I grew up in Los Angeles and I have lived here most of my life. My parents moved here in the 1940’s from Brooklyn—my mom when her own mother got a job as a screenwriter and my father to work on films such as FORBIDDEN PLANET, which he co-wrote. My father liked the creative freedom of the west, where the weight of tradition wasn’t omnipresent, as in New York.
Los Angeles has played such a strong role in almost all of my books that people have said it is like a character in its own right, whether as the magical pink smog drenched LA of DANGEROUS ANGELS, the monster and angel populated world of ECHO, the valley wasteland and healing sea in WASTELAND or the city of exploitation and broken dreams I explore in I WAS A TEENAGE FAIRY.
Although LOVE IN THE TIME OF GLOBAL WARMING is set in post-apocalyptic L.A. I did not take any pleasure in writing its destruction. Although there are some aspects of this city that challenge me (freeways, smog, plastic culture) there are so many things I treasure (surrounding mountains, sea and desert, music scene, art scene, literary scene, filmmaking opportunities, new consciousness community, magic secrets). The reason I chose to write about the fall of the city was to process the chaos I was experiencing in my personal life. I used the settings of Venice Beach, the Culver Hotel, Graystone Mansion and LACMA (where I spent every weekend as a child) to show the beauty that exists in my city even when it is under siege.
Dear Los Angeles, I still love you. Sorry I demolished you. But there’s always the possibility of sequels!
With Love,
flb
Question of the Day: What is your favorite city? Why? Do you ever anthropomorphize it? If your city was a person, who would they be?
