FIRST OFF I WANT TO THANK FATHER GREG FOR CHANGING ALOT OF PEOPLES POINT OF VIEW ON GANSTERS ALOT OF PEOPLE JUDGE THE BOOK BY THERE COVER WELL FATHER GREG SPOKE THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PROJECTS IN EAST LOS I SHOULD KNOW I LIVED THERE AND I KNOW HIM AND ALOT OF THE GANG MEMBERS THAT FATHER GREG TALKED ABOUT HS BOOK. FATHER GREG TALKS ABOUT HOW HE EARNED HIS RESPECT FROM US GANG MEMBERS AND THE COMMUNITY NOT ONLY DOES HE INSPIRE PEOPLE WITH HIS BOOK BUT ALSO HE GETS RESPECT FOR NOT GIVING UP ON US HELPING US IN EVERYWAY POSSIBLE AND LETTING PEOPLE KNOW ALOT MORE OF EAST LOS IN THE CITY OF ANGELS..

I teach criminal justice courses at Dodge City Community College. One of the topics most students are interested in is hispanic gangs. I found this book to be excellent, and a number of students have also said positive things about the book. It gives the reader a realistic view of gang life in LA, and Father Greg's work is very encouraging. I tell my students that 1 person can make a difference in life, but most don't believe me. The book not only depited gang members and their lives, it also demonstrated some programs that were effective. I highly recommend the book!

I had the pleasure of hearing Father Greg Boyle speak in my religion class at Santa Clara University earlier this year. I enjoyed his talk so much, I went to a subsequent one and it was there I was first introduced to his book. A wonderful book to compliment a wonderful person. Father Greg is truly an angel in human form.

This book is a marvelous pictorial guide to bugs, some of whom occasionally get an urge to check out one's abode. But before stomping any such audacious intruders, you might consider that, since the author evidently felt that they deserved a spot in his book, perhaps they also(dare one say it?) deserve to live. Given this, it would be nice if he had mentioned that a simple and easy enough way of removing a visiting critter is to promptly trap it under a rinsed-out pickle jar, slide an index card underneath, and return him to the great outdoors. After all, he's probably just trying to find his way back there anyway.

It seems that one of Nature's unspoken rules is that the smaller things get, the stranger they become. Quantum mechanics, for example, which describes the activities of particles at sub-atomic levels, challenges our understanding of the universe as our senses receive it: even our knowledge of the trajectory of a sub-atomic particle, for example, means that its position cannot be known, and light, depending on how one observes it, behaves as either a particle or a wave. The universe as described by quantum mechanics is a much stranger place than the one postulated by LaPlace and Newton.

Similarly, in the field of biology, the world revealed by the microscope is much stranger than anything that we could have derived from observations of those organisms visible to the naked eye. This denizens of this realm include various and marvelous creatures: species which defy classification as either plant or animal; genera which contain within them certain species which reproduce sexually, while their close relatives procreate by division; creatures which spend part of their lives as independent single celled units, and other parts of their lives as part of a multicelled organism, with certain cells acting as the stalk on which others form a fruiting body. Our understanding of classification, sex, and the very distinction between single celled and multicellular organisms is challenged by this wonderful microscopic world which lies all around us. Though man is still the measure of all things (by virtue of having invented the yardsticks by which we observe the universe), the cosmos were not made in our image, nor we in theirs, and though the universe is a wonderful place, it is also a strange and disconcerting one.

As we look at organisms which are somewhat closer in size to our own, they lose some, but not all, of that strangeness which the quantum and microscopic worlds contain, and Charles L. Hogue's _Insects of the Los Angeles Basin_ makes this strangeness accessible to us all. Hogue was Curator of Entomology for the Natural History Museum for 30 years, and this guide has its origin in part in those questions asked by Angelenos during his tenure there. This guide was another of those books which our West Coast friends gave to my wife Fayaway and myself, in an effort to convince us to move out to California, and we have come to know many of the strange and wonderful species described in these pages: the beautiful butterflies which visit our gardens, the speedy dragonflies and the mosquitoes on which they feed, the multiform beetles which live beneath our feet, our houses, and our lawns. It was in these pages I first took note of the California Sister, a butterfly species which lives among the oaks of the Santa Monicas; I ran to this book to discover the name of that strange beast that had crawled into our bathtub during the night, and had caused my wife, who is not easily frightened, to scream out (it was the Jerusalem cricket, a creature whose virtues do not include beauty or grace); I used this book to identify the strange beetle larva which was content only when travelling on its back. These and many other creatures have become better known to me through the pages of this book.

The guide is very easy to use, once one knows the difference between a cricket and grasshopper, a cockroach and beetle, and the book will help the reader learn that. It is full of drawings and photographs, many in beautiful full-color, of most of the species described, as well as information about their habits, ecology, and life history. The author is also candid about what is not known about certain species, such as the larval stages, their feeding habits, or their modes of reproduction. Nothing is known of the early life of the California Glowworm, for example. Each description contains a list of its sources as well.

These excellent descriptions are preceded by an introduction to basic entomology: there are sections on insect body structure and function, growth and development, and classification, and a chapter on the Los Angeles Basin environment and ecology. Another fine feature is the full color map, computer-generated from Landsat photographs, of the region covered by this book. There is also a very good glossary, a general bibliography and resource list, and an index. One need do little more than walk out the door with this book in hand to find it immediately useful: it is full of information for those interested in the insect life around us. Indeed, I have found that whenever I go out to the garden to read some other work, it is wise to bring this book as well, since inevitably I will feel compelled to go back into the house to find the answer to some question about some creature or other whose path I happen to cross. The value of this book to amateur entomologists is inestimable: it will not only drive the curious out into the gardens, forest, and hills to seek those creatures listed here, but provide information to those whose first instinct is to kill any such creature they might find in their domicile, and help them learn that the natural world is not as frightening as it might at first seem, even though it might never lose its strangeness. Recommended to anyone interested in learning more about those insects and arachnids with whom we share the Los Angeles Basin, and who are essential parts of the local ecology, strange and frightening though they might seem at first glance.

If you want to know more than just the names and habitat of Southern California insects, then this is the book for you. If the insect is non-native, what is its origin and when was it introduced? If it stings or bites, what does it feel like and does the toxin affect the nerves like a black widow or just dissolve the local tissue like a brown recluse? Do they jump or dart? Why is it always showing up in a certain room or part of the yard? "Insects of the Los Angeles Basin" will answer these questions. Read this book and become the lone rational mind in a roomful of hysterical screaming humans recoiling from the sight of one of these magnificent little creatures.

I really love this book. I owned it and it wasa gift from my brother, Joe, many years ago. I've used the recipes many times! The sugar cookie recipe is the best ever and the pumpkin bread recipe is also. This year, 2001, I just cannot find it, I misplaced it when we redid our living room. I am so mad and sad, but happy I found it here at amazon. I made the sugar cookies anyway, from another cookbook, but they were just not the same.

P-p-p-please reprint! I also received this with an LA times subscription... It's a wonderful collection of outstanding recipes. I remember an "offbeat chicken salad" that was THE BEST SALAD I EVER HAD, and was actually GOOD for you! Also, a potluck just isn't a potluck without that amazing pumpkin bread... If heaven has a taste... I've tried other recipes with varying success, but a remarkable half of these are mainstay "keepers" for any recipe collection. Everyone will find something they love.

I got this book as a freebie back in 1983 with a newspaper subscription. Although I no longer live in SoCal or get the LA Times, it is by far the best of all the cookbooks I own (and I own many!). The cheesecake recipe alone has made me famous (I have modified it) amongst all my friends and it is constantly asked for for parties. I would love to be able to give this as a gift to others...please bring it back!

There are lots of characters to loathe and love in this one. Derek, Holly Elliot's stepfather was a real brute. Being in the army, Derek was able to prevent Holly's father from leaving Vietnam. If Derek had been in the Marine Corps, he would never have pulled this off. A Marine would not have left a dead or wounded man behind to die, no matter how close the enemy was!

Jason Cole was every girl's dream man, one of the few KS heros with no flaws. His quick intelligence allowed him to see the real Holly within moments of meeting her. Both were beautiful, smart, and in love. But, Holly had a lot of gall getting angry at Jason when if not for him, she might never have known her father's fate! She was darn lucky he cared enough to get involved! He went through his own emotional battle over this, too!

Raven was a wonderful girl who deserved much happiness. Nicholas was fine, handsome, and totally in love with her. But towards the end, there was a scene where he was furious with Raven and spoke pretty ugly to her, then upon realizing his mistake, he's back 'in love' with her. His lack of trust in her wasn't even an issue. I wouldn't have dismissed the incident so easily.

Lawrence and Caroline were also a fine couple, but KS turned Lawrence into another one of her overly sensitive, sappy, soft men, like Rafe in STAR LIGHT, STAR BRIGHT. What a mush he was!

