Up the City of Angels, is a fabulous book I commandeered from my high school's library. I can't find it at the local library or at any used or new book stores. It is FABULOUS. Written by Liza Williams it's a collection of her articles and such for the Los Angeles Free Press during the sixties. I was just wondering if anyone else had read it or heard of it. I turned on the majority of my friends to it, and I think it's one of the unsung beat book heroes. ANYONE? :bigear:
hiya was surfing and came across your post. my mum is liza williams, now an ancient hippie confined to an old peoples home in new york. weirdly, just as i found your post she telephoned me and i read out your message. needless to say she was very thrilled and says to say thanks. i dont think you'll find the book anywhere (except second hand stores) so don't tell the library and enjoy it. keep happy. regards mike
I recently bought the house where Liza Williams lived when she dated Charles Bukowski. I tracked down her book on Amazon, and I love it. I don't know why her writing is now so obscure. It paints a crazy picture of the 60's for me. It's a trip.
She was our very personable , clever and outgoing receptionist . We became very friendly for all the time she remained ( maybe 2 years ) during my 3 year tenure as assistant to the music director the incredible William Malloch . Liza and I were part of a group that often had lunch together .We all enjoyed her column in the too short lived L.A. Free Press . Liza herself observed that the Free Press people and our own very progressive radio station staff were almost like one big ( metaphorically ) incestuous group ... Re her time in South Africa she and her then husband Mansel had a black African student living in a shed in their backyard ; I presumed this was so he could have a much shorter trip to get to school.. I'm not certain of the spelling but Liza was a serious creator of Batique fabrics which she sold ..The last time I saw her in person she was still working for Island Records ,I was out of work and she cheered me up by taking us both to a movie .She told me at that time that being. a very high achiever herself , and he not , the relationship with her ex-husband had fizzled ....From what she said , this was around the time of her breakup from the writer Bukowski ( who is buried in the cemetary just behind our town-house complex, by the way . She stated to me at that last meeting that the gentleman in question " was driving me crazy " . Years later on a TV documentary on Bukowski I saw Liza for the last time...so far.
I met Liza at least twice maybe more in Hollywood. Once someone pointed her out to me in a laundromat on Highland. I thought I met her again a couple of times at the Freep office on Argyle. I was one of the freep hackers then. In late 1970, I thought I saw her on the street in NYC, which puzzled me until I saw her thing in the book about being there. Since then, I've become a reporter -- more than a little inspired by her -- and I would love to interview her if she is willing
Dear Mike, My wife (Liza's "queen of green" in up the City of Angles) and I were close friends of your mother in the late 60's and early 70"s. We lost contact with each other after we left the States in '72. We found your 4 year old posting saying that Liza is in an old peoples home in NY. Please, Please, Please, if this message reaches you, be good enough to contact us with a telephone number, address, or e-mail for Liza. We are Mark Feedman and Chela Lightchild (Liza knows us as Mark and Marcie), Telephone # 505 454 3882, e-mail <ruraledu@gmail.com>, address 923 Tilden St. Las Vegas, New Mexico 87701. We will be forever grateful if you can help. Thanks, Mark.
Hi Michael, this is Laura Roden from Los Angeles circa 1972, how are you? ping me directly at laurarodenhome at gmail.com
i havent seen liza since 2001....i knew her from the la free press bookstore on fairfax avenue...i was working w/green power at the time doing the griffith park loveins... please contact me via pieman@pieman.org if anyone has any updates on liza
