No comments about La Weekly Best of La.

5 comments about Access Los Angeles 9e (9th ed).

1. I've been waiting for the 9th edition to come out because of the errors I found in the 8th edition. I've been a user of the Access guides for more than ten years and I have always found them very useful. However when I bought the 8th edition I had to call the publisher because there were many mistakes in the guide map numbering. They thanked me and said they would notifiy me when the next edition came out (naturally they didn't). I was very distressed from the first review on Amazon of the 9th edition. It appears that they don't really have anyone that checks for accuracy. I guess I'll wait for the 10th edition.



2. The format of the Access books is terrific. Unfortunately, this bookis outdated to the point of being DANGEROUS to use. I visited L.A. insummer '99 with my husband and baby son. Beforehand, I carefully wentthrough this guide, using a hiliter marker and making hotel reservations from the recommendations of the author. Let me tell you about that hotel. When we arrived.... it was filthy.... To this day, my skin crawls to think of it. (We left).... For the rest of the trip, my hilighted sites turned out to be long-closed businesses, stores and restaurants. I can't tell you how much money I spent parking to go to places that turned out to have been closed for years. I understand that it's to be expected that 5-9% of the info in a travel guide is out of date by the time it goes to press.... I learned three lessons about travelling: one, call all the phone numbers first to be sure your chosen attractions are still open; two, never go to a "recommended" hotel that AAA ignored; and three, never buy a travel guide by this "expert" again.... Consider yourself warned.



3. This book is phenomenal for architecture, museums, parks, galleries and other interesting sites. The maps help us in using large L.A. map to keep us oriented. Have found some great places to shop by just checking the area around our destinations, like the outdoor mall area of Santa Monica. Have made L.A. trips using the older version and love it.



4. I've enjoyed the Access series of books for some time, but they are not updated or corrected often enough. I am now leary of using them unless it is brand new edition, which this is not.

   The 2002 Access Los Angeles is still considered current by the publisher and is being distributed to retailers, yet there has been no further update since publication. Most of that information was at least a year old when it was published, and some of it has obviously not been checked out for at least 5. That greatly diminishes it's usefulness, except as a general guide. The current edition can still be used for it's neighborhood maps, it's overview and it's easy to understand layout. All establishments and attractions, however, should be phoned in advance of plan making, as there is no other way to tell if the Access data on hours, cost, etc are current. Assume it isn't.

   I cannot recommend using this as one's sole guide to Los Angeles trip planning. I'll be interested in seeing a new edition and comparing it's entries to this edition.




5. Great for a broad overview. Could use more details and restaurants.

No comments about Rand McNally Easyfinder Los Angeles To San Diego, California.

No comments about Los Angeles: The Centrifugal City.

No comments about Safe safaris: James Berkeley takes the edge off roughing it in exotic locales making sure vacationers are pampered from the airport to the bush.(Small ... article from: Los Angeles Business Journal.

No comments about Los Angeles, wonder city of the West: A pictorial guide and souvenir.

2 comments about City of Angles: A Drive-By Portrait of Los Angeles.

1. This book was not what I expected. The subject of life in Los Angeles, CA, seemed sort of narrow but after reading the book there were many aspects I never considered. Not being involved in show business, this gave me a humorous insite into the trials and tribulations of working with show biz types. It also gave me a look at L.A. that I hadn't even begun to consider. L.A. is just a vast, busy metroplis where no one knows anyone and everyone just lives their lives in a bubble. But maybe that isn't always so. Maybe there really is the possiblity of life in L.A. I very much enjoyed reading this book and was constantly delighted at the "out of the square" look at life in L.A.



2. ....in Los Angeles one day. She was striding determinedly across an overpass that spans the Hollywood Freeway just north of downtown..."

   For reporter Al Martinez, the guy who looks like a Hispanic Einstein, this woman is type and metaphor of Los Angeles herself--and so it is, and so she is, to any one of us who've lived within her flashpoint gunpowder confines.

   If you want to get under the skin of L.A., start with this book. I'm giving it a 4 rather than a 5 only because I've read Al's columns and have something to compare this book to. I know of only one newsman with the heart and guts and literary power of the author, let alone the worldweary humor that never wearies, and it's not Mencken, although his work sometimes reminds me of Mencken's. It's Mark Twain, who asked: "Can we afford Civilization?"

   Here are two rather serious quotations from this oft-humorous gem:

   You'd think that after all that anguish [he means the riots] we'd come up with some stable course of action to make things better between the races generally and in the South-Central section particularly. But what emerged wasn't a powerful program to enfranchise the forgotten, but a call, you guessed it, to improve our image. Keep the naked fat lady who in her madness strides no-where, but tie a nice little ribbon in her hair.

   We create our own Skid Rows by turning our backs on segments of the population who no longer attract our interest. Because they dwell in economic brackets that allow their homes and apartments to fall into disrepair, we either label their dwellings slums and allow them to rot, or rip them out in the name of urban renewal. What we don't see won't hurt us, though we've learned the hard way that what we don't see now we'll later see in the crimes and riots that are the handmaidens of despair.

No comments about Rand McNally North Orange County, Ca Easyfinder Plus Map.

No comments about Best Restaurants of Los Angeles Under Ten Dollars/6402.

No comments about Travel agencies/vendor: ranked by 2005 gross sales.(HOSPITALITY & TRAVEL)(Statistical table): An article from: Los Angeles Business Journal.