Fradkins follow the California coast

Author and long-ago L.A. Times enviro reporter Philip L. Fradkin and his photographer son, Alex L. Fradkin, walked the eleven-hundred miles of California coast and have married their words and images in “The Left Coast.” Jonathan Kirsch writes in the Jewish Journal that the book "is, at once, a memoir, a work of investigative journalism, and a portfolio of fine art, all of which is sharply focused on the California shoreline."

The eyes of the father and the son, the historian and the photographer, fall on scenes of raw natural beauty as well as industrial exploitation, and they ponder “the occupations and constructs” of the human beings who live and work within sight of water. Fradkin père provides the narrative, which is mostly reportorial, often nostalgic, and sometimes rhapsodic, and Fradkin fils contributes the images, which are rich in color and detail but also candid and sometimes brutal in their depiction of coastal California.

Book note: In his newest, "The Fifth Witness," Michael Connelly has lawyer Mickey Haller learning about a client's movie deal through a scoop at Deadline Hollywood. No mention of Nikki Finke.