Author and Hollywood screenwriter David Kukoff’s latest book is “Los Angeles in the 1970s,” also called a “valentine to this city’s strangest, wildest decade.”

The anthology of essays he edited features recognizable names writing about topics that seem familiar at first but veer into personal experiences, from Doors drummer John Densmore’s first glimpse of the “L.A. Woman” on a Sunset billboard to chef Lynne Friedman’s unusual dining experiences with her foodie father.

“Sometimes we have a hard time grasping that we existed at a time in history — not just the recent past, but an actual time that can now be qualified as bona-fide history,” says Kukoff, who celebrates the launch with a series of events through January, including a panel discussion and book signing from 7-9 tonight at The Standard Hotel in West Hollywood.

Essays also include “The Girl” author and activist Samantha Geimer’s piece about her freewheeling childhood in the San Fernando Valley prior to being drugged and sexually assaulted at age 13 by the director Roman Polanski.

Steve Hodel, the former homicide investigator and best-selling author, is convinced his father was the Black Dahlia killer and contributes an essay about a kidnap/murder plot involving the proprietors of a private sex club in the Hollywood Hills.

“I didn’t want to cover things that had been excessively covered; we didn’t get an essay on the Hillside Strangler,” Kukoff says. “But the true-crime stories we got spoke volumes about the culture at the time.”

“Taxi” writer Howard Gewirtz writes about his experience as a 23-year-old NYU grad who talked his way into running the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s nascent TV station. Geza X Gedeon chronicles his rise from “Gong Show” reject to the punk pioneer that produced the song “Holiday in Cambodia” for Dead Kennedys and others. Adult filmmaker Bob Chinn describes what it was like to create John Holmes’ porn character “Johnny Wadd.”

The book also includes a pair of poems, as well as a photo essay by Rick McCloskey capturing Wednesday night cruising on Van Nuys Boulevard.

A first comprehensive look, “Los Angeles in the 1970s” came out of discussions between Kukoff and local publisher Rare Bird Books. They were brainstorming ideas for a complementary piece to “Children of the Canyon,” the author’s 2014 coming-of-age novel.

The book juxtaposes the personal experiences of a boy growing up in L.A.’s fabled Laurel Canyon neighborhood of the ’70s with historic events, from the fallout of the ’60s counterculture to the rise of conservatism.

“There’s a fair amount of historical fiction in it as (the character) David is growing up through the decade,” he says. “The last chapter takes place on the night of his 18th birthday when MTV is also born, which by the way, my birthday also coincided with MTV, only it was my 15th birthday.”

While that book raises questions about the era’s impact on the progress of the city and nation as a whole, it doesn’t take it head on like the anthology.

“This was the last decade when it really felt like the Wild West,” he says. “The sense of freedom, exploring frontiers and pushing personal, professional and social boundaries came up over and over again in the contributions.”