A middle-aged man living in Los Angeles takes a business trip to San Francisco, where he lived, briefly but intensely, when he was just out of high school. Over the course of a long afternoon and evening, he confronts the echoes of his history in the patterns of the streets he obsessively wanders. A strange interaction with a couple of old friends brings him face-to-face with his unfinished past.
Seismologist Charlie Richter, grandson of the inventor of the Richter scale, knows earthquakes, and has a method for predicting them. Arriving in Los Angeles to begin work at the Center for Earthquake Studies, a mysterious agency that seems more Hollywood than science, Charlie settles into his new life. His only distraction from work is Grace, an assistant to a powerful producer, and her deadbeat scriptwriter boyfriend Ian.It's only a matter of time before Charlie sees the «Big One» looming...
In <I>Sidewalking</I>, David L. Ulin offers a compelling inquiry into the evolving landscape of Los Angeles. Part personal narrative, part investigation of the city as both idea and environment, <I>Sidewalking</I> is many things: a discussion of Los Angeles as urban space, a history of the city’s built environment, a meditation on the author’s relationship to the city, and a rumination on the art of urban walking. Exploring Los Angeles through the soles of his feet, Ulin...
