Comments on: Take me to LA

Question: Take me to LA

litleozy — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 03:10:11 -0800

What films, songs and books should I see/hear/read to get a feel for LA?

I'm going to be in LA a fair amount this summer, off and on. It's a city I have no real understanding of (other than that's it's got Hollywood) and I'd like some media to build up a picture of what LA's like, what it feels like to people who live there.

I've known London before I even got here because of all the TV shows set here, and Dickens. What should I consume to get the same mental picture of LA?

Just an example, off Frank Ocean's new album 'Channel Orange' there's a song called Sweet Life and it's got the line 'Why see the world/When you've got the beach'. To me, that sums up a piece of LA's beach lifestyle.

By: The ____ of Justice

The ____ of Justice — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 03:16:25 -0800

You need to have your windows rolled down and listen to Randy Newman's "I Love L.A." while driving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtDhtadoeUk

I grew up in the Southland most of my life. I always thought this song captured L.A. perfectly, right down to the description of the homeless guy.

Ah, Los Angeles.

By: book 'em dano

book 'em dano — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 03:31:13 -0800

I always thought White Oleander did a good job (in its own slightly overwrought way) of capturing all the different places that make up L.A.: from Venice Beach to San Fernando Valley and so on.

By: julthumbscrew

julthumbscrew — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 03:31:48 -0800

Francesca Lia Block's "Weetzie Bat". It's young adult magical realism, and the entire thing reads like a torrid love letter to L.A.

By: j1950

j1950 — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 03:49:15 -0800

Chinatown.

By: j1950

j1950 — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 03:49:59 -0800

Also, Swingers.

By: Room 641-A

Room 641-A — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 04:22:37 -0800

A narrow slice of my experiences and influences growing up L.A.:

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession

Dogtown and Z-Boys

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

The Player

Dead Boys: Stories by Richard Lange

By: Multicellular Exothermic

Multicellular Exothermic — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 04:31:37 -0800

LA Story

By: pete_22

pete_22 — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 04:36:15 -0800

Older movies: Sunset Boulevard, in a lonely place

"the french inhaler" and many other warren zevon songs

"Come a long way" by Michelle Shocked

(sorry no links, on phone)

By: BoyBlunder85

BoyBlunder85 — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 04:45:16 -0800

You should read Anthony Kiedis' biography Scar Tissue.

It's a great biography set mostly in LA.

By: xingcat

xingcat — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 04:47:56 -0800

Though it's much derided, Lana DelRay's "Video Games" music video perfectly captures, for me, the oddness of what early evening on a hot night in LA feels like.

By: THAT William Mize

THAT William Mize — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 04:55:59 -0800

Friedkin's To Live And Die in LA.

Here's Wang Chung's great theme song.

By: Multicellular Exothermic

Multicellular Exothermic — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 05:00:43 -0800

I also recommend The Player. A lot of the conversation takes place in cafes and restaurants. Notice how Tim Robbins orders a different brand of bottled water in each one.

By: El Sabor Asiatico

El Sabor Asiatico — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 05:06:05 -0800

Some stuff that I think captures the non-showbiz side of L.A.:

Jackie Brown

Friday

Factotum (and Charles Bukowski's writings in general)

Repo Man

The Big Lebowski

By: El Sabor Asiatico

El Sabor Asiatico — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 05:12:49 -0800

Oh, and on the more showbiz-y side, Free Enterprise -- although it's mostly about a pair of science fiction geeks, for me it totally captured the feel of being a young single guy in West L.A. It would probably make a good double feature with Swingers.

By: Rewind

Rewind — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 05:31:17 -0800

It's a fantastic film (albeit a little dated and long), but I always thought the movie Heat captured Los Angeles quite well. You often hear of the idea of a city playing a role or a character in a particular film, and I think that's very much the case here.

By: Rewind

Rewind — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 05:34:49 -0800

Also - in terms of reading material have you seen this thread, and particularly this comment?

By: effluvia

effluvia — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 05:47:07 -0800

I'm going to add in Valley Girl by Frank Zappa.

By: effluvia

effluvia — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 05:50:16 -0800

Addenda: Reyner Banham, Architecture of the Four Ecologies.

By: Ruthless Bunny

Ruthless Bunny — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 05:52:35 -0800

I'm going to go old school and say read Raymond Chandler.

By: jvilter

jvilter — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:06:55 -0800

Southland on TNT. It's quite grim but filmed on the streets. As much as I love it, keep in mind that it's only one degree of 360 of an amazing city/county/state.

By: jabes

jabes — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:18:31 -0800

Somewhere

By: safetyfork

safetyfork — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:19:40 -0800

city of quartz by mike davis

By: something something

something something — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:30:41 -0800

I loved James Frey's novel Bright Shiny Morning. I know, James Frey. But try it.

By: something something

something something — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:31:30 -0800

Oh, and Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch books are great too.

By: SMPA

SMPA — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:35:03 -0800

"Volcano" was a pretty terrible movie, but it does give you a good chance to see a hefty chunk of LA geography. I also hear that geology and civil engineering nerds use it effectively for drinking games, so.

By: Perplexity

Perplexity — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:36:06 -0800

Seconding James Frey / Bright Shiny Morning.

By: PussKillian

PussKillian — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:42:10 -0800

HoneyHoney's song LA River

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:59:50 -0800

L.A. Confidential

By: corey flood

corey flood — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:03:15 -0800

The Los Angeles/Wild Gift album compilation by X.

By: rabbitsnake

rabbitsnake — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:20:52 -0800

For a surreal version of LA, try David Lynch's Mulholland Drive or any of Steve Erickson's novels .

