So much has changed in Los Angeles that today you won't get a feel for Bukowski or where he lived at any of the apartments he lived in or places he frequented (or places that claim he frequented them). Carlton Way is gone, and the neighborhoods have changed quite a bit around the apartments and homes that are still there.
The Longwood house looks the same, but the freeway - which wasn't there in Bukowski's time - is so close you can hear it. You can't even see the house in San Pedro from the street, so all you'll get there is a great view of some shrubbery and a bunch of longshoremen's families looking at you through their curtains.
Los Angeles has a certain begrudging amount of respect for history, and the city was cajoled into making the DeLongpre apartment into a landmark (much to the chagrin of the owner, who had to put a fence around the place to keep hipsters at bay), but respecting history in one place here or there doesn't stop the surrounding area from changing, and this city is all about change.
Los Angeles isn't like an old European city where you can stand on the street in front of the house where Mozart was circumcised or Shakespeare was invented and still be surrounded by period buildings and streets and might be able to imagine what things must have been like. Can't do that here. Anywhere. That might seem like hyperbole, but I speak the truth. So help me L. Ron Hubbard.
I don't believe that visiting Los Angles today is going to give you any insight into Bukowski or the world he lived in. I know that some who have come here from far away lands would disagree, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Come to Los Angeles, by all means, it's the greatest city in the world (that's been proven and verified by science, look it up), just leave your expectations at the door and you'll have a good time.
