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The Notebook on Cities and Culture Guide to Los Angeles

NCC Guide to Los Angeles small

Literature:

History:

  • Glen Creason, Los Angeles Public Library Map Librarian and author of Los Angeles in Maps
  • Nathan Masters, writer on the history of Los Angeles and representative of Los Angeles as Subject for KCET and Los Angeles magazine
  • D.J. Waldie, author of Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir and Where We Are Now: Notes from Los Angeles, and for 34 years the City of Lakewood’s as Public Information Officer
  • Chris NicholsLos Angeles magazine associate editor
  • Charles Phoenix, “Ambassador of Americana,” curator of vintage midcentury slides, and author of books like Southern CalifornialandAmericana the Beautiful, and Southern California in the 50s
  • Lynn Garrett, proprietor of popular online community Hidden Los Angeles and fifth-generation Angeleno
  • Matt Novak, author of Paleofuture, the blog that looks into the future that never was

Planning and transit:

  • David C. Sloane, professor at the University of California’s Price School of Public Policy and editor of Planning Los Angeles
  • Donald Shoup, UCLA urban planning professor and author of The High Cost of Free Parking
  • Brigham Yen, Realtor and author of the urban renaissance blog DTLA Rising
  • Tim Halbur, Director of Communications at the Congress for the New Urbanism, and former Managing Editor at Planetizen
  • Doug Suisman, architect, urban designer, and author of Los Angeles Boulevard: Eight X-Rays of the Body Public
  • Ethan Elkind, attorney and researcher on environmental law and author of Railtown: The Fight for the Los Angeles Metro Rail System and the Future of the City
  • Edward Soja, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning at UCLA and author of Postmodern GeographiesThirdspace, and My Los Angeles: From Urban Restructuring to Regional Urbanization
  • Damien Newton, founder of Streetsblog Los Angeles

Architecture and design:

  • Alissa Walker, urbanism editor at Gizmodo and writer on urban design, architecture, and the cityscape — especially of Los Angeles
  • Christopher HawthorneLos Angeles Times architecture critic
  • Frances Anderton, host of KCRW’s Design and Architecture and Dwell magazine’s Los Angeles editor
  • Clive Piercy, founder and principal of design studio air-conditioned and author Pretty Vacant: The Los Angeles Dingbat Observed
  • Carren Jao, Manila- and Los Angeles-based writer on architecture, art, and design
  • Stephen Gee, senior producer at ITV Studios and author of Iconic Vision: John Parkinson, Architect of Los Angeles
  • James Steele, USC School of Architecture professor James and author of Los Angeles Architecture: The Contemporary Condition

Media:

Music:

Film:

  • Karina Longworth, film writer at the L.A. Weekly
  • Thom Andersen, professor at the California Institute of the Arts’ School of Film/Video and creator of the documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself

Food:

Neighborhoods and exploration:

Art:

Los Angeles Review of Books interviews:

  • Anna Stothard, author of the Venice-set novel The Pink Hotel
  • Josh Kun, professor in the USC Annenberg School and co-curator of the Central Library’s “Songs in the Key of Los Angeles”, and City Librarian John Szabo
  • Michael Krikorian, former Los Angeles Times crime reporter and author of the thematically related novel Southside
  • Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight, Bad Sex on Speed, and Happy Mutant Baby Pills
  • Sandra Tsing Loh, author of Depth Takes a Holiday and The Madwoman in the Volvo and host of The Loh Life on KPCC
  • David Grand, author of Mount Terminus, a novel of the birth of Los Angeles
  • Dana Goodyear, journalist, poet, and New Yorker staff writer

Marketplace of Ideas interviews:

  • David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times book writer and author of The Lost Art of Reading [first interview MP3] [second interview MP3]
  • Richard Florida, urban theorist and author of Who’s Your City? [MP3]
  • Michael Silverblatt, host of KCRW’s Bookworm [MP3]
  • John Rabe, host of KPCC’s Off-Ramp [MP3]
  • Luke Fischbeck, founder of Los Angeles experimental music group, art-creation unit, and engine of community Lucky Dragons [MP3]
  • Laurie Ochoa and Joe Donnelly, founding editors of the new Los Angeles literary journal Slake [MP3]
  • Alan Nakagawa, sound, visual, and installation artist, founding member of Los Angeles’ long-running, multi-disciplinary, multi-ethnic arts collective Collage Ensemble, Los Angeles Metro public art executive, and very serious eater indeed [MP3]

Supplementary material: