Moon Handbooks Los Angeles

The scene: You've finally made your way to Los Angeles, you know where you want to go, and you have bought a handy guide with the expectation that it will get you there. The mark of a good guide is to furnish you with all the information you need: where to eat, maps, parking, bathrooms, directions, etc.,etc.,etc. The mark of a phenomenal guide is one you actually ENJOY reading from cover to cover. Kim Weir is an excellent writer -- not only because she is informative but because she is interesting. Her Los Angeles Handbook makes navigating one of the most difficult, changing, energetic areas in the world an experience. Not just a check-it-off-the-list planned excursion. And unlike the majority of guides out there, this one merits a better fate than being thrown into the back of the closet after the trip is over. During those brief respites that we truly sane incorporate into our enjoyment of a place -- those moments when we sit to enjoy the surroundings and peoplewatch -- is a perfect time to pull this travel narrative out and actually read it. Like Weir's other guides, this one is as much social history, criticism, humor, and creative non-fiction, as it is that basic guide stuff. Although a more manageable read than her equally excellent Southern California Handbook and Northern California Handbook, this one is an equally well designed read and guide. The book begins with the words, "They say that San Francisco there is less than meets the eye: in Los Angeles there is far more." So too this book.