1995 Crime thriller featuring diverse LA characters including an FBI agent, a fading drug-addicted movie star, celebrity physician, local politicians and Central American immigrants. Wow. Actually, NOMO (North of Montana as we call it here in South Santa Monica) really isn’t that exciting.

Success story about the rise and fall of a Jewish boy from New York's Lower East Side. It was made into a long-running Broadway musical. Some feel this is the most honest story ever written about Hollywood. Regardless, it is a story of modern success that applies not only to Hollywood but to all walks of life.

1936 Comic novel set in Hollywood in the early 1930s presenting a humorous look at the film industry especially child stars. Many would-be screenwriters and actors are hunting for jobs in this depression era story, but the book is not serious or critical.

1955 Takes place in the 50s in a California desert town like Palm Springs, populated by rich and powerful Hollywood people,

1935 pulp fiction story of Gloria and Robert as they participate in a marathon dance contest at La Monica Ballroom on Santa Monica pier. Distinguished by a vivid portrait of depression-era Marathon Dances, gritty tone and desperate characters. Metaphor for the life of the powerless where the only certainty is death. Murder, incest, abortion, misery and despair make for grim reading.