Dear Los Angeles : the city in diaries and letters 1542 to 2018
(Book)

Includes index.

"David Kipen scoured the archives of libraries, historical societies, and private estates to assemble a kaleidoscopic view of Los Angeles from the Spanish missionary expeditions in the 1500s to the present day. These entries are arranged by date--January 1 through December 31--but are selected from more than three centuries of writing by those living in, or visiting, Los Angeles. Thus the entry for January 21, for example, will have an excerpt from Benjamin Hayes in 1850, F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1938, Charlton Heston in 1957, John Lennon in 1974, and a blogger in 2011. In the process, readers get a wonderful glimpse of life in this city through the ages. Profound, historical, whimsical, this rich mix of letters and diary entries marking each day of the year offers intimate flashes of life in Los Angeles over the past four centuries."--Provided by publisher.

"A rich mosaic of diary entries and letters from Marilyn Monroe, Cesar Chavez, Susan Sontag, Albert Einstein, and many more, this is the story of Los Angeles as told by locals, transplants, and some just passing through. The City of Angels has played a distinct role in the hearts, minds, and imaginations of millions of people, who see it as the ultimate symbol of the American Dream. David Kipen, a cultural historian and avid scholar of Los Angeles, has scoured libraries, archives, and private estates to assemble a kaleidoscopic view of a truly unique city. From the Spanish missionary expeditions in the early 1500s to the Golden Age of Hollywood to the strange new world of social media, this collection is a slice of life in L.A. through the years. The pieces are arranged by date--January 1st to December 31st--featuring selections from different decades and centuries. What emerges is a vivid tapestry of insights, personal discoveries, and wry observations that together distill the essence of the city. As sprawling and magical as the city itself, Dear Los Angeles is a fascinating, must-have collection for everyone in, from, or touched by Southern California."--Dust jacket.

"With excerpts from the writing of Ray Bradbury, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Octavia E. Butler, Italo Calvino, Winston Churchill, Noël Coward, Simone De Beauvoir, James Dean, T. S. Eliot, William Faulkner, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Richard Feynman, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Allen Ginsberg, Dashiell Hammett, Charlton Heston , Zora Neale Hurston, Christopher Isherwood, John Lennon, H. L. Mencken, Anaïs Nin, Sylvia Plath, Ronald Reagan, Joan Rivers, James Thurber, Dalton Trumbo, Evelyn Waugh, Tennessee Williams, P. G. Wodehouse, and many more"--Back of dust jacket.