D.J. Waldie has lived in the same Lakewood house his parents bought in 1946. He’s never learned to drive. And from this seemingly narrow vantage point, he has become one of the most respected voices on life in Southern California.
On Wednesday, Sept. 17, Waldie will discuss his new book “Elements of Los Angeles: Earth, Water, Air, & Fire” at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena. The free event explores a city he describes as “a place of both promise and disillusionment, of civic memory and strategic forgetting, of natural beauty and environmental fragility.”
Waldie’s collection, published by Angel City Press at the Los Angeles Public Library, organizes essays around the four classical elements. He grounds his exploration in concrete Los Angeles stories: the unlikely history of the Hass avocado, the hidden waterways beneath city streets, the murky air of smog-choked neighborhoods, and the transformative wildfires that have reshaped hillsides.
D.J. Waldie Discusses & Signs Elements of Los Angeles: Earth, Water, Air, & Fire will run on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. For more information, call (626) 449-5320 or visit https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-09-17/dj-waldie. Ticket prices: Free