I just finished this book yesterday and it was one of those that you can't put down. Raven is a wealthy and succesful entertainment lawyer who has searched for love and never came out ahead. Holly is a romance author who is hiding from reality. Nick is a single dad that is trying to protect his family and heart. Jason is a actor/director/producer who has bought the rights to one of Holly's books. Holly doesn't want him to change it even though he has a right to. They are all connected enough to maintain in the same story but it is like reading 2 or 3 different stories within one book. You would think it would be somewhat confusing trying to keep track of who is connected to who and how but in this book it flows so smoothly that you don't even really think about it. This book is a romance without all the explicit love scenes but it isn't just a romance it's about the characters finding themselves and helping each other.

This was the first Katherine Stone novel that I read and it is one of the most moving and beautiful romance novels I have ever encountered. The two primary characters, Raven and Lauren/Holly, are among my favorites in fiction. Both are seriously wounded spiritually but are amazing survivors who never give up on the hope or dream of love. Their stories are emotionally gripping, and for readers who love to go though the maelstrom of emotions, this is a terrific choice. I highly recommend it. I have read almost all of Kathernine Stone's other novels, but this is the best and most satisfying.

I thought I knew everything about Hollywood High until I read this book. It not only brought back many fine memories of my days there (1952 to 1955) but opened my eyes to the wonderful history this school has. It also brought me up-to-date on what happened after I left. The book covers the years 1903 through 1986.

I am proud to say I was a student at Hwd High, class of W'67. There are facts in this book that I didn't know even though I lived in Hollywood all my teenage life. I know there are many other alumni that would be interested in this book. I think the publishers should come out with a second printing. "Hail To Thee Our Alma Mater". Hail Shieks and who could forget the QUAD and the Sticky Buns from the HASH Lines. My class was the last to have a dress code of dresses. NO PANTS. Thanks and please try to find another copy for me, My copy has been passed around alot. Thanks.Maxine

A must for all serious HHS reunion junkies....but Blumenthal got the picture wrong on the great tree slaughter that occurred circa 1958....several trees were cut down (saw 'em myself one foggy morning upon arriving at school), not just one, so I won't mention the one famous person movie star who Blumenthal attributed this "prank" too. I am ordering several copies as gifts to my reunion junkie classmates. Bill Larson, HHS '59

Totally agree about the locals comment. I just moved here from San Francisco and found great stuff in the book to make me feel like a native. Well-written, funny, entertaining, and a great resource for anyone visiting or living here!

My husband travels to Los Angeles often for business
so he knows a lot about the city but I went for the
first time on his last trip. Since he was going to be
in meetings a lot I was worried about being on my own
so I bought this LA for Dummies guide and I'm so glad
I did! It was fun to read and so informative - it
even showed my husband the "LA expert" a few tricks.
I totally recommend it!

We visited Los Angeles for the first time recently and were worried about what we had heard - that the city is a big sprawling mess, difficult to get around, etc. All of which is true, but this book made it less intimidating and actually a lot of fun. We took the author's advice to heart and wound up not feeling like dummies at all! This is a great book for the first time visitor.

Grab this book while you can. The NAKED LONDON book is out of print already.

Besides what may be its voyeur value for some, "NAKED LOS ANGELES" also shows what it is to be real and unvarnished. The naked self that many of us see in the morning before we dress for the day, though many of us are at times loathe to embrace and accept it. Friedler, through this book, shows us people who are brave and honest enough to throw off pretense and bare themselves unabashedly. Well done! Take heart when reading this book and be proud of your naked self, too.

A lot of people would think this is quite a boring book, but I found it fascinating to see how much clothing changes someone's appearance. It just reinforces the idea that we're all naked under our clothes.

This book is worth reading if you are looking for something different on your travels in Los Angeles. Read between the lines. There are hidden treasures for activity ideas, while other ideas are just for a good laugh. Even if you aren't going to make it out and about on the books recommendations, it is still a humors read. Ask yourself "Am I jocular" and/or "Am I adventurous" before taking the wild ride... that is... for the resident tourists.

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.

Amuzingly hilarious as a frequent traveler I found this book to contain insights that most non-beaten path travellers can truly relate to. A must read for anyone who prides themselves on knowing the unknown about quite a few very cool locales in the Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley areas.

I, too, could not put this book down. Ms. Hamilton's writing style (one of the best), coupled with the great plot and interesting descriptions of Los Angeles (I also live in the L.A. area) were great. I look forward to reading much more of Eve Diamond's adventures.

