Walking In L.A.

We were up early and driving to thrift shops around the city, then into downtown, where we parked and had coffee. The actual city of Los Angeles was rarely depicted in film, but it was a city, skyscrapers and pedestrian traffic with vendors and beggars, with lawyers and pick-pockets and steel edges. We walked the steps of Angels Flight, and my heart was blown to bits by the music in Arturo Bandini, the life of Fante’s words. All of Los Angeles in the afternoon, the working hours, when the city was less molested and timeless, a black and white lens.