What do you think?
Rate this book
LAtitudes: An Angeleno's Atlas
This literary and cartographic exploration of Los Angeles reorients our understanding of the city in highly imaginative ways. Illuminated by boldly conceived and artfully rendered maps and infographics, nineteen essays by LA’s most exciting writers reveal complex histories and perspectives of a place notorious for superficiality. This chorus of voices explores wildly different subjects: Cindi Alvitre unveils the indigenous Tongva presence of the Los Angeles Basin; Michael Jaime-Becerra takes us into the smoky, spicy kitchens of a family taquero business in El Monte; Steve Graves traces the cowboy-and-spacemen-themed landscapes of the San Fernando Valley. Overlooked sites and phenomena become apparent: LGBT churches and synagogues, a fabled “Cycleway,” mustachioed golden carp, urban forests, lost buildings, ugly buildings. What has been ignored, such as environmental and social injustice, is addressed with powerful anger and elegiac sadness, and what has been maligned is reexamined with a sense of pride: the city’s freeways, for example, take the shape of a dove when viewed from midair and pulsate with wailing blues, surf rock, and brassy banda.
Inspired by other texts that combine literature and landscape, including Rebecca Solnit’s Infinite City, this book’s juxtapositions make surprising connections and stir up undercurrents of truth. To all those who inhabit, love, or seek to understand Los Angeles, LAtitudes gives meaning and reward.
Inspired by other texts that combine literature and landscape, including Rebecca Solnit’s Infinite City, this book’s juxtapositions make surprising connections and stir up undercurrents of truth. To all those who inhabit, love, or seek to understand Los Angeles, LAtitudes gives meaning and reward.
232 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 2015
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 7, 2017
I'm a fan of that much-maligned city, Los Angeles. When I first went there in 1979, it was probably the case that "there was no 'there' there" as the saying goes.
Certainly there was no real reason to go Downtown, unless you worked in law or for a bank or in government. And then you got the hell back out to the suburbs after 5pm.
Not true any more & LA's vibrancy has returned, or been reinvented.
And, fortunately its history has been & continues to be uncovered and rediscovered.
This book is a fascinating look at LA - Downtown and its suburbs - placing it in historical context.
As a reviewer on Amazon says:
"I feel like I have waited for this book my whole life. For anyone who grew up in L.A., or lived in L.A., or for whatever reason loves L.A., this book is a heartfelt valentine to America's most fascinating metropolis. It delves into architecture, history, geography, agriculture, the environment, and the tangled racial relations of the indigenous Native Americans, the Californios, the Anglo settlers, and the Xican@s, each of which left lasting, if not always evident, imprints on the city and who continue to mold it today.
But LAtitudes is not all serious -- there are whimsical chapters on the history of L.A. radio, sure to inspire sweet nostalgia; there is a detailed map of non-chain Mexican restaurants; and there is even a quick rundown of the urban flora unique to the city.
LAtitudes has something to interest everyone and certainly anyone who has the pleasure of reading this delightful book will experience a number of "ah ha" moments and a deeper appreciation of the L.A. we have lived and loved."
I think my favourite chapter is the search for evidence of a 1930s scheme to build a private, tolled bicycle way linking Downtown to Pasadena. It encapsulates the entrepreneurial boosterism which has accompanied this city and led to the best and the worst it has to offer.
Certainly there was no real reason to go Downtown, unless you worked in law or for a bank or in government. And then you got the hell back out to the suburbs after 5pm.
Not true any more & LA's vibrancy has returned, or been reinvented.
And, fortunately its history has been & continues to be uncovered and rediscovered.
This book is a fascinating look at LA - Downtown and its suburbs - placing it in historical context.
As a reviewer on Amazon says:
"I feel like I have waited for this book my whole life. For anyone who grew up in L.A., or lived in L.A., or for whatever reason loves L.A., this book is a heartfelt valentine to America's most fascinating metropolis. It delves into architecture, history, geography, agriculture, the environment, and the tangled racial relations of the indigenous Native Americans, the Californios, the Anglo settlers, and the Xican@s, each of which left lasting, if not always evident, imprints on the city and who continue to mold it today.
But LAtitudes is not all serious -- there are whimsical chapters on the history of L.A. radio, sure to inspire sweet nostalgia; there is a detailed map of non-chain Mexican restaurants; and there is even a quick rundown of the urban flora unique to the city.
LAtitudes has something to interest everyone and certainly anyone who has the pleasure of reading this delightful book will experience a number of "ah ha" moments and a deeper appreciation of the L.A. we have lived and loved."
I think my favourite chapter is the search for evidence of a 1930s scheme to build a private, tolled bicycle way linking Downtown to Pasadena. It encapsulates the entrepreneurial boosterism which has accompanied this city and led to the best and the worst it has to offer.
October 27, 2020
What a weird eclectic collection of oddball arcane knowledge or specialized experience. Very uneven, as essay collections sometimes are, but there were some I really liked.
As the editor, Patricia Wakida, says in the Acknowledgements,
The range of ideas presented in this collection is awesome. . . geography, architecture, infrastructure, history, industry, racial injustice, utopia, iconography, cultural influences, urban nature, transportation, immigration, music, radio, and food.
