My articles have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and the LA Weekly.   My work frequently examines little-seen cultures in Los Angeles, including LAPD cops hibernating from a hostile public; a child star seeking emancipation from her mother; the inhabitants of a Skid Row bar; the disciples of a Vietnamese spiritual leader, and guests at a Hollywood motel trying to get by on hope.  

My work has been honored with several AAN (Association of Alternative  Newsweeklies) awards, including Best Feature 2001 for "Jena at 15," which also won Best Entertainment News Story 2001 from the Los Angeles Press Club, and Best Feature/PenWest (runner-up). I was also a recipient of a 2002 AAN, for food writing in the LA Weekly. My food and travel articles also appear in Bon Appetit and other publications.  

I have published three books: The Real Real World (with Hillary Johnson), which spent 14 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list; Everything You Pretend to Know about Food, and an eponymous guide to the bars of Los Angeles, an outgrowth of my three years as a monthly nightlife columnist for Buzz and Los Angeles magazines. I have also written a novel, the bad mother, and Transportation, a collection of short stories.