By: beaucoupkevin

beaucoupkevin — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:27:23 -0800

Collateral.

By: askmehow

askmehow — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:35:49 -0800

Kiss kiss bang bang
Short cuts (the Robert Altman movie based on Raymond Chandler's book)

By: Room 641-A

Room 641-A — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:40:43 -0800

corey flood: "The Los Angeles/Wild Gift album compilation by X"

I'll second this and also suggest the documentary The Decline of Western Civilization.

SNL sketch The Californians (15 second ad before the video)

By: litleozy

litleozy — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:59:08 -0800

Damn. Daaaaaaaaaaamn. The suggestions here are perfect, absolutely what I was looking for.

Thanks a lot for this, really really thanks.

By: brujita

brujita — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:09:55 -0800

James M. Cain's Mildred Pierce. The recent miniseries is faithful to the book, but was shot on the east coast.

By: tulseluper

tulseluper — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:19:38 -0800

Thom Andersen's Los Angeles Plays Itself is a must. You may appreciate it more after you know the city a bit more. But wow.

By: lovableiago

lovableiago — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:28:48 -0800

Californication (the Santa Monica-centric David Duchovny show on Showtime--although I guess you could also listen to the Red Hot Chili Peppers album of the same name!)

By: fishmasta

fishmasta — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:33:38 -0800

I thought Greenberg had a pretty accurate feeling of the city.

By: Rash

Rash — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:33:44 -0800

Raymond Chandler's Farewell My Lovely

The Day of the Locust (both the book, and movie) and

Kem Nunn's Tapping the Source (which is technically Orange County, but from the outsider's perspective, it's all LA, and this book was one of the catalysts for my own move to the Southland.)

By: askmehow

askmehow — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:35:58 -0800

Short cuts the movie is based on short stories by Raymond Carver not Chandler- big difference and I often confuse the 2 when speaking/typing

By: Rash

Rash — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:36:40 -0800

Also, someone upthread mentioned Repo Man, paired with
Suburbia, a perfect LA punk-rock double feature.

By: roger ackroyd

roger ackroyd — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:55:00 -0800

Beginners does a great job capturing a lovely little square mile of gay/straight/artsy/dog-loving Silver Lake.

By: Room 641-A

Room 641-A — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 09:22:42 -0800

For years and years Huell Howser has had a number of L.A and SoCal travel shows on PBS. (He's a local legend, and has even been on The Simpsons twice.) He covers everything under the sun, from the historic to the quirky and would be just about the best L.A. tour guide I could think of.

To get you started, here is a YT link to an episode he did about The Apple Pan restaurant (another L.A. Legend.) From there you should be able to find tons and tons more links about the city and surrounding area.

(Sorry for the extra post, but it was for Huell!)

By: scody

scody — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 09:35:02 -0800

Essential listening: the first three or four X albums (Los Angeles, Wild Gift, Under the Big Black Sun, More Fun in the New World), plus their documentary, The Unheard Music (rereleased last year for its 25h anniversary).

By: arco

arco — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 09:45:32 -0800

Thirding Swingers. I loved that movie the first time I saw it, but I saw it again a few years later (after I had actually visited LA) and so many of the little things in the movie made more sense. For example, when they enter a party there's a moment where everything stops while everyone at the party sizes up the newcomers (and vice versa) to see if there's anyone of interest in the group. That made so much more sense to me after being in LA.

The finest LA song, IMHO, is "In California" by Neko Case.

If you can track down a copy of the documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself (it may be on Youtube, but I don't know if that's the complete thing), definitely watch it. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Finally, a few hours playing LA Noire might be a fun history lesson. The game is ultimately disappointing, but you do get a strong sense of what the city was once like.

By: El Sabor Asiatico

El Sabor Asiatico — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 10:24:16 -0800

Seconding arco above -- kind of funny, but LA Noire and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas work really well to give you a (condensed, but broadly accurate) sense of L.A. geography and landmarks, and where neighborhoods are in relationship to each other, since you spend so much time just driving around. I'm really hoping some future game will just be a block-by-block recreation of the entire L.A./Orange County region.

By: conrad53

conrad53 — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 11:58:19 -0800

The White Album by Joan Didion. See also "Slouching Towards Bethlehem."

By: El Sabor Asiatico

El Sabor Asiatico — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:43:27 -0800

More Orange County than L.A., but Sublime's "Garden Grove" and "Waiting For My Ruca" totally capture the area vibe for me.

By: effluvia

effluvia — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 13:39:39 -0800

Cadillac Desert treats LA's water issues. Ken Starr's brother, Kevin Starr is a major historian on California and Los Angeles.

The Samuel P Huntington Library and the Bowers Museum both have historical holdings on Los Angeles from very early to present. Photos, documents, etc.

By: jvilter

jvilter — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 15:18:32 -0800

The Elvis Cole and Joe Pike books by Robert Crais are set in LA (most of them), and paint a pretty accurate picture.

By: TheSecretDecoderRing

TheSecretDecoderRing — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 22:16:21 -0800

"Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers?

By: betweenthebars

betweenthebars — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 22:18:50 -0800

I was going to recommend Locas, but it looks like it's out of print.

Holy Land: a Suburban Memoir

The Loved One

Altman's version of The Long Goodbye

By: rahulrg

rahulrg — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 06:54:40 -0800

Sunset Boulevard
Rebel without a Cause
The Player
Mulholland Drive
Drive

By: SisterHavana

SisterHavana — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 20:57:55 -0800

Less Than Zero (the book, not the movie)