Hollywood’s Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A.

Anolik profiles, over a 6 and a half year period, one of the most fascinating figures I’ve ever come across: Eve Babitz. Babitz was an indelible part of the golden era of Hollywood and Los Angeles (the 50s – 70s); brilliant and cunning author, socialite, seductress, artist, and much more.

As the book unravels, the author herself becomes an essential piece of the story, trying to find the reclusive and skeptical Eve in her older age, prying unbelievable anecdotes and connections from her often challenging personality, and often hearing absurd and unbelievable stories from Eve, only to later find them vindicated by others.

The book does center around Eve, or at least the idea of what she was. But it’s meat is in who she interfaced with and how uniquely she lived in such a unique time in history. It immerses you, colloquially, into an almost alien world, one that both the reader and the author seem to be experiencing at the same time.