Paperback LA Book 1 is a surprising and witty collection of some of the best writing about Los Angeles. In this first of four volumes of Paperback LA anthologies, there are more than a dozen major selections include new work and fresh discoveries: a radio broadcast, a ballad, a magazine article, excerpts from prizewinning novels and memoirs. The written pieces are punctuated by three eye-opening photo essays, a quotable lineup of one-liners, and some short, quick hits. Contributors are: Eve Babitz • Paul Beatty • Dan Bern • Arna Bontemps • Carlos Bulosan • Cecil Castelucci • Victoria Dailey • William Heath Davis • Robert Landau • Justin Andrew Marks • Steve Martin • Hugo Reid • Vin Scully • Susan Sontag • Clancy Sigel • Hector Tobar • Victor and Mary Lau Valle •
Elysa Voshell/Venice Arts.

Paperback LA’s contributors have attitude, and they have information. Each work illuminates some aspect of the city’s rich, spread-out reality—in settings that range from a 1920s rural dance pavilion to 1960s Dodger Stadium, with subject matter that sprawls from bookselling to bodysurfing.