1 comments about LUXE Los Angeles (LUXE City Guides).

1. Los Angeles has been going through a revival of sorts with lower crime, new constructions, and fewer ghettos. It has become the largest metropolis in America and it is a city unlike any other in the USA.
   
   This guide is very small and easily fits in your back pocket. It has no maps or detailed description of any one destination. A few tidbits of why a destination was recommended is provided, but that is about it. I highly recommend to rent a car with GPS in Los Angeles especially since this guide provides no maps or directions (just the addresses).
   
   Los Angeles is full of ethnic diversity and this guide misses out on almost all ethnic related sites. It doesn't even include Chinatown (not as big as NYC or SF but worth seeing) and Koreatown (biggest in the US and one of the most hip places to hang out in LA. It has some of the best bars, clubs, and restaurants in LA. Just ask many movie stars who hang out there).
   
   The guide also totally excludes Armenian (largest Armenian population outside of Armenia), Thai, and Mexican locales. In other words, it is missing bunch of cool ethnic places you ought to be checking out.
   
   It does a good job of covering the glitzy and glamourous part of LA (mostly in the West side and Beverly Hills). It offers no shortage of places to eat, drink, sleep, and shop. Too bad it only covers maybe 25% of Los Angeles.

No comments about City Walks: Los Angeles: 50 Adventures on Foot (City Walks).

1 comments about Moon Take a Hike Los Angeles: Hikes Within Two Hours of the City (Moon Outdoors).

1. Los Angeles has a lot of neat countryside to explore if you know where to look. When I first came to the LA basin from Idaho, I was overwhelmed by the suburban sprawl, but I quickly found lots of nice outdoor experiences nearby. This book will help anyone else looking to escape the city for a few hours (or days). It features over 80 hikes all within 2 hours of LA.
   
   I've hiked about a third of the trails described in this guide and all are nice. With time off in April, I expect to explore more. By way of a warning though, you will need to be reasonably fit to do many of these hikes. Most are 5 to 10 miles long, often with substantial elevation gain. Several are shorter, but a few are quite challenging. Happily, the authors also provide options for shortening (and sometimes lengthening) your walks. The bulk of the hikes listed are in the San Gabriel Mountains and Santa Monica National Recreation Areas. A few selections from Orange County, Palos Verde and Catalina Island round out the book. On the whole, this book is an excellent investment in fun and exploration.

5 comments about Los Angeles Then and Now (Then & Now Thunder Bay).

1. I am a Los Angeles history buff (specialty, the early 1900s), so I bought this book for my library, but I was really disappointed in it.

   For one thing, it is very badly edited; grammatical errors (mostly misplaced or dangling modifiers) abound. I mean, for such a handsome book, it really deserved a go-through by a professional editor.

   Secondly, who really needs a photo of the present-day Roma restaurant at the corner of Hollywood and Wilcox (complete with a guy in a cowboy hat hurrying to beat a flashing "Don't Walk" light and a lineup of late-model cars waiting to cross)?

   Or who needs a shot of the Virgin megastore where the historic Schwab's restaurant used to be? And on and on . . . Some of the "before" shots are worthwhile, but most of the "after" shots are really pedestrian -- including that hustling cowpoke.

   The best pic is on the cover -- the opening of the movie "Hell's Angels" at Grauman's Chinese. There are some other good older pix inside, too.

   As has been mentioned, this book is way too heavy on Hollywood, and the depth of the research by the author can be measured by the number of times she mentions the names of Hollywood movies. I am suspicious of some of the facts in the book, too, although I can't quite pin down the reason right now. Maybe it was all those grammatical errors.

   Finally, this book was printed in China, and I have nothing against the Chinese or their desire to earn big bucks from the rest of the world, but couldn't the author have found a printer right here in the U.S. to do this book? "Produced by PRC Publishing Co." PRC, get it -- "People's Republic of China"?

   So, don't make this your coffee table gift. If you want a so-so addition to your library of L.A. books, buy it second hand somewhere or pick it up off the remainder table. It has a very nice cover, but you know what they say about books and their covers . . .




2. This is a wonderful book. It's absolutely captivating. Once you start looking at the pictures, you can't put it down. I love the photographs as well as the historical narrative. I'd recommend this book to anyone. I only wish it were longer.



3. Of the 69 Then and Now photos, 30 were basically the same because
   the view had not changed over the years. I lived in LA for over 30 years and there are so many areas that have changed completely it's a shame that they weren't used.



4. I was given this book by a friend when we were in a Hollywood book store because he thought this was a book all about Hollywood. He then went back and bought me Rosemary Lords "Hollywood Then and Now". The error because the cover of the Los Angeles book has a photo of the Chinese theater in Hollywood on the cover. This book, side by side with the Hollywood book is not very different in content. In fact, it contains some of the same locations as the Hollywood book.

   I was raised in Hollywood and Los Angeles and love the history of the area. The archival photographs are quite nicely reproduced, however, the current-day photographs are very poor. I enjoy digital photography and was in Hollywood a few weeks ago and visiteds some of the same historic scenes from this book. I quite easily found the angle of the original shots found in this book.. why this book showed those same shots but taken from different angles than the original photos is beyond me. The modern photos in this book are also very unflattering, out of focus and even amateur in appearance... not much more than snapshots.

