LA in Letters

As a relative new resident of Los Angeles, I'm starting to read more books with this city as a backdrop.  As I am also a lover of letters, I was excited to pick up Dear Los Angeles, which is a compilation of letters and diary entries ranging from 1542 to 2018.  The book contains a sweeping array of entries, from both many folks unknown to me, as well as famous writers and thinkers such as MFK Fisher, Christopher Isherwood, Tennessee Williams, Susan Sontag, Eleanor Roosevelt, Anais Nin, and WEB Du Bois.  

One common denominator I noticed is that love it or hate it, throughout the years people have had very strong opinions about this sprawling city!  I also was intrigued to see LA compared to such far flung locales as Egypt, Guatemala, Tehran, and Athens.  

it was also rather frustrating, as some of the passages were extremely short and no context was provided, and many seemed to be written in Los Angeles but were not distinctly about it.  The arrangement in the book in chronological order by day of the year (but not by year) was also disorienting and unsatisfying.  

Here are some passages that caught my eye  Admittedly I only wrote down the author of the statement if it was someone I was familiar with.  

It is unjust that there should be such beauty in such a childish hellhole. (1935)

P.S. You ought to see my rectum!  (1929)

I must say that the profusion of little flower marts along the streets add greatly to the charm of the city.  - Eleanor Roosevelt (1946)

It takes an afternoon to get to Hollywood to buy paper and a typewriter ribbon.  - Anais Nin (1957)

After five, six days, there probably won't be a single Japanese remaining in Los Angeles. -  Aoki Hisa (1942)

This is the most horrible, unreal place in the world, on a dreary curve of the coast, I have rheumatism dreadfully here, and never felt so down-and-out anywhere... - Willa Cather (1929)

If I ever get away, I'll never come within a thousand miles of the place again. (1929)

I can't understand L.A. - It's totally given up its public spaces to the car.  The only places left for meaningful interaction are private areas. - Aaron Paley (1976)

...the expanses of concrete, driving areas, parking lots are incredibly discouraging for the pedestrian. - Aaron Paley (1976)

The town is a horror of ugliness, flat as your hand and crawling with cars.  Nobody dreams of walking anywhere and shops and houses are miles apart.  (1952)

Though I don't remember any earthquakes as a child, just the biting smog, the smog that bit my face and eyes and made me plead not to go downtown.  (2014)

The beauty of the region is so incomparable that even such a hardboiled European as myself can only surrender to it.  (1941)

L.A. has a tendency to drift south and west, as if it was a clean recuperated 3rd world city...Cairo.  (1981)

Los Angeles is no paradise.  The color line is there and simply drawn. - WEB Du Bois (1913)