Black LA Tours tel 323/750-9267. Black historical and entertainment tours of once-famed Central Avenue and key African-American history museums and cultural attractions.

The California Native 6701 W 87th Place (tel 310/642-1140 or 1-800/926-1140, ). Go sea-kayaking, tour the uninhabited islands off the coast of California. Adventure tours $195 and up.

Googie Tours (tel 323/980-3480). Groovy treks to space-age glass and formica diners, quirky cocktail lounges and classic fast-food joints, as well as touring tributes to LA's primo pop architecture.

Haunted Hearse Tours PO Box 461145, Hollywood (tel 323/782-9652). Better have a strong taste for the morbid to spend two and a half hours in the back of a Cadillac hearse, tracking down the location of every eventful death, scandal, perverted sex act and drug orgy ever to have tainted Hollywood.

Neon Cruises 501 W Olympic Blvd, downtown (tel 213/489-9918, ). Three-hour-long, eye-popping evening tours of LA's best remaining neon art, once a month on Saturdays, sponsored by the Museum of Neon Art.

SPARC tours: the Murals of LA 685 Venice Blvd, Venice (tel 310/822-9560, ). Expert tours through the "mural capital of the world." Pointing out remarkable neighborhood landmarks all over the city - community art in a cultural context

Books

Acres of Books 240 Long Beach Blvd, Long Beach tel 562/437-6980. LA's largest, and most disorganized and confusing, secondhand collection - well worth a trip down the Blue Line.

Book Soup 8818 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood tel 323/659-3110. Packed to the gills with an eclectic selection, this shop is as good for spotting celebs as it is for browsing.

Either/Or 124 Pier Ave, Hermosa Beach tel 310/374-2060. Known for its fiction and New Age sections, and once the haunt of Thomas Pynchon. Open until 11pm nightly.

Hennessey and Ingalls 1254 Third St Promenade, Santa Monica tel 310/458-9074. An impressive range of expensive, hard-to-find art and architecture books, plus rare posters and catalogs.

Koma Books 1764 N Vermont Ave, Hollywood tel 323/665-0956. Mayhem, true crime, fanzines and loony conspiracy theories; everything the others are too shocked to sell. A small shop with a large mail-order clientele, favored by tabloid TV researchers. Now publishing its own authors.

Larry Edmunds Book Shop 6644 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood tel 323/463-3273. Stacks of books on every aspect of film and theater, plus movie stills and posters.

Midnight Special 1318 Third St Promenade, Santa Monica tel 310/393-2923. Excellent for lefty politics, social sciences and general fiction and literature; open late.

Norton Simon Museum Bookstore 411 W Colorado Blvd, Pasadena tel 626/449-6840. Inexpensive prices for art books, given the pricey LA market. Good selection, too.

Samuel French Theatre & Film Bookshop 7623 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood tel 323/876-0570. Famed for its performing arts selection, the best in town, with a prime selection of cinema books as well.

Sisterhood Bookstore 1351 Westwood Blvd tel 310/477-7300. Westside landmark selling music, cards, jewelry and books, pertaining to all aspects of the women's movement.

Records

Aron's Records 1150 N Highland Ave, Hollywood tel 323/469-4700. One of the best places in LA for secondhand discs - huge stock, all styles, all prices.
Moby Disc 28 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena tel 626/449-9975. Secondhand and deletions, centrally located in Old Pasadena shopping district.
Record Surplus 11609 W Pico Blvd, West LA tel 310/478-4217. Hands down the best spot for used music in LA, or anywhere for that matter, loaded with ancient LPs, out-of-print CDs, new releases and all manner of assorted junk you have to see to believe - even 8-tracks.
Rhino Records 1720 Westwood Blvd, West LA tel 310/474-8685. The biggest selection of international independent releases, plus the full selection of Rhino's music catalog.
Vinyl Fetish 7305 Melrose Ave, Hollywood tel 323/935-1300. Besides the punk and post-punk merchandise, a good place to discover what's new on the LA music scene and purchase a cheesy T-shirt or two.