CITY AT THE EDGE OF FOREVER Los Angeles Reimagined

Peter Lunenfeld offers a well-researched, engaging, and creative portrait and history of Los Angeles, though in aspects it is rather surface in style. Kaleo Griffith's narration is evocative, young sounding, and entirely appropriate to the task at hand. The performance is particularly measured in dealing with matters of racial prejudice that Tinseltown has in its heritage. With appropriate pacing and modulation, Griffith assists Lunenfeld with building a psychological portrait of the Golden State. Lunenfeld, vice chair of the Design Media Arts division of UCLA, does not wander far from that artistic perspective in the sum of his text. The abbreviated histories of personages and places as varied as Bruce Lee and the Sunset Strip will entertain and amuse, but for those familiar with the subjects the book brings little new. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2020]