Written in as broad a range of styles as topics, it doesn't capture L.A., but it may reflect the way in which it can’t be neatly captured.
I won’t go into details about my personal favorites here for fear of exposing the exact extent of my local history nerdishness, but there were many I enjoyed probably more than the average reader would. However, anyone who has at least a casual interest in Los Angeles would probably find at least one or two of these pieces that hold their attention or serve as a jumping off point for more research or reading.
As the editor, Patricia Wakida, says in the Acknowledgements,
The range of ideas presented in this collection is awesome. . . geography, architecture, infrastructure, history, industry, racial injustice, utopia, iconography, cultural influences, urban nature, transportation, immigration, music, radio, and food.
Written in as broad a range of styles as topics, it doesn't capture L.A., but it may reflect the way in which it can’t be neatly captured.
I won’t go into details about my personal favorites here for fear of exposing the exact extent of my local history nerdishness, but there were many I enjoyed probably more than the average reader would. However, anyone who has at least a casual interest in Los Angeles would probably find at least one or two of these pieces that hold their attention or serve as a jumping off point for more research or reading.
September 8, 2016
Originally published on http://www.jimbotimes.com:
Los Angeles!
I'm excited to review LAtitudes: An Angeleno's Atlas by Patricia Wakida and co, in which L.A. aficionados can find one another through a stream of pages dedicated to uncovering the roots of this place we call home.
download
With over nineteen different authors from all across the L.A. spectrum, the writing in LAtitudes is highly aware of the multiplicity which makes up The City. As Luis Alfaro notes at the outset, there is no 'one L.A.', but over 18 million of them.
And as Anthea Hartig and Josh Sides point out, L.A. is not just in downtown or Hollywood, or in the east or south sides, but it's in Burbank, and Sunland-Tujunga, and in Sylmar. And it's in Inglewood, and Hawthorne, and the South Bay. And it's even in San Pedro, and Long Beach, and Norwalk, and Cerritos! The list goes on, as 60% of The City is actually outside of The City.
Of course, anyone browsing through the web can tell you that L.A.'s made up of 88 different "communities", but what's special about LAtitudes is that you won't just discover the hard facts about the land, but also the stories that are attached to it.
For example, did you know that L.A. was once little more than a string of cattle ranches across a couple of dozen prairies? I sure didn't, but Teddy Varno's essay makes it a live experience.
And did you know that L.A. was attacked one early February morning during World War 2, though not by the Axis powers, but by a UFO?! Yes, it sounds like the stuff of movies, but Jason Brown's essay places readers right in the middle of the incredible sequence, and the ride is unforgettable.
LAtitudes goes beyond the wild and quirky, however, and features truly historical work. Cindi Alvitre's Coyote Tour describes the Tongva and Yaangna tribes who trailed through the land before the Spanish crown decimated or acculturated their people, while Nathan Masters's Gridding the City identifies the true genius of the grid masters who gave The City its 'sprawling' form.
Laura Pulido's Landscapes of Racial Violence moved me so much that I'll have a separate review for it later, and David Ulin's Freeway Jam left me with a vivid image of the beautiful if broken promise of L.A.'s freeways.
From there, it continues! Angelenos will get a taste of life in the L.A. River from Andrew Wilcox's Stalking Carp, while historians will be unable to deny the power of the legendary Luis Rodriguez's How Xican@s Are the Makeweight of Los Angeles's Past, Present, and Future.
So, what are you waiting for? If you want to have some fun with L.A. in the comfort of home on the couch, or underneath the breeze and shade of its palm trees, LAtitudes will not let you down.
In true L.A. style, the book will refresh the reader's imagination of the metropolis one fantastic intersection at a time. For this, it gets The L.A. Storyteller's full approval.
J.T.
Los Angeles!
I'm excited to review LAtitudes: An Angeleno's Atlas by Patricia Wakida and co, in which L.A. aficionados can find one another through a stream of pages dedicated to uncovering the roots of this place we call home.
download
With over nineteen different authors from all across the L.A. spectrum, the writing in LAtitudes is highly aware of the multiplicity which makes up The City. As Luis Alfaro notes at the outset, there is no 'one L.A.', but over 18 million of them.
And as Anthea Hartig and Josh Sides point out, L.A. is not just in downtown or Hollywood, or in the east or south sides, but it's in Burbank, and Sunland-Tujunga, and in Sylmar. And it's in Inglewood, and Hawthorne, and the South Bay. And it's even in San Pedro, and Long Beach, and Norwalk, and Cerritos! The list goes on, as 60% of The City is actually outside of The City.
Of course, anyone browsing through the web can tell you that L.A.'s made up of 88 different "communities", but what's special about LAtitudes is that you won't just discover the hard facts about the land, but also the stories that are attached to it.
For example, did you know that L.A. was once little more than a string of cattle ranches across a couple of dozen prairies? I sure didn't, but Teddy Varno's essay makes it a live experience.
