LAPD '53

by James Ellroy, Glynn Martin for the Los Angeles Police Museum

Overview

A remarkable portrait of “true L.A. noir” with archival photos from the Los Angeles Police Museum and text by legendary crime writer James Ellroy (Los Angeles Times).

James Ellroy, the undisputed master of crime writing, has teamed up with the Los Angeles Police Museum to present a stunning text on 1953 L.A. While combing the museum's photo archives, Ellroy discovered that the year featured a wide array of stark and unusual imagery—and to accompany the pictures, he has written text to illuminate the crimes and law enforcement of the era.

Ellroy offers context along with wild detail and rich atmosphere—this is the cauldron that was police work in the city of the tarnished angels seven decades ago, revealed in more than 80 duotone photos throughout the book.

“These crime images resemble the work of photographer Weegee, but, Ellroy argues, they're superior because they resist artistry; they were taken by police officers doing their jobs.” —Chicago Tribune

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419715853
Publisher:	Abrams Image
Publication date:	05/19/2015
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	622,309
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

James Ellroy is the award-winning author of 18 books, including The Black Dahlia, L.A. Confidential, White Jazz, American Tabloid, and The Cold Six Thousand. Ellroy’s new novel, Perfidia,was published by Alfred A. Knopf in September 2014. Housed in the oldest surviving LAPD station, the Los Angeles Police Museum chronicles the formation and development of the LAPD from its beginnings in 1869.


Glynn Martin has been in and around the LAPD for more than 30 years and has served as the museum’s executive director for more than a decade.

Editorial Reviews

LAPD ’53 is richly narrated by the bombastic James Ellroy, for whom a bar is “a dank dive and despair den of the determined dipso.” It’s a narrative-heavy follow-up to the 2004 book Scene of the Crime, also taken from the LAPD archives. . . . It’s true L.A. noir.

|Los Angeles Times

LAPD ’53 is richly narrated by the bombastic James Ellroy, for whom a bar is “a dank dive and despair den of the determined dipso.” It’s a narrative-heavy follow-up to the 2004 book Scene of the Crime, also taken from the LAPD archives. . . . It’s true L.A. noir.

Los Angeles Times