Los Angeles locations (would really apreciate anyone's help) (1 Viewer)

[glottis]

Hi everyone; new to this forum

So I'm planning to make a "Bukowski's tour of LA" short film

I want to shoot around the locations and also have a voice-over of quotes. Does anyone know any quotes from any of his novels, short stories, poems or interviews were he specifically mentions anywhere in LA ?

Thanks in advance if anyone can help,

Chris

 

[skiroomalum]

You should have really used the "please do my homework for me" section of the website for this request.

 

[glottis]

I certainly don't want to upset you or anyone else on here, but that just seems like such a strange response

I thought the entire concept of an internet forum was people asking each other questions?... there are almost 400 threads in the "name that poem" section of people asking for help

If you're a moderator and this goes against a rule then fair enough, but that seems pretty unlikely

 

[mjp]

I certainly don't want to upset you or anyone else...

Don't worry about that. If you want to be a filmmaker as a profession or art or whatever, I certainly hope you learn to allow yourself to upset people. If you aren't upsetting someone somehow, you're doing art wrong.


Anyway, the problem with your idea isn't that you need quotes, it's that the Los Angeles Bukowski lived in doesn't exist anymore. Half of the buildings may still be standing, but to get an idea of Bukowski's Los Angeles, or capture it on film (or whatever you use instead of film these days) I think you'll need a time machine more than a camera.

You may get something personal out of visiting some of those spots, or you may not, but filming most of them - I'm not sure what that's going to leave you with, other than a modern impression of a place that's almost four decades removed from the time Bukowski lived in it. 39 years is a long time in Los Angeles.

HBO premiered a show last night called The Deuce, and when I heard they were setting the show in Times Square circa 1971 I wondered how the hell they were going to pull that off, considering how much New York City has changed since then. It turns out they had to move 122 blocks north, to Washington Heights, to find a spot that looked like Times Square looked 46 years ago. I think to catch the Los Angeles that Bukowski lived in on film you'd have to do the same thing. Find another spot far away from Hollywood to stand-in for the Hollywood that used to be.


If your goal is not to capture the Los Angeles that Bukowski lived in on film, then ignore everything I just said. Maybe ignore me anyway, as a general rule, that's probably smart, and go make something that will upset me and all the other nerds here. Then you'll have something.

 

[glottis]

haha, thanks for the response mjp, that cracked me up

I totally get what your saying about modern LA but I'll probably still go ahead with this plan

I've worked a few entry level jobs in TV and now want to build a show-reel to take to interviews. I personally would get a kick out of seeing all the obvious sights (childhood home, post office, etc) and I may as well do something I'm really interested in... but essentially its more about how it's shot and edited than subject matter... and I feel like it would be a good challenge to find a way to make it interesting even with all the gentrification

that said I do like your idea about finding less developed parts of LA to capture the ''feel''... I'll have a think about that as well

 

[skiroomalum]

Didn't mean to sound upset. I'm just confused as to why you're doing a Bukowski film project and seem totally
unfamiliar with his work, or where to find quotes that fit your needs. Really open almost any Bukowski book
of poetry published between 1960-1996 and they'll be right there...and there.

 

[glottis]

Ok mate, no worries

as far as being familiar with his work goes - I've read the 6 novels, 6 short story collections and 2 poetry collections (much bigger fan of his prose) ... but that's been over a few years and it's not like I have the memory to be able to say "oh yeah, he mentioned that road name on page 179 of Hot Water Music", etc

I recently read a poem where he mentioned a restaurant called Philippe's that is still open... but that was the first time he'd mentioned a specific location in about half the book, so it's a hell of a lot to read. So I figured in the mean time, there may be one or two people here that remembers something they've read... anyway hope that explains where I'm coming from better

 

[mjp]

Philippe's is probably the only place that still looks the same after 50 years. And it's right across the street from the Post Office Terminal Annex where he sorted mail for 12 years, so two birds there.

 

[Black Swan]

I had to look it up.