Nobody Reads in L.A. Book Club Kick-Off

I suspect Lucinda Williams was not talking about Arturo Bandini when she sang, "Some kind of savior singing the blues/A derelict in your duct tape shoes," but the fictional poet laureate of Bunker Hill is definitely one of L.A.'s homegrown drunken angels.

If you're into the literature of Los Angeles, particularly those downtrodden realms haunted by the likes of John Fante and Charles Bukowski, stop by the inaugural meeting of Nobody Reads in L.A. at Lost Souls next Wednesday, June 13 at 7pm.

The first book up for discussion is John Fante's Ask the Dust, and I hear tell that if you're a "friend of Bandini," Metropolis Books will hook you up with a little discount on this classic.

Also, you can check out photos of the house where Fante wrote Ask the Dust here. The Koreatown duplex at 826 Berendo is currently inhabited by squatters and slated for demolition, but there is a movement afoot to have a historic marker placed there. After all, a section of Berendo is named for another notable L.A. figure, L. Ron Hubbard. It would only be fair to honor the legacy of somebody who was actually cool.