Month: January 2017

Kosher Burritos and the Manson Girls (1972)

Lunchtime, during my GAO years, when I was working in the downtown LA office rather than on a job site or flying around the country, often meant strolling to nearby quick food eateries like Philippe’s or those found on Olvera Street or many other neighborhood ethnic destinations.  One day in February 1972, a few of us walked past City Hall on our way to the Kosher Burrito (a most wonderful and inexpensive source of burritos featuring ingredients such as corned beef).  In 1971, if memory serves, Charles Manson had received a death sentence, but the death penalty was about to be overturned by the state Supreme Court.  Manson supporters, some of the Manson Girls who had not been criminally charged, were keeping a vigil outside City Hall, where I photographed them on my way to lunch.

Man In Profile

That’s the title of the book by Thomas Kunkel.
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Eager, almost desperate, to find a respite from current news and commentary, I am now reading this 2015 book — gifted to me for Christmas — aloud as our post-lunch relaxation and entertainment.

“Man in Profile” is a biography of Joseph Mitchell, whose “Up In The Old Hotel“, I also read aloud about a year ago. If you have ever read Mitchell, you would surely find this read a worthwhile supplement, adding much backstory and detail that only enriches the former. And it amazingly seems to be written in a similar or at least sympathetic style.  Read ’em all.

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