LAist Interview: Michelle Markel

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Los Angeles may not be dreamy all of the time, but the area certainly seems to inhabit the dreams of Angelenos and non-Angelenos alike. Local writer Michelle Markelcollected her favorite LA landmarks and wrote “Dream Town,” an illustrated book for children about a grandma telling her snowbound grandchildren about her days living in a magical land called Southern California, highlighting the best in LA's unique architecture in the process.

Michelle has a couple of readings scheduled at Los Angles publiclibraries this summer, along with a 3-D art project for the kids (in which they create their own pop-up programmatic restaurant). She'll be at the Sunland Tujunga branch on July 19 at 1 PM and the Studio City Branch on August 29 at 4 PM.

Tomorrow, we'll post a few pages from the book and solicit your ideas for LA landmarks or scenes to include in your own version of "Dream Town."

Age and Occupation:
Middle-aged. Writer.

How long have you lived in Los Angeles, and which neighborhood do you live in?
I’m a hardy native. Though I prefer moist coastal zones, I can tolerate the extreme temperatures in the West San Fernando Valley, where I now live.

Why do you live in Los Angeles?
Because my family is here, particularly my husband, who teaches anthropology locally.

Why did you write the book "Dream Town"?
There are lots of kid’s books that rhapsodize about the heartland, the mountains, islands, Paris, San Francisco and especially New York City (the navel of the publishing industry). No one had written a book about the giant donuts, witches cottages, castles, tiki apartments of my hometown. I thought there was a place for a children’s book about L.A- not about the landmarks per se, but about a child’s response to them. It’s my valentine to the city. All that fantasy and creativity was empowering- I internalized it.

What landmarks did you want to include but could not?
Tragically, Grauman's Chinese Theater didn't make the final cut. Space considerations. I love that place- it's holy. You can feel the ghosts hovering above the prints in the cement.

How did you make your selection of landmarks to include?
My childhood haunts insisted on being in the story. Others were included if they helped create the picture of a "dream town." (The plot concerns a grandmother who tells her grandson she grew up in a fantasyland.).By the time adults get to the line "there was a stack of records high as the sky", they figure out grandma is talking about Capitol Records, and that the book is a kind of "roman a clef" about L.A. sights.

What is your favorite LA landmark?
I'll go with the Theme Building, blushing at night in its glowing space age splendor. (Also for sentimental reasons-my dad was a lifelong mechanic at LAX.)

What's your favorite movie(s) or TV show(s) that are based in LA and why?
I liked Six Feet Under for many reasons, especially for the spot-on L.A. characters.-those Topanga free-spirits, the self-absorbed artists, the bored rich housewives... The funny thing is that I know a local mortician who never watched the show.

Best LA-themed book(s) and why?
Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat. She writes about L.A. like a lover would, the way it tastes, smells, feels on your skin. You don't just read about Los Angeles in her books, you ingest it. On a darker, seedier note, I like the breathless, Beats-like language of John Fante's Ask the Dust, and its evocation of the city in the 1930's, earthquakes and all.

What's the best place to walk in LA?
The beach (winter, late afternoon, weekdays). Second place goes to Hollywood near Highland during a protest march. You got your Latinos in black t-shirts from the Eastside, the greybeard boomers from the Westside, the hipsters from in between, Bush effigies tilting in the air, and from the curb, Marilyn Monroe or maybe Shrek, flashing you the peace sign....

What's your beach of choice?
There's a spot in Malibu you can get to by an underground tunnel behind the fire station (before they changed the public access rules, anyway). Usually deserted.

What is the "center" of LA to you?
L.A. has no center.. The only thing that unifies us is the weather and the freeways. When the Santa Ana's set the hills on fire, or we're all stuck in one variation of the same traffic jam, does our heart not beat as one?

If you could live in any neighborhood or specific house in LA,where/which would you choose?
The Hollywood Hills. A Case Study House.

People stereotype Los Angeles as a hard place to find personal connections and make friends. Do you agree with that assessment? Do you find it challenging to make new friends here?
I've met lots of like-minded people, but they're scattered to the four corners of the county. So it can take a lot of commitment- so many hours of driving- to develop and sustain relationships.

What is the city's greatest secret?
Here's a little secret. During the Blessing of the Animals at Olvera St. (a great scene- not just for Catholics or Latinos. All kinds of folk bring their bunnies, turtles, dogs and cats tricked out with bows and bonnets for Easter) the restaurants let you dine with your pets, and you can you sip a margarita while flirting with the cute iguana at the next table.

What do you have to say to East Coast supremacists?
I'd say they've got better bagels, pizza and theater. The crappy weather makes them cultivate their wit. We've got giant donuts, a drop-dead gorgeous coastline, and better indie radio. And the muses whisper screenplays in our ears.

Where do you want to be when the Big One hits?
At the zoo. The animals will sense it coming, and tip me off. We'll find a safe spot to ride it out in Griffith Park.