“Of all the Christbitten places in the two hemispheres, (Los Angeles) is the last curly kink in the pig's tail.”

“When the last moonshiner buys his radio,And the last, lost, wild-rabbit of a girlIs civilized with a mail-order dress,Something will pass that was AmericanAnd all the movies will not bring it back.”

“When Daniel Boone goes by at nightThe phantom deer ariseAnd all lost, wild AmericaIs burning in their eyes.”

“Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.”

“It's time to walk to the cider millThrough air like apple wine,And watch the moon rise over the hill,stinging and hard and fine.It's time to bury your seed pods deepAnd let them wait and be warm.It's time to sleep the heavy sleepThat does not wake for the storm.”

“San Diego has the finest zoo in America, but the Los Angeles Zoo is not much more than a home for retired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lions.”

“Nevertheless, Los Angeles is my "Home, Sweet Home." I chose it, and, as goes the cliché, I've made my bed—but I'll be damned if I'll lie in it or, worse, culturally die in it!”