HIGHLIGHTS OF LITERARY L.A.

Virginia Adair

(“Ants on the Melon,” “Beliefs & Blasphemies”) taught for 22 years at Cal Poly.

Louis Adamic

(“Dynamite: A Century of Class Violence in America 1830-1930”) lived in the pilot house in San Pedro.

Frank Baum

Creator of the “Oz” books lived in Ozcot, his estate on the corner of Franklin and Cherokee avenues.

A. Scott Berg

Author of “Maxwell Perkins,” “Goldwyn” and “Lindbergh” lives in Beverly Hills.

Beyond Baroque

One of the city’s oldest literary establishments, is located in Venice.

Arna Bontemps

(“Any Place But Here”) wrote about Watts, which she called “Mudtown.”

T.C. Boyle

(“The Tortilla Curtain,” “Riven Rock”) teaches at USC.

Ray Bradbury

Wrote the “The Martian Chronicles” in the basement of the library at UCLA.

Leo Braudy

(“The Frenzy of Renown”) teaches at USC

Kate Braverman

Is the author among other works, of “Lithium for Medea” and “Small Craft Warnings.”

Bertolt Brecht

Lived in Santa Monica.

Charles Bukowski

(“Love is a Dog from Hell” and “ Notes from a Dirty Old Man”) lived in San Pedro.

Eve Bunting

Author of more than 100 children’s books lives in Pasadena.

Edgar Rice Burroughs

(“Tarzan”) built his estate in what is today the city of Tarzana.

Octavia E. Butler

(“Parable of the Talents” and “Parable of the Sower”) lived in Altadena.

James M. Cain

(“The Postman Always Rings Twice” lived in the Hollywood Hills.

Bebe Moore Campbell

(“Singing in the Comeback Choir”) lives in Los Angeles.

Raymond Chandler

Phillip Marlowe kept an office on La Cienega Boulevard.

Chasen’s

Became famous for hosting L.A.’s version of the Algonquin Roundtable.

Wanda Coleman

Poet and author of “Mambo Hips & Make Believe,” lives in Los Angeles.

Jackie Collins

Chronicled a new breed of American family in “Hollywood Wives,” “Hollywood Husbands” and “Hollywood Kids.”

Michael Connelly

Named his most recent novel for the scene of its crime -- Angels Flight.

Bernard Cooper

(“Maps to Anywhere” and “Truth Serum”) lives in West Hollywood.

Stephen Cooper

(“Full of Life: A Biography of John Fante”) teaches at Cal State LB.

Miles Corwin

(“The Killing Season” and “And still We Rise”) is a Times reporter.

Robert Craig

(“LA Requiem”) lives in Los Angeles.

Michael Crichton

(“Jurassic Park”) lived in Santa Monica.

Richard Henry Dana

Describes land fall in Southern California in “Two Years Before the Mast.”

Sara Davidson

(“Loose Change” and “Cowboy: A Love Story”) lives in Santa Monica.

Mike Davis

(“City of Quartz,” “Ecology of Fear” and Magical Urbanism”) chronicles the travails of his megalopolis from his home in Pasadena.

Fred Dewey

Is direct of Beyond Baroque.

Jared Diamond

(“Guns, Germs, and Steel”) is a professor of physiology at UCLA.

Joan Didion

Made the Santa Monica Freeway the setting of her novel, “Play It As It Lays.”

Digby Diehl

Hosts the annual Imitation Hemingway Contest at Harry’s Bar.

Harriet Doerr

(“Stones for Ibarra”) grew up and still lives in Pasadena.

John Gregory Dunne

Took on L.A.’s Catholic archdiocese in “True Confessions.”

Bret Easton Ellis

In “Less Than Zero,” wrote that everyone in L.A. was afraid to merge.

James Ellroy’s

(“L.A. Confidential”) mother was found murdered near Arroyo High School in El Monte.

Steve Erickson

Buried Los Angeles’ freeways in sand in “Days Between Stations.”

Susan Faludi

(“Backlash” and “Stiffed”) lives in the Hollywood Hills.

John Fante

(“Ask the Dust”) lived on Bunker Hill.

William Faulkner

Came to Hollywood to write screenplays and left soon thereafter.

Lion and Marta Feuchtwanger

Lived in Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades.

M.F.K. Fisher

(“The Art of Eating”) lived at the corner of Painter and Philadelphia avenues in Whittier.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Wrote “The Crack-Up” in Los Angeles and died here before he completed it.

David Freeman

(“One of Us”) is a screenwriter living in Los Angeles.

Judith Freeman’s

heroine in “The Chinchilla Farm” landed in MacArthur Park after coming to Los Angeles from Utah.

Cristina Garcia

(“Dreaming in Cuban”) lives in Pacific Palisades.

Garden of Allah

A favorite pied-a-terre for a number of visiting writers, including Robert Benchley, Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett.

Earle Stanley Gardner

(Perry Mason mysteries) lived in the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel.

Elizabeth George

(“In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner”) lives in Orange County.

Amy Gerstler

(“Crown of Weeds,” “Bitter Angel” and “Medicine”) lives in L.A., recites frequently at Beyond Baroque.

