"Wanda was my mentor and has such a sharp, vicious, lyrical voice, her poems almost come off the page and sing to you. I revisit this book often. Wanda was and is considered the voice of Los Angeles. She wrote about everything from growing up in the tough neighborhood of Watts California, to writing for a soap opera, to the objectification and marginalization of not only being a woman, but a woman of color."

"I once met Harry Dean Stanton in Los Angeles. He told me at that time he had made eighty-eight films. I asked him which one was his favorite, and he said this one. His silence and facial expressions convey so much without saying a word. A journey of regret and remorse—trying to find a way to set that feeling free. Again, shot wonderfully by Robby Müller, with the perfect soundtrack by Ry Cooder."

"This is a portrait of a city I love as well as a self-portrait of a woman who changed my life profoundly, and who I miss every day. Through the oral history tradition she helped found with her groundbreaking book, “Edie,” Stein chronicled the histories of prominent Los Angeles families, including her own, through edited interviews with a huge cast of characters, a masterwork by the most intuitive conversationalist I ever knew."