And did you know that L.A. was attacked one early February morning during World War 2, though not by the Axis powers, but by a UFO?! Yes, it sounds like the stuff of movies, but Jason Brown's essay places readers right in the middle of the incredible sequence, and the ride is unforgettable.
LAtitudes goes beyond the wild and quirky, however, and features truly historical work. Cindi Alvitre's Coyote Tour describes the Tongva and Yaangna tribes who trailed through the land before the Spanish crown decimated or acculturated their people, while Nathan Masters's Gridding the City identifies the true genius of the grid masters who gave The City its 'sprawling' form.
Laura Pulido's Landscapes of Racial Violence moved me so much that I'll have a separate review for it later, and David Ulin's Freeway Jam left me with a vivid image of the beautiful if broken promise of L.A.'s freeways.
From there, it continues! Angelenos will get a taste of life in the L.A. River from Andrew Wilcox's Stalking Carp, while historians will be unable to deny the power of the legendary Luis Rodriguez's How Xican@s Are the Makeweight of Los Angeles's Past, Present, and Future.
So, what are you waiting for? If you want to have some fun with L.A. in the comfort of home on the couch, or underneath the breeze and shade of its palm trees, LAtitudes will not let you down.
In true L.A. style, the book will refresh the reader's imagination of the metropolis one fantastic intersection at a time. For this, it gets The L.A. Storyteller's full approval.
J.T.
November 25, 2024
In general. Having New York and various European cities as models in my head, it actually cost me some time wrap my head around that this was a very different type of city, and that it needs to be appreciated on its own terms. One can easily get lost in the miles and miles of traffic-ridden freeways, endless strip malls and empty sidewalks. Getting to appreciate what LA has to offer takes a real effort and it reveals itself slowly. Getting beyond cliches about “no there there” and “no history”, you can see that LA, and California in general, do not have a long history in terms of written documentation, but there most certainly is a unique, rich and diverse historical heritage that shaped the region into what it is.
This book compiles essays from writers with different backgrounds that address widely different topics that are beyond the cliched narratives of Junipero Serra’s missions, the Gold Rush, etc. Each essay is approximately 10 pages long and is, at least in part, based on a map showing a particular characteristic. Topics range from a description of the demographics, economy and ecology of pre-Columbian, colonial and Mexican greater LA basin, homesteading in the outer parts of what is now LA, descriptions of vegetation and the LA River, and descriptions of failed schemes and potential alternative histories they might have presented. Also included are essays that belie the idyllic stereotypical image sometimes presented, and show the struggles of various groups against the darker side of the city.
This book is a good complement to Mike Davis’s “City of Quartz”, which also presents an alternative history of Los Angeles.
This book compiles essays from writers with different backgrounds that address widely different topics that are beyond the cliched narratives of Junipero Serra’s missions, the Gold Rush, etc. Each essay is approximately 10 pages long and is, at least in part, based on a map showing a particular characteristic. Topics range from a description of the demographics, economy and ecology of pre-Columbian, colonial and Mexican greater LA basin, homesteading in the outer parts of what is now LA, descriptions of vegetation and the LA River, and descriptions of failed schemes and potential alternative histories they might have presented. Also included are essays that belie the idyllic stereotypical image sometimes presented, and show the struggles of various groups against the darker side of the city.
This book is a good complement to Mike Davis’s “City of Quartz”, which also presents an alternative history of Los Angeles.
October 7, 2016
Here are the questions we discussed at the Reading the Western Landscape Book Club at the Arboretum Library of the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden on May 18, 2016:
April 5, 2016
Fun, but not as interesting as I hoped it would be. The essays are uneven, with a few too many Gee-if-only-the-awful-Franciscan-missionaries-would-have-left-this-place-alone complaints. Also, the format is heavy on text for a book inspired by maps. The maps accompanying each essay need powerful magnification for these old eyes! But it did make me want to keep exploring this endlessly fascinating place, ugly buildings and complicated history and all.
November 12, 2015
I won this book off of the Good Reads Giveaway. This is an amazing book. There must have been so much time vested in creating it. It is a beautiful work of art. It is a book about Los Angeles. It contains such an array of information. I learned so much about the glorious city. A must read for anybody wanting to explore parts of the world. A definite need for all classrooms and libraries.
October 5, 2016
As a former geography major who studied in Los Angeles, this book was right up my alley (if only I were more intellectual, haha). I enjoyed the variety of perspectives; it just took me a really long time to finish. My favorite essays were Cycleway, Speakeasy Tacos, and Naming Los Angeles (because I've always loved place names, I don't know why).
August 23, 2015
An inspired, diverse collection of essays about the visible and invisible L.A. of the past, present, and future. A fascinating read for anyone who calls this vast metropolis of comfort and contradiction their home.
February 13, 2016
This is a really unique and beautiful book with fascinating maps and awesome personal and historical stories. It's a great way to experience L.A. through unexpected maps and the eyes of others.
May 2, 2016
Interesting "atlas" in the vein of Solnit. Some essays are better than others - my favorites were "Naming LA," "bovid metropolis," and "orphans, dwarfs, strangers, and monsters" (about trees).
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews