Glendale resident Johnny Allina’s first book is inspired by time as apartment manager

Local author Johnny Allina knew since he was a boy in grade school that he wanted to be a writer.

“At the end of high school, I started taking literature classes, then went to Bennington College and studied with like-minded, creative types,” the Glendale resident said.

Since then, Allina has written for several publications, did in-house copywriting for Hilton Worldwide and collaborated with film directors.

While writing for others was challenging, it nonetheless limited Allina’s creative outlet. After his wife introduced him to work as an extra in the entertainment industry, he had more flexibility to write.

Meanwhile, he worked as a property manager at an apartment complex in Glendale, where he was exposed to a slew of different personalities.

“As a building manager, I interacted with all these people. Every person was a window into another world. The setting of Glendale, which is just out of Hollywood, is in a way, another world in itself. The building had a certain noirish vibe,” Allina said.

Inspired by real-life events, Allina’s first book, “The Dryden Arms: House of Despair, A Comedy,” is about an aspiring novelist named Rupert, who is laid off from his corporate hotel-copywriting job and moves to Glendale, seeking a more peaceful backdrop to write a book.

Meanwhile, Rupert works as a resident manager in an apartment building called the Dryden Arms, where he handles the issues and relationships of residents and inadvertently gets a closer look at humanity and all the quirks of the many people he encounters.

Allina admits that Rupert is an extension of himself, and many of his characters were inspired by the tenants he met.

“The characters didn’t always function well in the outside world. You started to see people who are alone for a while and how it affects them. Then you have lovely people, an elderly gentleman — nothing wrong with him — but because he didn’t have an easy-going way, people dismissed him. But he and I became very close friends,” Allina said.

While some of the tenants had hearts of gold and others were just plain mean, Allina had to interact with all of them.

“With some of them, the interaction with me and these characters became a story in itself,” Allina said.

The characters of “Dryden Arms” each had their own backstory.

“It was a way of peeking into their lives, all these personality traits that you could just read right off of them. It was almost an embarrassment of riches, where I really had to decide which characters, incidents and riches I would use,” he said.

For Allina, writing is “a self-perpetuating machine.”

“If I don’t write, I’m in a form of hell. When I do write, I’m inspired. I feel better about myself and treat others better as well,” Allina said.

That falls right in line with Allina’s life philosophy: “Treat yourself well,” he said. “When you do what you want for yourself, whether it’s buying a magazine, a burrito, cleaning (your) closet, the small things you do — you just feel better, value yourself better. Every day when I wake up, if I have a good feeling about myself, then I have a good life.”

Allina will read and sign copies of his first book at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Flintridge Bookstore & Coffeehouse, 1010 Foothill Blvd., La Cañada Flintridge.

“The Dryden Arms: House of Despair, A Comedy” can also be purchased on amazon.com and at independent bookstores.