LAPD '53

The book was a good read. The write could have done a better job describing the photos. Difficult to determine who was in the photo. I'm glad I bought this book.

The pics are interesting but the writing is beyond dreadful, almost to the point of unreadable.

Shipping was very fast and the book arrived in excellent quality, would recommend seller to others.

I'm researching LA in the fifties for a series I'm writing and this collection is a remarkable resource that offers a solid glimpse of the 'mean streets' of Los Angeles in that time period. If you enjoy American culture and history of the 20th century as much as I do, then this is a must read.

Interesting look into 1950's crime scenes and the stories behind them

If you've read John Butin's L.A. Noir, Glynn Martin's foreword to LAPD '53 is interminable and unintentionally funny. If, like me, you're buying this book for Mr. Elroy's wonderful prose, you will probably get some pleasure out of it. But let me get this across, you need to see these "crime scene" photos about as badly as you need to see another I Love Lucy re-run. There is nothing in these photos of the least interest to crime buffs. I think I can say without equivocation that I have NEVER seen a duller collection of crime scene photos. Anyone can feel perfectly safe leaving this book on their coffee table and allowing their children to peruse it REGARDLESS of the age of the children. Rotten.com this is NOT.

Like several other reviewers I was disappointed with this book. The premise turns out to very thin, police snaps from LA are probably not too different from any other large city and as these are photos of record any artistic interpretation is more or less forbidden. I was attracted to the title because of James Ellroy, a master of the LA crime writing genre but I found his text rather tiresome though he didn't have much to go on with tired old photos.Ellroy wasn't able to create sparkling fiction in these pages instead he delivers a rather threadbare hip style of writing with short tabloid style sentences and the vocabulary of thirties hard-boiled 'tec paperback fiction. Here's an example:'Bunker Hill is gone now. Bunker Hill shabbily thrived in 1953. It was slated for ultimate bulldozing then -- because LA had to build up and out.There were terraced hillsides full of flophouses. They were inhabited by rumdums, hopheads, slatterns, pachucos, fruit hustlers, cough syrup guzzlers and hermaphrodite he-shes. The cribs had to go. The denizens, ditto. Urban expansion beckoned. Development gelt speaks big bucks. Check that dead ginch sprawled in the weeds on West 4th Street. It looks like a sex-snuff snapped by Weegee'.The book must have been a breeze for Ellroy to write, no need for dialogue, a carefully crafted plot, credible characters as in his fiction. For this book I'll get my roscoe out and put a slug through it.

The combination of crime scene photographs from the files of the Los Angeles Police Museum and the descriptive text from world renowned writer James Ellroy make this book a must read for anyone interested in the workings of the LAPD in the early 50s. I highly recommend it.

Like several other reviewers I was disappointed with this book. The premise turns out to be very thin, police snaps from LA are probably not too different from any other large city and as these are photos of record any artistic interpretation is more or less forbidden. I was attracted to the title because of James Ellroy, a master of the LA crime writing genre but I found his text rather tiresome though he didn't have much to go on with these photos.Ellroy wasn't able to create sparkling fiction in these pages, instead he delivers a rather threadbare hip style of writing with short tabloid style sentences and the vocabulary of thirties hard-boiled 'tec paperback fiction. Here's an example:'Bunker Hill is gone now. Bunker hill shabbily thrived in 1953. It was slated for ultimate bulldozing then -- because LA had to build up and out.There were terraced hillsides full of flophouses. They were inhabited by rumdums, hopheads, slatterns, pachucos, fruit hustlers, cough syrup guzzlers and hermaphrodite he-shes. The cribs had to go. The denizens, ditto. Urban expansion beckoned. Development gelt speaks big bucks. Check that dead ginch sprawled in the weeds on West 4th Street. It looks like a sex-snuff snapped by Weegee'.The book must have been a breeze for Ellroy to write, no need for dialogue, a carefully crafted plot, credible characters as in his fiction. As a book I'll get my roscoe and put a slug through it.

I’m a big fan of JE, and I think he peaked with American Tabloid. His punchy staccato slang delivery has been toned back a little here, but still evident. The point of the book is to get you involved with the action – what message was the hanged suicide in a woman’s bathing costume sending and to whom? did the white gloved robber shot dead on the pavement by the liquor store manager have his girlfriend waiting in the getaway car? and so on. Splatter snaps these are not. Ellroy is looking to engage you in the growth of LA and peep into the sudden end of people’s lives.Ellroy claims to have been present at each of these scenes as a five year old when the photographs were actually taken so that adds flavour and connection to the narrative. As ever, he eloquently summarizes ghoulishly: “from the time the body is found, to the moment the killer sucks gas in the green room at Big Q” being typically neat.My take on this book is that it offers a subtle and intriguing visual portal to the era when Ellroy’s books are set. Not an outstanding piece of work, but an alternative offering from a master. He specifically states that he’s looking to rebut crime scene chic (and I think he has succeeded) so if you dig him, you’ll dig this.

Interesting photos, would of liked a more straight forward description of the scene, instead of the hammy 50s Street talk, which was fresh at first but became annoying by the 3rd suicide picture.The foreword and introduction took up the first 50 pages (of a 200 page book) which seemed odd.I would of preferred more photos and less text, I like ellroys novels, but I was under the impression this was more a photo collection of crimes in LA 1953? Instead I you end up reading a load of over the top Street slang which served no purpose to the photos.Great coffee table book to flick through but not a recommended read

not greatthought there would be more images

Fast delivery. Book quality as promised. Exiting read.