suffused in Latina and Indigenous cultures. The water that once sustained the community is horribly polluted and younger characters dream of escape; Mal, the mother of two daughters, is visited by a shapeshifter in her dreams. A book for fans of mysteries and magical realism, it illuminates the environmental hazards of agrifarming in Southern California.<\/p>\n Why Salton Sea?<\/b> Growing up in the area, her mother warned her that the water was poisonous. \u201cWe could smell for ourselves the fish die-offs, the weeks-long stink of toxic algal blooms,\u201d she says. Visiting later, Givhan heard from a friend that the Salton Sea was drying up and releasing toxic chemicals like arsenic from decades of pesticide runoff and \u201cbecame increasingly concerned about the fate of the place that raised me.\u201d When activists encountered apathy from Sacramento politicians, \u201cI knew I had to tell this story,\u201d she says. \u201cMy soapbox may have been slippery, but people tend to love murder mysteries. So I wrapped my heart in one.\u201d<\/p>\n Fave SoCal spots:<\/b> \u201cAnything by the water; I love hanging out on the beach and eating tacos. As I write in all of my novels, the water haunts me,\u201d Givhan observes. \u201cMany of the pages of \u2018Salt Bones\u2019 were drafted while we were living in Chula Vista and making trips back to the Salton Sea and surrounding communities for research. I started this novel at Imperial Beach, where we couldn\u2019t go into the water because of the sewage problem and the signs warning No Nadar! Then I moved to Coronado Beach. On the way onto the peninsula, we\u2019d stop at a great little burrito place for breakfast burritos, and I\u2019d haul my portable typewriter to a picnic bench, set it up with the ocean spread before me and start tapping away.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in Hollywood, influencers have set up shop in a crumbling mansion with an infamous past, desperate to go viral; the owners of the property are looking for sponsorship money to pay for its repairs. In steps photographer turned entertainment journalist Dayna, who gets dumped on Reddit in humiliating fashion as the book opens. Stein\u2019s novel<\/a>, in case that description does not make clear, has much to say about Hollywood, social media and the creator economy; at its heart is a gothic horror story wrapped up in a mystery with satirical undertones.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\u2018The Payback\u2019Kashana Cauley<\/p>\n
\u2018Salt Bones\u2019Jennifer Givhan<\/p>\n
\u2018If You\u2019re Seeing This, It\u2019s Meant for You\u2019Leigh Stein<\/p>\n