I'm not a big reader of mystery novels, especially American mysteries, but I will always read Hamilton's works because I believe in supporting local writers. Eve Diamond's home is just over the hill from me, and Hamilton writes of areas that are all too familiar to me. I think this is why I loved this novel; you can relate so readily to its familiar suroundings. The Jasmine Trade was good, but this novel is far more accomplished and much more intricately plotted, also, you'll just never guess how the murder mystery plays out.

Los Angeles is portrayed as a city so diverse, and so disparate in so many ways. And Hamilton has such an indelible handle on what makes Los Angeles "tick" as a city. I'm looking forward to reading some more adventures of Eve Diamond, for Hamilton has created an exciting, passionate and gutsy protagonist.

An entertaining and very enjoyable read!

Michael

Denise Hamilton takes you on an extraordinary ride through Los Angeles from its seamy underside to the opulent estates, into the territory of WASPs and yuppies and on east to the teaming streets of the Latinos. It is evident that Hamilton knows these streets well and she can turn a phrase equally as well. For this trip alone 'Sugar Skulls' is worth your time. Hamilton has also created an astute and gritty protagonist in Eve Diamond the LA Times investigative reporter we first met in 'Jasmine Trade'and her story which ties together three unrelated deaths that occur in the one weekend is suspenseful and compelling.

In addition to the murders she must resolve Eve is caught up in the sordid underground lives of street kids, in particular one lost girl, Scout, whom she befriends and the wealthy teenagers who enable them. She is also attracted to the Latino businessman whose brother's death may be the connection to the other murders.

Hamilton's understanding of investigative procedure and her care in detailing Eve's complex background and personality make this story fascinating and enjoyable.

City streets are the playgrounds of the children who live at Sunset Terrace, and patches of dead grass, trash-strewn lots and cracked concrete bordered by battered chain link fencing. Summer days are spent stealing cigarettes and candy from the neighborhood market. These are the beneficiaries of the trickle-down policies of the '80's, living in a vast economic wasteland, families kept together by women who work at minimum wage jobs and buy groceries with food stamps.

Elaine arrives at Sunset Terrace with her two daughters, a year after their father has committed suicide. An itinerant chef, Elaine moved her girls from job to job, motel to motel, all across the country. Hannah, nine, lonely and confused by her father's death, was responsible for younger sister, Daisy, while their mother worked late shifts at various roadside restaurants. Rent-controlled Sunset Terrace, in So. California, is a step up for the small family, a new start.

Hannah wants friends, but doesn't know the rules, ever on the wrong side of belonging. Bridget, an iconoclastic nine-year-old foster-child who lives downstairs, captures Hannah's attention. Bridget is street savvy, already a victim of ... abuse, the kind of child easily dropped through bureaucratic cracks, shuffled from one place to another. While Bridget carefully courts Hannah, Elaine finds herself feeling sorry for the girl, often including Bridget in family gatherings, while unaware of the girl's dark side. Bridget's smart mouth and intimidating behavior draws Hannah like a moth to flame, the vague promise of a walk on the wild side. Hannah is unprepared for the escalating violence of their games, as Bridget is more and more mean-spirited. Eventually, Hannah grows distant, less trusting, disturbed by Bridget's demeanor.

A woman in the complex talks Elaine into attending a Parents-Without-Partners function, where Elaine meets an eligible man, Sam. For Elaine, the genial and loving Sam is unexpected, like winning the Cinderella lottery, a way out. Without him, they are trapped in an indifferent world, surrounded on all sides by poverty and social decay, their sojourn at Sunset Terrace only a respite on a downhill slide. During their last few days, Hannah and Bridget clash frequently, especially when Hannah defends her younger sister from Bridget's unnecessary meanness. Although furious, Hannah agrees to a final game, one that has unexpected and life-changing consequences for both girls.

The families of Sunset Terrace live a marginal existence, prey to unstable financial circumstances. Affordable child-care for working mothers is as realistic as the Emerald City at the end of the Yellow Brick Road. Sunset Terrace is a scathing social commentary on the disastrous effects of poverty and a system that ignores the most vulnerable in our society, sweeping them aside like so much detritus. We are not in Kansas, Dorothy. Meet the fringe-dwellers, one step away from homelessness, dancing as fast as they can. Luan Gaines/2003.

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Donner does a remarkable job of putting you inside the heads of her characters, especially the 10 year old Hannah. Her ability to make Hannah's (to an adult's mind) illogical thoughts seem perfectly reasonable rises to the level of Lynda Berry, whose little-girl characters also occupy a bleak and forbidding urban landscape.

A touching and wonderful book. Donner is a marvelous storyteller.

Donner has a great sense of character and place, and paints her low-rent, Pico-Boulevard setting in tough unsentimental prose.