Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles

This episode features a discussion of David Ulin’s Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles. A transplant to Los Angeles from New York, Ulin’s long essay/memoir is a meditation on moving through and defining his relationship with the sprawling diversity that is the City of Angels. The book begins with an essay on how walking can be a way to discover the city (any city or town) through serendipity. Ulin describes the discovery of an interesting church by turning a different way on a usual route. Through this personal journey of exploration, Ulin “comes to terms” with Los Angeles.
While marketed as a book about walking in the city where no one walks, our readers found this book to be an exploration of how one makes memories, how one interprets those memories through time, and how Ulin makes peace with his adopted home.