   The worst thing about this book are the many obvious mistakes in locations and historic details just as the Hollywood contains. Very disappointed!




5. We had this book at school. The teacher used it for our history class and it was really good. He said it was good history guide, but it also had interesting facts. I really loved the photographs. My Grandpa lived in Los Angeles then. My Dad bought him this book and he said it was the best book he'd seen on Los Angeles history.

5 comments about Resident Tourist: Los Angeles.

1. This is a truly funny book. After living in LA for 10 years, I found some new and interesting places to visit. I never would have found some of these in a standard travel book.



2. I didn't find this funny. I thought it was superficial, sloppy and dumb. The number of places reviewed seems very slight, and their descriptions are overly long, as if they were trying to pad the book.



3. I bought this book because I am leaving LA in a few months after living here for 4 years, and wanted to get the most out of my time left. I am glad I got it. Not only is it worth much more than the price (it's so cheap used!), but the descriptions are quite entertaining.
   
   I do agree with a previous reviewer who disliked the relative paucity of items / places described; I felt there could be more. And some of the chapters read more like magazine articles than tour guides. I also was a bit offended by the first chapter, "Adult Los Angeles." Why did it have to be in the book? Why did it have to be the first chapter? But the other insights and the enthusiasm of the book are useful and compelling. I've enjoyed both reading the book and visiting the places it recommends (besides those of the first chapter, of course).



4. Perhaps all guide books should be destroyed as soon as they are six months old. I don't know, I just returned to LA after a 16 year absense, and I ordered a bunch of guide books to help me make the best out of this new adventure. This book really doesn't have much to offer.



5. This is a great sampling. I am a hotel concierge and I'm always looking for new/overlooked places to impress the guest who thinks he's done it all. This book has great listings, but doesn't give enough of them. I know things change around here, so keeping up isn't easy. I would like more options per neighborhood.

No comments about City Dog: Los Angeles: Orange County, Ventura County and Santa Barbara (City Dog series).

1 comments about The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book: The Incomparable Guide to Movie Stars' Homes, Movie and TV Locations, Scandals, Murders, Suicides, and All the Famous Tourist Sites.

1. This is William A. Gordon, the author of "The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book." A revised and expanded fourth edition of the book was released in late 2007, but Amazon has not yet added the new cover, reviews, and updated information, even though it was e-mailed the information numerous times. The cover image is similar to the 3rd edition but uses a different font. The book has also been expanded by 14 pages to 288. You will receive the latest edition if you order the book from Amazon. (And I offer e-mail updates to readers in between editions.) If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me directly at BGordonLA@aol.com.

1 comments about eat.shop.los angeles: the indispensable guide to stylishly unique, locally owned eating and shopping (eat.shop guides series).

1. I recently moved to LA and this guide has proven indispensible!! It's small enough to fit in your purse and is full of fabulous shops and local eateries that go beyond the typical and get you to where people really do (or should) eat and shop. Friends who have lived here for years were surprised when I started suggesting places to go out that even they didn't know, and now they've become addicted to the guide, as well. I definitely check this first before going to any new neighborhood or to get new ideas for fun places to explore. It's without question the most practical, hip guide book out there!

No comments about The Rough Guide to Los Angeles and Southern California 1 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

2 comments about American Map Los Angeles County Street Atlas.

1. I always think it's difficult to decide which city street map to buy. Map folk do their best to give their maps the edge over the competition and Los Angles throws up two pretty good editions that I've bought: this one and the Thomas Guide to Los Angeles and Orange Counties (ISBN 0528855131).
   
   Of the two I prefer this American Map version basically for two reasons: the streets are shown as two lines throughout rather than just a single tint line for everything except major highways in the Thomas Guide and secondly the type is more legible than the Thomas edition. Using just a single line for a street in the Thomas map can get confusing because their maps visually pack in plenty of information. As well as street names there are block numbers, points of interest, ZIP codes, city names, red grid lines and more, the American Map is not so comprehensive and therefore more legible. Type legibility is always a trade-off in a street atlas, especially with these two, one or the other will most likely be carried in a car. The Thomas maps use quite small type and in artificial light becomes nearly unreadable (so in your car carry a mini Maglite and a magnifier could be useful, too).
   
   The comprehensiveness of a map index is as important as the maps and I think the Thomas version scores over this LA map because it usefully gives more block numbers. The twelve miles of Hollywood Boulevard gets six references (1800, 4400, 4800, 7100, 8100 and 8300) in Thomas with only three here (4600, 6000 and 8700) also Thomas gives a ZIP with every street listed.
   
   The printing and paper of both is fine and I think the Thomas version has probably more information (including freeway access maps and one for LAX) but because of the legibility would be better for home use. The American Map of Los Angeles County is probably better for car use.
   
   ***FOR A LOOK INSIDE click 'customer images' under the cover.



2. this is a great map. building numbers give you and idea where you are going