In case you haven't read it..."City of Quartz" by Mike Davis is one of the best books about L.A.

hah - I added to my page after you wrote that comment! But before I received word of your suggestion. So they we are - crossing the same signal.

You need to get out and experience some of LA for yourself.

A few things to do:

Visit the La Brea Tar Pits
Eat lunch at Philippes
See a show at the Whisky
Hike in Griffith Park
See the Japanese Garden at the Huntington Library
Visit Catalina Island

Once you experience a little of LA, you will have good references to the city when you read about it.

"Maybe I should study the history of this town?"

For an entertaining slice of LA history, rent the excellent film, "Chinatown."

Michael,

I´m gong to be in LA this august and september for vacation, I´m gonna try to do the things at your list, too.

And if they´re good and fun to do, I can reccomend them to Justin then, hahaha.

"I escaped the niggers" by justin. That's what whiteboy is saying. Justin hates the niggers. This white momma's boy has been running from blacks all his life.

Justin's not racist. Some of his best friends are black, didn't you know that?

Seriously, though, I don't think anyone could say that moving to L.A. is an attempt to get away from black people.

I've been finding it hard not to have some sort of larger project to work on. However, when I am working on such projects I feel that I need to get everything done *right away*.

I mean, my first book just came out and I'm already trying to gather info for my second. I didn't honestly I'd try to dive back into the fray so soon -- it's not like I don't have other things to do (family, teaching, grad school, etc.)

So I guess what I'm saying is that it's great to take a breather from big projects and just relax and regroup. (Even if I seem incapable of taking my own advice.)

This one is pretty good:
Holy Land