The Getty Center

Host numerous poetry readings and dramatic presentations.

Charlotte Gilman

(“The Yellow Wall Paper,” 1891) wrote from her home in Pasadena.

Sue Grafton

Lives in Santa Barbara, which is the model for the town Saint Teresa, home of her sleuth, Kinsey Millhone.

Zane Gray

(“Riders of the Sage”) lived in Altadena and kept a home in Avalon when the marlin were running.

Andrea Grossman

Runs the Writers Bloc literary series.

Chester B. Himes

Set “If He Hollers Let Him Go” in a Southern California shipyard during World War II.

David Horowitz

Is the author of “Radical Son” and “The Politics of Bad Faith.”

Arianna Huffington

(“How To Overthrow the Government”) lives in Brentwood.

Michelle Huneven

Set her novel “Round Rock” in Santa Barbara.

Aldous Huxley

Lived at 740 N. Kings road in Los Angeles.

Christopher Isherwood

Lived at 145 Adelaide Street in Santa Monica.

Pico Iyer

Spent a week living at LAX while researching “The Global Soul: Jet Lag, Shopping Malls, and the Search for Home.”

Helen Hunt Jackson

Author of “Ramona,” is honored at the annual Ramona festival held in Hemet.

Michael Jackson

Is host of one of L.A.’s most important radio shows devoted, in part, to books.

Russell Jacoby

(“The Last Intellectuals” and “The End of Utopia”) lives in Venice.

Robinson Jeffers

Lived throughout the city, most notably in Hermosa Beach, which he commemorated in the poem “At Playa Hermosa.”

Roland S. Jefferson

In his “The School on 103rd Street” examines the racial powder kegs of Los Angeles in the late 1970s.

Jonathan and Faye Kellerman

Live in Beverly Hills.

Jack Kerouac

Passed through Los Angeles, living in a hotel on Main Street.

Jonathan Kirsch (“Harlot by the Side of the Road,” “Moses”) writes the West Word column for The Times and broadcasts from 89.3-FM (KPCC).

Norman Klein

Is the author of “The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory.”

Dean Koontz

Lives in Orange County.

Judith Krantz

Set her Scruples boutique in Beverly Hills.

Paul Krassner

(“Impolite Interviews” edits the satirical magazine The Realist from his home in Venice.

Gavin Lambert

(“The Slide Area” and “Nazimova”) works in Hollywood.

The Lannan Foundation

Once hosted poetry readings in its poetry garden in Marina Del Rey.

Eric Lax

Is president of the PEN Center West.

Russell Leong

(“Country of Dreams and Dust”) lives in Los Feliz.

Hugh Lofting

Wrote “Dr. Doolittle” while living on Alexadria Avenue in Los Angeles.

Sandra Tsing Loh

(“If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home By Now”) lives in Van Nuys.

Anita Loos

Wrote “Gentleman Prefer Blondes.”

The Los Angeles Public Library

Hosts literary events throughout its 67 branches.

The Los Angeles Times Book Review

Is published from Time Mirror Square.

David Wong Louie

(“Pangs of Love” and “The Barbarians Are Coming”) lives in Venice.

Charles Lummis

Built his own home, El Alissal, off Avenue 43 in Highland Park.

Ross Macdonald

Wrote from his home in Santa Barbara.

Heinrich Mann

Author and brother of Thomas Mann, lived in Santa Monica

Thomas Mann

Lived at 1550 San Remo Drive in Pacific Palisades.

Larry Mantle’s

“Air Talk” broadcasts from 89.3-FM (KPCC) in Pasadena.

Horace McCoy

Set in his novel, “They Shoot Horses Don’t They?” on the Venice Pier.

Carey McWilliams

Former editor of The Nation and author of “Southern California: An Island on the Land,” lived for many years in Los Angeles.

Jack Miles

(“God: A Biography”) advises the president of the J. Paul Getty Trust.

Henry Miller

Wrote “The Air-Conditioned Nightmare” in the Gilbert Hotel in Hollywood.

Brian Moore

(The Magician’s Wife) lived in Malibu.

Walter Mosley

Made South Central the hang-out of Easy Rawlins and Socrates Fortlow.

Yxta Maya Murray’s

Second novel, “What It Takes to Get to Vegas,” is set in the boxing gyms of East L.A.

Carol Muske-Dukes

(“Red Trousseau” and “An Octave Above Thunder”) teaches at USC.

Musso & Frank

On Hollywood Boulevard was a favorite watering hole for Faulkner, Fitzgerald and Hemingway.

Gina Nahai

Is the author of “Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith”’ whose main character attends boarding school in Pasadena.

Michael Nava

Set his 1998 novel, “The Burning Plain,” in Los Angeles.

Anais Nin

Lived above Silver Lake.

Kem Nunn

Set his first novel, “Tapping the Source,” in Huntington Beach.

T. Jefferson Parker

(“Laguna Heat” and “Little Saigon”) has used Orange County as the primary locale for his novels.

Lawrence Powell

Was an essayist and librarian at UCLA.

Dennis Prager

Is an author and radio talk show host.

Steven Pressfield

(“Gates of Fire”) hails from Malibu.

