The Underground Guide to Los Angeles: 3rd Edition

by Pleasant Gehman (Editor), Pleasant Gehman (Editor)

“You want edgy, go for Pleasant Gehman’s Underground Guide to Los Angeles, which packs more piss, energy, raw interest and just-plain useful info into its 240 pages than the usual businesslike fluff from Fodor’s. ”— LA Voice
In The Underground Guide to Los Angeles you can find all the usual stuff—like theme parks and landmarks and famous restaurants—but there’s also all this insider stuff that no tourist books would ever mention . . . like the best car-wash taco stands, places rock stars died, weird architecture, underground art galleries, Charles Bukowski’s grave, cool swap meets, tranny hooker dive bars . . . whatever. A lot of locals actually buy it for the information on cheap eats, wild entertainment, and queer, punk, and kink scenes. With chapters by Pleasant Gehman, Iris Berry, Suzy Beal, S.A. Griffin, Dan Epstein, Nancy Whalen, Karen Cusolito, E.A. Gehman, Jayson Marston, MX Lingua, Aida Cynthia DeSantis, Libby Molyneaux and Joe Hill, Mary Herczog, Anthony Bernal, and Margaret Cho.

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Pleasant Gehman is a true renaissance woman: writer, dancer, actor, musician and painter.A Hollywood icon, during the 1970′s, she was one of the first punks in Los Angeles, documenting the scene she helped create in her fanzine “Lobotomy”. During the 1980′s, she toured across North America fronting her three bands, all of whom released recordings: The Screaming Sirens, The Ringling Sisters and Honk If Yer Horny. She was also the booker for the seminal Los Angeles clubs Cathay De Grande and Raji’s.

Since the early 1990′s, under the stage name Princess Farhana, she has appeared internationally and a professional belly dancer and burlesque performer and teacher. She has danced and acted in numerous motion pictures, in music videos and on television. She has appeared in many documentaries on belly dance and burlesque, performing and as an interview subject. In 2009, she was the star of Steve Balderson’s film “Underbelly: A Year In The Life Of Princess Farhana“ which was released worldwide in theaters as well as on DVD.