New Roman Times

When I wrote New Roman Times,  the novel based on the Camper Van Beethoven album of the same name, it was meant as a dark absurdist satire on the divisiveness and unrest that comes from tribalism. One that is continuously taken advantage of by people in power, with their propaganda wing (the media) all too happy to stoke the unrest, especially for clicks. I set it in L.A., my home for the past ten years, because I know these streets well.

I didn't think that just a few short years later, this dark absurdist satire would be playing out in real time, with a different cast of characters. I never thought that on the heels of a pandemic, with mass unemployment to boot, a solidarity march would be disrupted across the country by a violent contingency intent on further dividing us.

This was our usual coffee run. Anything but usual.

Hinano is an institution in Venice. For nearly 60 years now, it has poured drinks and fed the likes of The Doors, The Beach Boys and Bonnie Raitt.

Nick's is one of our usual bodegas.

The cruelest joke is this is our first tenative week of reopening.