Four Views of Los Angeles

Seriously, I think 99 out of a hundred books written about my city fall into one or more of these modes. And Francesca Lia Block is the only person who writes in the fourth mode.

1. The Santa Ana bore the piss-honey scent of jacaranda blossoms past the baited hook of the Hollywood sign, past the boulevard of star-shaped plastic dreams, and paused briefly in the nostrils of Black Dahlia before it was snorted out as she was hacked in two.

2. The shattered remains of skyscrapers, brought low by the Big One that everyone knew was coming but no one looked up from their perusal of Variety to prepare for, will find their final destiny as scaffolding for hives of killer bees-- a monument to a city's towering hubris.

3. L'il Snoop-Snoop tucked his gun into the waistband of his low-riding, baggy pants as he surveyed his graffiti-scrawled kingdom. After he sold his last rock, he thought, he'd have dinner at Chili's. After all, it was his eleventh birthday.

4. Weetzie twirled in ecstatic circles, scattering fairy dust she'd bought at the little store that sold plastic jacaranda drink twirlers and little hopping wind up sushi toys and Thai comic books and other cool stuff, twirling and twirling until she collapsed in a heap on her bed, and the wrappers from Oki-Dog's new vegan burrito fluttered gently to the floor.

Four Views of Los Angeles

Seriously, I think 99 out of a hundred books written about my city fall into one or more of these modes. And Francesca Lia Block is the only person who writes in the fourth mode.

1. The Santa Ana bore the piss-honey scent of jacaranda blossoms past the baited hook of the Hollywood sign, past the boulevard of star-shaped plastic dreams, and paused briefly in the nostrils of Black Dahlia before it was snorted out as she was hacked in two.

2. The shattered remains of skyscrapers, brought low by the Big One that everyone knew was coming but no one looked up from their perusal of Variety to prepare for, will find their final destiny as scaffolding for hives of killer bees-- a monument to a city's towering hubris.

3. L'il Snoop-Snoop tucked his gun into the waistband of his low-riding, baggy pants as he surveyed his graffiti-scrawled kingdom. After he sold his last rock, he thought, he'd have dinner at Chili's. After all, it was his eleventh birthday.

4. Weetzie twirled in ecstatic circles, scattering fairy dust she'd bought at the little store that sold plastic jacaranda drink twirlers and little hopping wind up sushi toys and Thai comic books and other cool stuff, twirling and twirling until she collapsed in a heap on her bed, and the wrappers from Oki-Dog's new vegan burrito fluttered gently to the floor.