I'm looking for some reference books or web sites about LA and life in
LA. I'm mostly looking for:
- Books describing the lifestyle, customs, atmospheres;
- The neighborhoods, social categories, habits; 
- Not focussing only on touristic venues (I'm interested in the life
of the locals, not in tourism);
- Rather fun to read (I don't mind long and complicated texts and
figures, but I don't want endless charts of statistics with no
context!!)
- Photographs and maps are much appreciated.

I'm looking for references that would enable me to learn about the
city in general, enabling me to feel what's it's like to be a local.
So I'm not definitely not looking for tourist guides, which say next
to nothing about the life. I'd rather be looking for monographs about
LA, for example, if such things exist.

I have next to no experience of the city.

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Clarification of Question by killerwhale9-ga on 23 May 2006 05:57 PDT

I meant "I'm definitely NOT looking for tourist guides" (two "not"
where there should be one)

Hello again killerwhale9-ga,

I h ad so much fun answering your other question about Los Angeles
that I couldn?t resist researching your new question. Below I?ve
provided you with an eclectic collection of books (and a few articles
and blogs) about Los Angeles. They?re not in any particular order. I
suggest that you browse through them and choose what you like. I trust
that there is sufficient variety here to meet your needs.

Enjoy! 

~ czh ~


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1931082278/102-4105004-5056906?v=glance&n=283155
Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology 

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0872863913/ref=pd_bxgy_img_b/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8
Another City : Writing from Los Angeles (Paperback) 
by David L. Ulin (Editor)

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http://www.danagioia.net/books/anthologies/misread.htm
The Misread City: New Literary Los Angeles

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0874176034/ref=pd_sim_b_4/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
Imagining Los Angeles: A City in Fiction (Western Literature Series) (Paperback) 
by David M. Fine

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520205308/ref=pd_sim_b_4/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
Los Angeles A to Z: An Encyclopedia of the City and County (Paperback) 
by Leonard Pitt, Dale Pitt 

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312290608/ref=pd_bxgy_img_b/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8
Resident Tourist: Los Angeles (Paperback) 
by Kelly Mayfield, Chuck Mindenhall, Aaron Fontana

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0912301600/ref=pd_sim_b_5/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
Newcomer's Handbook For Moving To And Living In Los Angeles: Including
Santa Monica, Pasadena, Orange County, And The San Fernando Valley
(Newcomer's Handbooks) (Paperback)
by Joan Wai 

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801865069/ref=pd_sim_b_3/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
The Reluctant Metropolis: The Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles (Paperback) 
by William Fulton

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679738061/ref=pd_sim_b_1/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
City of Quartz : Excavating the Future in Los Angeles (Vintage) (Paperback) 
by Mike Davis

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375706070/ref=pd_bxgy_text_b/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8
Ecology of Fear : Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster
(Vintage) (Paperback)
by Mike Davis

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/185984328X/ref=pd_sim_b_2/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the US Big City (Paperback) 
by Mike Davis

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520219244/ref=pd_sim_b_3/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies (Paperback) 
by Reyner Banham

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1586853082/ref=pd_sim_b_2/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles (Paperback) 
by Robert Winter, David Gebhard

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520240006/ref=pd_sim_b_3/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
The Next Los Angeles : The Struggle for a Livable City (Paperback) 
by Robert Gottlieb, Regina Freer, Mark Vallianatos, Peter Dreier

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1859841759/ref=pd_sim_b_4/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory
(Haymarket Series) (Paperback)
by Norman M. Klein

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312292899/ref=pd_sim_b_4/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
Unmasking L.A.: Third Worlds & the City (Paperback) 
by Deepak Narang Sawhney (Editor)

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0871549026/ref=pd_sim_b_2/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
Ethnic Los Angeles (Paperback) 
by Roger Waldinger (Editor)

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http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/ref=s_sf_b_as/102-4105004-5056906
221 results for los angeles culture

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http://www.believermag.com/issues/200604/?read=article_price
THIRTEEN WAYS OF SEEING NATURE IN L.A.

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http://www.slate.com/id/2085041/
L.A. Without a Map
Has the American literary imagination gotten Los Angeles wrong?

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http://www.laobserved.com/index.html
LA Observed is a website devoted to reporting, linkage and comment on
Los Angeles and Southern California, with a focus on media?old and
new, and the people who create both?plus Los Angeles news, politics,
books and culture. History, architecture, geography, sports, weather
and other subjects sometimes creep in.

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/booksmags/chi-0605050390may07,1,5770608.story?coll=chi-leisurebooks-hed
A journey toward redemption for a lonely Angeleno
This Book Will Save Your Life By A.M. Homes

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http://blogging.la/
Written from the perspective of people who live, work, and play here
every day, Los Angeles is one of over forty five (and growing) blogs
in the globe-spanning Metroblogging network.

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http://lavoice.org/
CULTURE : DRIVE : ENVIRONMENT : MEDIA : NEIGHBORHOODS : POWER : L.A.VISION :



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SEARCH STRATEGY
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"writing about" "los angeles" OR la
Amazon search for < Los Angeles >

A perfect answer! Thank you very much! :-)