Eve's Hollywood (original: 1972; edição: 2015)

An evocative book full of the heat and endless summer of LA. Some childhood memories, some gossip about people famous and less so, some literary criticism. It's a little disjointed, mostly short vignettes, but good for reading bit by bit when you have a couple of spare minutes.

Rereading Eve's Hollywood [1974] reawakened many memories in me and compelled me to realize that so much of the Los Angeles that I adore was probably imbued within me before I ever lived there: I imbibed it all from this novelistic memoir! You see, I lived in San Diego when I read this, not realizing that a sub-text inside all of the vignettes and character studies was a screed against the East Coast literati who held the miraculous City of Angels in contempt (or was this pure envy?). Its many chapters contain studied portraits of famous characters who are hidden behind nom de plumes. There are asides about places (Angel's Flight) or comfort foods (taquitos). And then there are the longer yarns, peopled with Manson Family members or great painters and composers (Ruscha or Stravinsky) coupled with rockers like Gram Parsons or Mick Jagger. Now, there was a time in 1992 [WARNING: Name Drop Alert!] when I met Eve Babitz. You see, I knew she would be turning up at this literary soiree, so I brought my first editions with me and I 'ambushed' her. Little did I know, having not read her recent biography, that she has been known to tell her literary fans to "Beat it" and point to the door. In my case, as I shyly approached her, books and pen in hand, she turned to her friend Carolyn See and said, "Look Carolyn! This wonderful young man has all of my books!" (Much later I realized, seeing that her characterization of me was a half-truth, that good a writer as she was, she clearly was a bad judge of character!) All of my books, all inscribed and treasured, went out of print as new generations took the literary stage. But the cream always rises to the top, and, book by book, Eve Babitz's oeuvre is back in print and she has gone from being once a glamorous and talented scenester to a literary icon! ( )

Casually honest and eminently readable tale of life in Hollywood.
Writing style is simple yet engaging, with occasional bursts of truly poetic descriptions.
Worth reading if for only her description of kids dancing The Choke in gym class. ( )

Everyone is into Eve Babitz now because of a biography out this year. Or maybe there’s a new biography because everyone is into her now.

Either way, being unfamiliar with her other than as the woman in the nude playing chess against Marcel Duchamp in the famous photo, I tried her first collection. It’s pretty good, but I guess if we had to choose between ‘70s California women memoirists/essayists, I’d say I’m on Team Didion. Nevertheless, I do admire someone who tells her high school guidance counselor that her chosen career is “adventuress.”

If you could choose the time and place in all of history to best enjoy your adolescence in peace and prosperity, it would be hard to come up with something better than 1950s and 60s Los Angeles.

Her literary judgment is sound: she gives perceptive endorsements of Powell, Trollope, and James. ( )

Devoured as if taquitos. ( )