"It's Spanish." ; )

ahem Daniel Guss did you block Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles intentionally?

Tomorrow! Murder and mystery in the streetcar suburbs, as early Angelenos run amok in the gilded sunshine. Do you think they would have behaved any better if they knew, a century later, we'd still be gawking at their haunts? esotouric.com/event/echo-par…

I have made it in my chosen career: telling Jazz Age murder stories to cats!

The original Downtown Los Angeles true crime and sleazy cultural history tour is back. Join us on August 26 to explore the loveliest, freakiest crime scenes in town! esotouric.com/event/hotel-ho…

Here's a discovery with just 400 views: INTERSECTION is an unreleased 1972 UCLA promo clip for Todd Rundgren's "Wolfman Jack," featuring the Wolfman, Ms. Bobby of the Cockettes and a golden hour cruise to the Chateau Marmont. In full Quadraphonic sound! youtube.com/watch?v=OHxYIS…

One of my favorite Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles tours returns this Saturday, and I'll be sharing tales of the wild amusements that could once be found on Downtown L.A.'s Main Street, including Zip capering in his custom fur suit and the mummified outlaw with the psychedelic paint job. Join us, do!

These are lousy times for Angelenos. A century ago, my family arrived here on a diasporic wave that washed them from Kherson to Egypt to New York City. Every place they found wanting, until they found this place. So to honor them, and to be perverse, I am staying and fighting.

The star John Waters is getting--near where I once nearly slipped on human brains--is for all the freaks and creeps who made art not because it was remunerative, but because the alternative was hurting people. Seems related Jann Wenner lost a lot of his unearned power this week.

Saturday, join me on the Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles crime bus on a tour that seeks out the troubled, seeking soul at the heart of L.A.'s most notorious unsolved murder, The Black Dahlia case. In getting to know Beth Short, the city's secrets are revealed. esotouric.com/event/black-da…

As a zinester who operated proudly outside of whatever passed for popular culture with Scram, I'm thrilled to honor an earlier generation on this new Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles tour on Saturday. We'll talk about Vice Versa and ONE and visit the only cruisy toilet on the National Register!

If you're in LA and at loose ends, you can join me and my crime buddies for a guided tour of Downtown landmarks that reveal a dark history of corruption & violent death. Plus, I seem to have uncovered an unknown serial killer with a truly demented motive. esotouric.com/event/human-sa…

When it happened, I was in a sort of trance, trawling a web that still had not been polluted by monetized search, AI and deliberate deception. The ghosts of old Los Angeles were steering my hands and mind. They wanted Ray's secret to be known. Ten years ago today.

A little light larceny as "The Kept Girl" cover art appears on Chinese drama "Never Too Late." mailchi.mp/8f66a6a3e47c/t… via Jms Hghtwr

Paying my respects in the ruins of M. Flax Artists Materials, a lovely shop on Westlake Park that sold supplies to several generations of Otis, Chouinard and Art Center students. Empty for years, demolished for nothing, and all I got was a LABCO brick to remember her by.

I thought I was writing a book about crime & social history in postwar LA, a temporary sideline from Scram Magazine. I found a new calling, by following Beth Short into a richer understanding of my hometown and her stories untold. Thank you, dear lady, for being my Virgil. RIP.

My mystery novel is set in real time on the cusp of September 1929, and the story begins today. Here's chapter one if you'd like to have a taste of what I imagine went on at Raymond Chandler's oil company office when an astral cult came calling. thekeptgirl.com/p/excerpt.html

Friends and fans of Shelley Ganz, an opportunity to visit his home, now on the market, and snag a moment of silence to honor a true Hollywood original. RIP, pal. Love your frosted swan shower door, and you!