Dark Downtown Tunnel | Photo by ericcastro via Flickr Tuesday Laura Dave presents and signs The Divorce Party 7pm @ Book Soup Garth Stein discusses and signs The Art of Racing in the Rain 7pm @ Vroman's Alix Strauss presents Have I Got a Guy for You 7pm @ Borders, Hollywood Preeta Samsarasan presents Evening is the Whole Day 7:30pm @ Borders, The Grove Gary Panter discusses Gary Panter with Matt Groening 7:30pm @......

Incredible detail and artistry can be seen in this giant Koran If old and rare books are your thing, you're in luck this weekend. The 41st California International Antiquarian Book Fair opens at 2pm today and runs through Sunday. Ever wanted a first edition of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep? Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451? The first three Harry Potter books? This is your chance! Over 200 exhibitors from all over the globe will be......

LA readings and book signings around town for January 28th - Februar 3rd including Judith Freeman, Ron Jeremy, Tamara Jenkins, Mary McNamara, Sam Jones and Tom Dolby....

The week in Los Angeles bookish events from Monday, January 7th - Sunday, January 13th. Readings, signings and bookish events this week include Andy Summers, Jami Attenberg, Judith Freeman, Alice Fulton, J.A. Jance and Robert Gottlieb....

Craby Joe's has been at the corner of 7th and Main in Downtown LA since 1933, and earned its place in local lore as a watering hole near and dear to the well-known downtrodden of the literary scene, like John Fante and Charles Bukowski. In honor of the bar's closing night, there will be a gathering of local historians and preservationists, and anyone else wishing to hoist a memorial last drink at Craby Joe's from......

The Guardian has an irritating blog post about LA writers. The gist: LA poet and novelist Rob Woodard wonders where all the good novelists in LA have gone. He points to the well-known "great" LA writers (Chandler, Nathaniel West, John Fante, Bukowski) and a few others, then deems LA literature mostly dead for the past thirty years. His reasoning? Would-be novelists have been lured by Hollywood into screenwriting and joke-writing for the late night shows.......

Judith Freeman's just-out book, The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and The Woman He Loved is a must-read for any Angeleno worth their salt. Why? Not only does Freeman detail the fascinating life of Chandler, one of L.A.'s most famous writers, but she documents, researches and visits almost every one of the thirty-five homes he lived in during his life in Southern California. Twenty-four of those homes are in Los Angeles. Twenty-four! Chandler and his wife......

Monday Shalom Auslander presents Foreskin's Lament 7pm @ Vroman's Valerie Plame Wilson presents Fair Game 7pm @ Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Long Beach Barbara Firestone presents Autism Heroes 7pm @ Dutton's Slash presents Slash 7pm @ Borders, Torrance Lawrence Wright presents The Looming Tower 7:30pm @ UCLA Tuesday David Plante, with host Mark Danielewski, presents ABC 7pm @ Book Soup Michael Lent presents Christmas Letters from Hell 7pm @ Vroman's Tommy Lasorda & Bill Plaschke......

If you leave any lights on tonight between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., your house is going to burn down because the DWP is going to oversurge the system to punish people who hate the environment. Just kiddin', but keep Lights Out LA in mind when the clock strikes eight. If you put your mind to it, anything can happen, right? Ventura County's chief executive, Johnny Johnston who is retiring, is credited with returning......

Monday James Rollins presents The Judas Strain 7pm @ Vroman's Tuesday Jonathan Selwood presents Pinball Theory of the Apocalypse 7pm @ Book Soup Patricia Bunin and contributors sign The Bigger the Better, the Tighter the Sweater 7pm @ Dutton's Wednesday Kristin Gore presents Sammy's House 7pm @ Vroman's Gustavo Arellano & Sam Quinones present Ask a Mexian & Antonio's Gun and Delfino's Dream 7pm @ Book Soup Thursday Vincent Bugliosi presents Reclaiming History 7pm......

Here’s the thing: this book isn’t even out yet. But because we live in Los Angeles, and this book is about Los Angeles, you’re in luck. We’re all in luck. Denise Hamilton and the bevy of supremely talented noir writers that contributed stories to this book are signing all over town this week. And the book will be, yes, you guessed it – available for signing at the readings two weeks before the rest of......

A Word Or 29: Slim pickins tonight my friends. I'm half inclined to just park it in front of TCM for a night of private eye flicks (Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Mike Hammer). Tonight - Tuesday - March 6th, 2007 Lakers @ Timberwolves (KCAL, 5:00 p.m) Kings @ Blackhawks (Fox Sports, 5:30 p.m.) The Big Sleep (TCM, 7:00 p.m.) Bogie as Philip Marlowe in this classic Raymond Chandler private eye flick, directed by Howard......

The quirky author of L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia, and the film "Cop", was interviewed yesterday in the New York Times to promote his upcoming involvement in a CourtTV series which will analyze the unsolved murder of his mother. Far more interesting, however, is Ellroy's dry wit. Although it is true that the author (who lived in LA for most of his life except for the last few years when he moved to Kansas)......

- Yes there is a marching band called The Santa Ana Winds - Yes, Raymond Chandler wrote this about the winds in "Red Wind": "those hot dry [winds] that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks.......

Alfred Hitchcock fans are in seventh heaven this month, thanks to the Egyptian Theatre’s series, “Hitchcockian: The Master & His Disciples.” For the next three weeks, the Egyptian will screen some of Hitch’s most lauded – and some lesser known – films, which will then be paired with other movies that paid homage to, stole from or mocked the master of suspense. The series kicks off tonight at 7:30 with 1951’s Strangers on a......

Step into Union Station on Alameda Street and be immediately transported into the world of Dashiell Hammet or Raymond Chandler: It just smells of old pulp fiction. The train station, which was built in 1939, blends the art deco with Spanish style tilework and evokes a noirish world -- or at least Lifehouse's "You and Me" video (filmed here and at the Roosevelt). Amid the hustle and bustle of the busy station is an......

Rodger Jacobs is an author, journalist, documentary producer, blogger and familiar gadfly in the LA blogosphere. He has just published his latest project about one of Los Angeles's most well known murder cases in the 80s. Called the Wonderland Killings, the brutal murder of 4 people in a Laurel Canyon home gained even more noteriety when authorities discovered that porn star John Holmes had played a mysterious role in the case. Age and Occupation:......

Ah, the first day of fall is upon us. The leaves are starting to change. A brisk, cool breeze from the north presages winter's chill. Pro football is in full swing... Sorry. For a minute there we thought we were back East (yes, we admit it, LAist is a transplant). Not that we want to go back. We love LA. Hell, we moved out here with a dream to be a weblog, and LA......