My book club wants to tackle California
 

My well travelled book club wants to do a literary tour of California next fall. I am tasked with putting together the plan. I know we want to do Jack London and John Steinbeck sights for sure. My question is, what all else is out there? So, if you know of any author homes, author graves, amazing libraries or book stores, locations from iconic books, monuments, statues, etc .., please comment. We are planning on the last week of September 2017. Number of days flexible. Starting and ending in San Francisco but we don't mind driving all over for a good bookish sight.

The Donner Party. Head up to Donner Lake to the memorial. There are several Donner cabin sites in the area. Plus, it will be a a beautiful time of year in the Sierras.

You might have a look at Armistead Maupin, who many consider the definitive latter-day SF author (Tales of the City, et al).

That sounds like a cool idea.

Don't forget Jack Kerouac, he can get you to San Francisco, Big Sur and the Sierras.

I found these, Googling for "California literary attractions:
https://www.seemonterey.com/things-t...iterary-sites/
http://bookriot.com/2014/02/02/liter...fornias-coast/

If you visit the Donner site, this is the book to read beforehand, IMO:
https://www.amazon.com/Ordeal-Hunger.../dp/0395611598

http://www.pw.org/content/los_angeles?cmnt_all=1

You might find this web site interesting about many of the writers from Los Angeles and she includes famous bookstores, etc.


>>Like many people in Los Angeles, I came here from somewhere else—Rhode Island, by way of New Hampshire—and the city’s beauty, its hugeness, urbanness, and unknowableness made me stay. I still don’t know all of Los Angeles, because however well mapped, well photographed, and well chronicled, it’s a city that is also eminently up for reinvention. That’s a trope about those who come here too—that the West Coast in general, and Hollywood in particular, is a place for reinventing yourself—and if it’s a tired truth for people, it’s what draws them here. Raymond Chandler, Joan Didion, Nathanael West, John Fante, Charles Bukowski, Chester Himes, Ross Macdonald, Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury—even those typically associated with other regions of the country—William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Aldous Huxley, all were informed by the city, some in ways that became evident in their work. Perhaps the writers who carry on that tradition today—Mona Simpson, Gary Phillips, Susan Straight, Marisa Silver, Rachel Kushner, Mark Danielewski, Salvador Plascencia, T. C. Boyle, Michael Jaime-Becerra, Aimee Bender, Carolyn See, Jane Smiley, Percival Everett, Alex Espinoza, and Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, among others—are also drawn to this city’s constant revision, its moving parts intersecting in unexpected ways.

While my job is to write about books and literary culture for the Los Angeles Times, I often find new venues and attractions along the way. I don’t think I will ever know all of this vast metropolis or the endless riches it has to offer.>>

You might enjoy La Jolla, home to Dr. Seuss (Ted Giesel)!

Also:

- Jack Kerouac (Big Sur)
- Mark Twain (The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County)
- Dashiell Hammett (wrote most of his detective fiction while he was living in San Francisco in the 1920s, streets locations in SF frequently mentioned.)
- Raymond Chandler (Los Angeles)
- Robert Louis Stevenson (Napa Valley, The Silverado Squatters)
- Lisa See (LA Chinatown)
- Nathanael West (Day of the Locust, LA)

While it's been remodeled from it's former funky glory, City Lights Bookstore (home of the beats), 261 Columbus Ave, SF. Have lunch at Brandy Ho's on the corner.

Nanabee's link is fantastic...here's the lesser relative I found:

http://fathomaway.com/guides/usa/los...es-california/


Of personal interest to me (possibly not for your group):

"Farewell to Manzanar" and Manzanar Historic Site

John Muir's writings, Yosemite, Sequoia, John Muir Historic Site

Plaque at Mission Santa Barbara in memory of the girl from O'Dell's Island of Blue Dolphins"

If you're seussian, go to UCSD and its eponymous Seuss library.

There are lots of books about California that are not those old writers. FOr example, Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion. I love Carolyn See's works, also:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/bo...ies-at-82.html

If course you have Raymond Chandler's LA noir books, or later Ross MacDonald. The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh is another classic.

