Los Angeles in the 1970s Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine

The 1970s were a heyday for Los Angeles. Hollywood was being revolutionized, the music business was booming, and authors like Joan Didion were producing great novels about the realities of living in the land of eternal sunshine. In Los Angeles in the 1970s great writers muse on the city in its classic decade. Featuring John Densmore on being a rock star, Matthew Specktor's reflections on The Z Channel, Deanne Stillman on the desert, and many, many more.

This is an insider's look at what being an Angeleno was then and is now.

Anyone with interest in the music industry or film industry of the 1970s will love Los Angeles in the 1970s. It will also appeal to anyone who loves the history of Laurel Canyon, reading about the ever-changing culture and landscape of Southern California, and those that just want to read new and established writers.

Debra Wacks—the first all-women installation art piece in LA; Samantha Geimer—Roman Polanski; Dana Johnson—first hand encounter with the SLA house; Jeremy Rosenberg—Anthony Davis, the USC tailback that succeeded OJ Simpson; Jillian Franklyn—teenage promiscuity in the 1970s; Steve Hodel—1970s Hollywood Hills swing house turned kidnapping; Geza X—producing LA punk icons.

A graduate of Columbia University and UCLA Film School, David Kukoff has eleven produced film and television credits to his name. He has written for every studio and network in Hollywood, has published two books on film and television writing, and has been the subject of features.

John Densmore—"LA Woman Redux," The Doors in the 1970s
Luis J. Rodriguez—"What Needed Screwing Got Screwed," industrial Los Angeles in the 1970s
Joe Donnelly—"Venice Bohemia: From Abbot Kinney to the Z-Boys"
Dana Johnson—"March 1974," first hand encounter with the SLA house
Deanne Stillman—"From the Desert to the Sea: First Hand Encounters With Los Angeles," Didion-esque musings through adventures in the desert
Lynne Friedman—"Hamburgers, Hemorrhages, and Haute Cuisine"
Joel Drucker—"The Making of a (Tennis) Player," sports and sex in the 1970s
Howard Gerwitz—"Ritam Bhara Pragya," a young meditator moves to Hollywood
Ken Levine—"Me? I've Got a Pilot.," breaking into the LA TV 'biz'
Geza X—"Shitty Lead Guitarist Takes California By Storm," producing LA punk icons in the 1970s
Mitch Schneider—"Merging Worlds: Los Angeles, 1979," a New Yorker moves to LA
Jillian Franklyn—"I Was an Illegal"
Bruce Ferber—"Bright Lights, B-City," working in B pictures
Matthew Specktor—"Last Button on the Left: The Late, Great Z Channel"
Michael Lazarou—"Heart of Darkness: How Dr. Demento Saved My Bony, White Ass"
Lynell George—"For Now"
Susan Hayden—"Borrowing Sugar," a poem about growing up around celebrities
David Kukoff—"It Was Fun While It Lasted... an Oral History of the Innovative Program School"
Rick McCloskey—"Cruising Van Nuys Neighborhood"
Chip Jacobs—"Snake vs. Wolf," the Esalen cult
Anthony Davis and Jeremy Rosenberg—"The Notre Dame Killer," the USC tailback that succeeded OJ Simpson
Del Zamora—"The Day Three Chicanos Died"
Erica Lyons and Debra Wacks—"Snapshots: Seventies Performance Art in LA," the first all-women installation artpiece in LA
Joy Picus—"Running For City Council in the 1970s"
Samantha Geimer—"Just An Ordinary Girl," Roman Polanski
Bob Chinn—"Johnny Wadd: Origins," first encounters with John Holmes
Steve Hodel—"The Snake and Bake Murder," 1970s Hollywood Hills swinghouse turned kidnapping and dead bodies in the desert
Jim Natal—"A Few, Mostly True Things About LA"
Tom Teicholz—When Reality was a Joke: the Making of Albert Brooks’
“Real Life” (1979)