Found on EBay – Louis Adamic on Los Angeles

facts_you_should_know_blue_book_752

A copy of Little Blue Book No. 752 has been listed on EBay. The Haldeman-Julius publication “Facts You Should Know About California” contains Louis Adamic’s “The Bright Side of Los Angeles” and “Paganism in Los Angeles,” plus Walter Watrous’ “Behind the Scenes in Los Angeles.”

As I noted in another post when the Daily Mirror was at latimes.com:

At his best, Adamic is a keen observer and in his essay “The Bright Side of Los Angeles,” he describes riding on horseback through the Hollywood Hills as a fire lookout.

“Every so often I rode on the night watch, which I preferred to the day shift. I used to like to ride or lead my horse to the crest of Mount Hollywood and from there watch the myriad lights below and listen to the remote rumble of traffic. There was, at that distance, something vaguely fascinating, beautiful almost, in that confusion of lights, in those flashing signs and advertisements, in those streams and rivulets of motor headlights on the boulevards; a rhythm in the distant roar of the city as it reached my ears; and down at San Pedro harbor the battleships had frequent searchlight drills, making the sky to the south gay and fantastic with long, slender shafts of white light. Toward midnight, the noise gradually subsided until there came to me but a faint murmur that remained unchanged for several hours, that at times I could not hear it at all. There was a charm to the city in the distance at night.”

Bidding on the booklet starts at $2.19 or Buy It Now for $5.99.

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times
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