This edition of the LAVA Sunday Salon and Broadway on My Wind walking tour focuses on Charles Bukowski, as seen through the eyes of Los Angeles poet S.A. Griffin.

The program begins with a talk in the lower level of Grand Central Market, where S.A. Griffin will talk about his journey discovering Los Angeles writer and King of Poets Charles Bukowski, and the man’s global influence on modern verse.

S.A. will trace his personal pilgrimage route from his time on Grand View Street in MacArthur Park (1980-82), when he heard about Bukowski at a party in Long Beach, to finally finding Red Stodolsky at Baroque Bookstore on Las Palmas in Hollywood, where Red mentored him as a bookman in Bukowski and the Beats. S.A. would later create a plaque in Red’s honor and place it at the bookshop’s old location.

S.A. will also read from Bukowski’s first novel, Post Office, at the former Terminal Annex sorting facility, the novel’s setting, which Sunday Salon attendees will walk to from Grand Central Market, as part of our own pilgrimage.

S.A. Griffin is the co-editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. Between 1989-2009 S.A. toured the U.S., Canada and the worldwide web with performance poets the Carma Bums. During April-June 2010 he toured the U.S. with Elsie The Poetry Bomb, a Vietnam era practice bomb converted into an art piece and filled with poems from around the world. S.A.’s most recent titles are Dreams Gone Mad With Hope (Punk Hostage Press, 2014), “The Hideous Bible” (Rose of Sharon Press, 2016) with The Lost Bums and Harvey Korman Harvey Korman Harvey Korman (Spartan Press, 2017) with John Dorsey and Scott Wannberg.

ABOUT THE SALON: On the last Sunday of the month starting at 2pm, LAVA welcomes interested individuals to gather in downtown Los Angeles for the Sunday Salon, featuring a presentation by a LAVA Visionary and opportunities to meet and connect with one another. Immediately after the Salon, a walking tour expands on the Salon theme. If you’re interested in joining LAVA as a creative contributor or an attendee, we recommend Salon attendance as an introduction to this growing community.

RESERVATIONS: The LAVA Sunday Salon and walking tour are free, but reservations are required. There are no “plus ones,” so tell your friends to sign up individually. Please don’t reserve unless you plan to attend. To reserve your spot for this free event, click on the “Buy Tickets” button above.

Photos of S.A. Griffin by Aaron Farley