THE L.A. MUSICAL HISTORY TOUR by...

THE L.A. MUSICAL HISTORY TOUR by Art Fein (Faber & Faber: $13.95; 136 pp.). “If a rock star played, drank, lived, died, or threw a television set out a window somewhere in L.A.,” boasts this determined little guide, “this book has the whole story,” a claim there seems to be no reason to seriously doubt. Rock devotee Fine has painstakingly located and photographed about 200 places that played some role, however minor, in the history of rock. Though the book is heavy on necrology, listing grave sites and death sites for the likes of Marvin Gaye and Janis Joplin, it finds space for the house where “Louie Louie” was written and deals knowingly with such recondite matters as exactly which part of Sunset Boulevard (above) contained the original Dead Man’s Curve. Most astonishing of all, Fine insists that Vol. II is in the works.