Welcome to Southern California, where residents take their pooches out for ice cream at the Hydrant Café, attend an annual Blessing of the Cars, and then climb aboard a hearse for a Grave Line Tour to find out how, when, where, and sometimes why Hollywood's finest died. In Southern California Curiosities (Globe Pequot Press, August 2004), humorist and veteran journalist Saul Rubin has traveled way off Southern California’s beaten path to create a truly unique guidebook to the quirky character and roadside oddities of the Golden state.

You’ll meet the world’s loudest finger snapper, a man who teaches etiquette to camels, and a couple who built a house that spins. You’ll discover the best places to eat raisin-sweet-potato pie, drink a date shake, or sample strawberry nachos and pizza. You’ll tour an egg collection, a house of trash, and a burlesque museum featuring Gypsy Rose Lee’s glove collection, Sally Rand’s ivory-handled fans, and costumes from the likes of Blaze Starr, Lili St. Cyr, and Chesty Morgan.

Globe Pequot’s Curiosities series offers a peek into a whole world of crazy facts, quirky people and places, and fantastic phenomena within your state’s borders.

Saul Rubin has hobnobbed with celebrities (as entertainment writer for the Los Angeles Times), chased down sports figures (for Fox Sports Net), penned a weekly humor column (for Copley Los Angeles Newspapers). He is now a full-time journalism instructor at Santa Monica College and lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife and daughter.
Southern California Curiosities ISBN: 0-7627-2724-1 • $13.95 paperback.