Synopsis
In Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles, David L. Ulin challenges the long-standing myth that Los Angeles is a city solely defined by the windshield, arguing instead that its true essence is discovered on foot. By chronicling his own walks through neighborhoods like Wilshire Boulevard, Hollywood, and the Miracle Mile, Ulin explores the tension between the city’s vast, fragmented geography and the intimate, human-scale connections made when one slows down to a pedestrian pace. He treats the pavement as a narrative surface, where the layers of the city’s history, its constant redevelopment, and its social inequities are laid bare.
The book functions as both a memoir of a New Yorker adapting to the West Coast and a philosophical meditation on urbanism. Ulin examines how the act of walking in a city designed for cars becomes a subversive, almost political act that forces a confrontation with L.A.'s "ungettable" nature. He acknowledges that while the city lacks a traditional singular center, its power lies in its multiplicity and the way private lives intersect in public spaces. Ultimately, Sidewalking is a thoughtful defense of Los Angeles as a coherent, lived-in place, suggesting that the only way to truly "come to terms" with such a complex metropolis is to step out of the car and engage with its grit and beauty one block at a time.