Thomas Pynchon

Lived in the South Bay while finishing “The Crying of Lot 49.”

James Ragan

(“Lusions” and “The Hunger Wall”) runs the writing program at USC.

Ayn Rand

Lived in Hollywood.

Richard Rayner

(“Los Angeles Without a Map” lives in Venice.

John Rechy

Set “City of Night” and “The Coming of the Night” in Los Angeles.

Will Rogers

Built his home in Pacific Palisades.

Russ Rymer

(“American Beach”) ventured into Temple City to write his account of “Genie,” the wild child.

Ruben Salazar

Times reporter and columnist, was killed while covering a Chicano antiwar moratorium in Los Angeles in 1970.

Mark Salzman

(“Iron and Silk,” “The Soloist”) lives in Pasadena.

Thomas Sanchez

Wrote about the Sleepy Lagoon Murders, which took place at the corner of Slauson Avenue and Atlantic Boulevard.

John Sanford

(“A More Goodly Country,” “A Man Without Shoes” and “View From This Wilderness”) lives in Montecito.

Danny Santiago

Is the pseudonym of Daniel Lewis James, who wrote about life in East L.A. in “Famous All Over Town.”

Robert Scheer

Writes on politics and lives in Santa Monica.

Budd Schulberg

(“What Makes Sammy Run?”) helped start the Watts Writers’ Workshops.

Carolyn See

(“The Handyman,” “Dreaming” and “Golden Days”) chronicled the lives of the rich and indolent in Laurel Canyon.

Lisa See

Chronicled the lives of her family in the memoir “On Gold Mountain.”

David Shannon

Children’s author and illustrator (“No David”) lives in Burbank.

Sidney Sheldon

(“If Tomorrow Comes”) lives in Brentwood.

Robert Sherwood

A Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, wrote the screenplay for “The Best Years of Our Lives.”

Barry Siegel

(“The Perfect Witness”) is a Times reporter.

Michael Silverblatt

Broadcasts “Bookworm” from the studios of KCRW (89.9-FM).

Mona Simpson

“Anywhere But Here” lives in Pacific Palisades.

Upton Sinclair

Chronicled the oil industry of Signal Hill in the 1920s in his novel “Oil.”

The Skirball Cultural Center

Hosts numerous literary events.

April Smith

(“North of Montana”) lives in Santa Monica.

David St. John

(“The Red Leaves of Night”) lives in Venice and teaches at USC.

Kevin Starr

Is the California state librarian and author of a multi-volumne history of the California Dream.

Ronald Steel

Teaches at USC and is author of “Walter Lippmann and the American Century.”

Irving Stone

Wrote from his home in Beverly Hills.

Susan Straight

(“The Gettin Place”) lives in Riverside.

Sun & Moon Press

On Wilshire Boulevard is the city’s largest publishers.

Hector Tobar’s

“The Tattooed Soldier” is the story of two immigrants, mortal enemies in Guatemala, who meet by chance in MacArthur Park.

Michael Tolkin

is author of “The Player” and “Among the Dead.”

Dalton Trumbo

Lived Beverly Hills while he wrote “Johnny Got His Gun.”

Frederick Jackson Turner

Lived in Pasadena.

UCLA

Hosted the Los Angeles Times Book Festival since 1996.

Luis Valdez

Wrote the play, “Zoot Suit,” the story of L.A.’s Zoot Suit Riots.

Michael Ventura

(“The Death of Frank Sinatra” and “Letters at 3am: Reports on Endarkenment”) set “The Zoo Where You’re Fed to God” in the Los Angeles Zoo.

Gore Vidal

Lived on Outpost Drive while writing “Hollywood: A Novel of America.”

Salka Viertel

Conducted a roundtable salon from her home on Mayberry Road in Pacific Palisades.

Bruce Wagner

Wrote “Force Majeure” and “I’m Losing You.”

D.J. Waldie

Chronicled his life growing up in the suburbs of Lakewood in “Holy Land.”

Irving Wallace

Lived in Brentwood.

Joseph Wambaugh’s

onion fields were located in Bakersfield.

Evelyn Waugh

Satirized Forest Lawn in his novel “The Loved One.”

Charles Webb

(“Reading the Water”) teaches English at Cal State Long Beach.

Eugen Weber

Is a UCLA professor of history and writes the “LA Confidential” column for Book Review.

Benjamin Weissman

(“Dear Dead Person”) lives in L.A.

Jessamyn west

(“Friendly Persuasion”) grew up in Yorba Linda and attended Whittier College.

Nathanael West

(“Day of the Locust”) lived in the Parva-Sed apartments on Ivar Street in Hollywood.

John Morgan Wilson

(“Simple Justice”) lives in West Hollywood.

Geoffrey Wolff

(“The Duke of Deception” and “The Age of Consent”) manages the UC Irvine writing program.

Paula Woods

is the author of “Inner City Blues,” featuring LAPD homicide detective Charlotte Justice.

Xanadu

is the coffee house on Melrose where the Free Press got started.

Jake Zeitlin

Lived at the top of Echo Park Avenue while running one of the city’s most important bookstores, the Red Barn on La Cienega.