REMEMBERING L.A.

Re Robert Towne’s May 29 article, “It’s Only L.A., Jake”: May I say thank you , Mr. Towne. For years I’ve been trying to tell others, especially my now adult children, how wonderful living in L.A. was before WWII and what was different about it then. Mr. Towne has said it all in his great article, and said it better than any written words I have come across on the subject. Every time I read a description of L.A. by someone who has arrived here on an airplane from a Center of Civilization to snipe at our joy and pleasure in living in this place it arouses my fury. I have come to realize that such writers have had the misfortune to have been born too late in time and in the wrong place.

And thank you for recalling the fragrances in the air and the weed clods in vacant lots. There were many vacant lots then and it took a long time to walk home from school on Spring days.

Much has changed. What has not changed is Los Angeles’ attraction for people willing to hustle. Hustlers have created L.A. and will ultimately save it, I am sure, because many of today’s hustlers see the future as something to save. Hustlers create the action, and L.A. is where the action is.

MARION W. GASKILL, BURBANK