Tortilla Curtain by TC BOyle is a good one. https://www.amazon.com/Tortilla-Curt.../dp/014023828X

I really liked The Nowhere City by Alison Lurie (novel), also, but that's not totally LA, a novel about contrast in East Coast and LA

https://www.amazon.com/Nowhere-City-...s=nowhere+city

Now those were for book reading ideas. Plenty of sites from them or Ellroys' works. Or Nathaniel West, Day of the Locusts (Hollywood)--he wrote it while staing in Chateau Marmont.

Charles Bukowski became well-known, he wrote novels and poetry. A site attached to him would be the LA Central Library which is amazing as he spent a lot of time there, and wrote about it http://www.lapl.org/branches/central-library

William Faulkner used to hang out in the bar in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. A lot of authors hung out at Musso and Frank Grill in Hollywood, also (Faulkner, Dorothy Parker, Kurt Vonnagut, F Scott Fitzgerald, as well as Bukowski).
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/22/us...od-ending.html

I'm sure there must be some authors' homes on some housing tour in LA but don't know of one offhand.

I used to live in LA a long time so tend to know more down there. Pasadena has a good bookstore, Vroman's http://www.vromansbookstore.com/

There is a monument to Robert Louis Stevenson in San Francisco, in Portsmouth Square, located in Chinatown.

Oh excellent suggestions everyone! I am checking out all the links and ideas. I will post the final plan once I get it nailed own. We have read many of the authors mentioned so those would be good connections to add in to the older authors.

Keep the suggestions coming.

As a huge fan of Raymond Chandler (as my profile confirms), there's so much out there to see in Southern California for this iconic writer. While he spent a good number of years working and writing in LA, he ended up (and wrote about) La Jolla, where he died. In La Jolla, you could visit and have lunch at the La Valencia Hotel's former Whaling Bar (where he spent more than a ridiculous amount of time) that is now the Café la Rue. You could visit Mount Hope cemetery in San Diego, where Chandler was buried (later, his wife, was buried with him on Valentine's day).

Musso & Frank's on Hollywood Blvd., between Highland & Vine, remains a legendary restaurant and bar that houses, in the back room (the "secret room") the likes of Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner and so forth. Well worth a visit and a perfect martini with a side car. A few years ago the back room was reopened and called the "Writer's Room" . . . a bar that was not affiliated with M&F, and it paid homage to these memorable writing talents. But it closed down a year or so ago. So back to Musso & Franks.

If you can find the book "Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles", it provides a wonderful pictorial of places Chandler talked about in his books, along with great back stories. There's also maps available and, yes, even TOURS of Chandler's haunts available. Goldstar sells discount tickets of Esotouric Bus at the Daily Dose, which does the periodic Chandler tour. Fascinating!

For Steinbeck, check out Cannery Row in Monterey. There is a statue where Doc was killed.

Calaveras County, for Mark Twain's "Jumping Frog."

If you're interested in Jack London, then Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen is a must. We went there earlier in the year, and here is my report with photos. Be sure and take the free guided tour, which gives you more info on London and his remarkable life.

<B>http://travelswithmaitaitom.com/22755-2/</B>

((H))

I agree Jack London State Park is a must.

If you are spending time in SF maybe check this out http://www.7x7.com/a-literary-walkin...787172886.html

I can't believe that Ross MacDonald is referenced at Fodors! One of my all time favorite detective series. In the 1980s Bantam re-printed his books in paperbacks with gorgeous graphics on the covers. Even though I had already read the books twice, I bought the whole series just for the covers. Still on my book shelf.

Wow, all these links are good and some are absolutely fantastic! Thanks so much.

surfergirl: >>You could visit Mount Hope cemetery in San Diego, where Chandler was buried (later, his wife, was buried with him on Valentine's day).>>

I had no idea!! I drove past Mt. Hope cemetery every morning for a teaching position I took in May and June. Next time I'm in that community I'll have to check it out.