BOOK AN L.A. ADVENTURE

THE AUTHORS OF FIVE NEW NOVELS SET IN AND AROUND THE CITY TAKE US BEHIND THE SCENES AND DISH ON WHERE THEY LIKE TO HANG OUT.

- DIANE GARRETT

THIS SUMMER, I read my way around Los Angeles and highly recommend the experience.

There were plenty of freshly published L.A. novels to dive into: My literary journey began in pre-Eaton fire Altadena (“Bug Hollow”) and ended in a rundown Hollywood mansion crawling with influ-encers (“If You're Seeing This, It’s Meant for You”); other novels transported me to West Adams Heights post-World War II (“The Great Mann”), Laurel Canyon of the mid-’60s (“L.A. Women”), contemporary Glendale (“The Payback”) and, farthest afield, Salton Sea (“Salt Bones”). And while the novels varied greatly, each was engagingly local. The familiar L.A.-ness of narratives populated with malls, dreamers and celebrities real and fictionalized added to those books’ appeal, while others set in less familiar (to me) communities enriched my understanding of the area.

To help you choose your next L.A. literary adventure, we asked five authors to tell us why they set their latest novels in and around SoCal, along with their favorite local spots to visit.

PHOEBE LETTICE THOMPSON

L.A. WOMEN

Ella Berman

The title of this retro novel telegraphs its setting while echoing an earlier work by Eve Babitz, a famous L.A. scenester who contributed to Movieline magazine when I worked there decades ago, though as a newcomer to the city I did not appreciate it then. Berman’s novel centers on two women: Frenemies — reminiscent of Joan Didion and Babitz— circle each other in the Laurel Canyon creative scene during the mid-’60s to early-’70s, navigating relationships with rock stars and visits to the Troubadour and Chateau Marmont as the free love vibe begins to sour.