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Anyone have a book rec describing LA trends of the 70s, fashion, home design, arts, diets, etc.?
Reyner Banham's "Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies" was published in 1971 and it's the perfect lens for understanding how the city's design and lifestyle were already shifting. He breaks down LA into these distinct zones like the beaches, the freeways, and the plains, and you can see how the 70s trends played out differently in each one, the surf aesthetic in Venice versus the mid-century modern hangovers in the hills. For the actual look and feel of the decade, the photography book "LA 70s: A Photographic Journey Through the Decade" by various artists captures the specific color palette of the time, all those browns and oranges and avocado greens that showed up in everything from kitchen linoleum to the paint jobs on Datsun 510s. The diets and health stuff were really centered around the original Erewhon market on Beverly Boulevard, which opened in the late 60s and became the hub for the whole macrobiotic and organic food movement that defined a lot of the 70s LA lifestyle.
if you want something that actually gets into the physical spaces and objects, track down "the decorative arts of the seventies: the los angeles county museum of art's design collection" catalog from around that time. it's obscure but shows how the city's furniture and textile design mirrored the whole indoor-outdoor living thing, all those wicker chairs and earth tones mixing with the geometric patterns from the op art movement. for the diet and health part, "the whole earth catalog" was huge out here and people were actually living off the recipes in "the moosewood cookbook" at potlucks in topanga canyon, it was less about trends and more about a genuine rejection of the processed 50s stuff
Eve Babitz' "Slow Days, Fast Company" is your best bet for the 70s LA vibe without being a textbook. She was actually there, hanging out with artists and musicians, and her essays capture the whole freewheeling, hedonistic energy of the time, the way people dressed in gauzy dresses and drove beat-up convertibles. It's not a formal history, but it ties together the art scene, the casual drug use, the weird diets, and the specific geography of places like the Chateau Marmont and the old Hollywood Hills houses. For the design side, you could pair it with a look at the Lautner and Neutra houses that were still being lived in then, not just museum pieces.
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How can I find mobile hot dog vendors for a private event?
honestly the SGV has a ton of licensed cart operators who mostly do private stuff now. look up "hot dog cart catering San Gabriel Valley" on Yelp and you'll get a handful that are fully permitted, which matters if your venue needs a health permit on file. expect around $400 to $700 for a few hours plus a per person minimum, usually 50 or so. the ones based in Alhambra and Rosemead tend to be cheaper than Pasadena because they're not paying that rent.
fwiw the county health dept keeps a public list of permitted mobile food operators, its searchable by city on the LA County Public Health site. filter for "pushcart" or "MFF" and you'll get vendors cleared for SGV zip codes, which saves you the headache of a venue asking for paperwork later. also worth checking with the Old Town Monrovia or Alhambra farmers market folks, the carts there are usually booked solid but they know who's free and they'll pass along names. just dont wait till the last week, good ones book out 2 to 3 weeks in teh summer.
You could try hitting up the folks who set up outside Home Depot or the DMV in El Monte on weekends, a lot of those carts are owner operated and they'll do private gigs if you ask. Just walk up and grab a card, they usually have one taped to the cart.