Los Angeles past and present is the focus of this accomplished, entertaining collection of short stories, poems and essays. Among the unforgettable characters are a faded actress planning a media hoax, a would-be entertainment mogul, a young Midwest widow in love with Dean Martin, an ambitious newscaster, a cranky film director and a pigeon who doubles as a talent agent. The comically bizarre settings include a Las Vegas coffee shop, a university department devoted to Marilyn Monroe studies, a junior high science fair and a swimming raft off the coast of Malibu.

Varied in tone and theme, the pieces are linked by an unfailing eye for detail and a fondness for the absurd. This is a Los Angeles, according to the introduction, of “dreamers, hustlers, artists, visionaries, eccentrics and a considerable number of ordinary working people who have come west to reinvent themselves.”