Last weekend, I attended the LA Times Festival of Books on the UCLA campus. The Festival started in 1996 and has since become the largest and most prestigious book festival in the U.S. I’d never been, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect, and what I found was exciting!

The day I was there, the weather was beautiful - 65 degrees and sunny; perfect for an outdoor festival. The main body of the festival took place on the main campus of UCLA with tents and vans set up in the common areas and green spaces that cover a good chunk of the campus. I arrived right as it started and even at that “early” hour the place was packed with book lovers enjoying the day.

The festival was broken up into a several loose areas: food courts, a children’s area, traditional publishers and bookstores, independent publishers and authors, event stages and local bookstores and shops sprinkled throughout. Everywhere I wandered, people were packing the tents, checking out books on a huge range of subjects or chatting with members of literacy organizations, professional trade associations, non-profit groups, or just waiting in line for a chance to get their book signed by their favorite author. Book mascots wandered the fields posing for pictures with children and the young at the heart, and everywhere you went the smell of kettle corn and roasting meat from the food vendors tempted people over to their kitchens.

Rows of tents at the L.A. Times Festival of Books.

All in all, I had a great time, met some some cool people, and I now know more about the nuts and bolts of the show. From the shopping to the dining to the musical acts or just lying on the grass taking in the sun or playing frisbee, the show was without a doubt a big hit. I’m often pretty bummed about how little our society seems to value reading or literature, but events like this make me hopeful. Seeing the young and old get enthusiastic about books and reading is a big morale boost to someone in my profession. Without that enthusiasm in people, I and everyone else that works in the book trade, from authors to publishers to vendors, would be out of a job, and for many of us, we’d lose a passion. It's hard to explain the impact of a meaningful book on a person and what that in turn does to those around us. It makes us more thoughtful, empathetic and civilized, and that was evident from the peaceful happy crowd at the festival.

The Bandslam Incident

I stayed at the W in Westwood Village, just a couple blocks away from the UCLA campus. I’ve stayed at Ws before and I really like them, though this was my first time in this particular one. Fortunately, they seem to be pretty consistent - this one had the nice ultra-modern lobby filled with sharply-dressed, helpful staff that I’ve come to expect. I started the check-in process and the clerk told me that I received a free upgrade to a “Spectacular Suite” from a “Wonderful Studio” (being a Starwood member with points pays off again! Ding!).

Vanessa "High School Musical" Hudgens is
on the left.

I headed up to my room and as I soon as I stepped off the elevator, I was filled with dread. There were posters everywhere for something called Bandslam, a new musical/romantic comedy. (I had to wiki it; I’d never heard of it.) The floor was full of young Hollywood types rushing here and about, doing what I’m sure to them were very important things. BANDSLAM signs were on all of the doors. I was apparently in the thick of Bandslam country. Sigh.

I arrived at my room and there was a sign on it, too. BANDSLAM, with the name "Vanessa Hudgens" beneath it. “Great,” I thought, “I’m going to have to wait to check in before they clean the room.” I started to put my keycard in the lock so I could at least dump my bags, and as I was reaching for it, the door opened quickly and I stood face to face with an attractive young woman. We both froze.

“Do you come with the room?” I said. ”I didn’t think I had enough Starwood points for that kind of thing.” She just looked at me, horrified, clearly unsure of what to say. I guess I must be pretty intimidating - 6′3”, tired-looking with wrinkly clothes from the flight. I quickly said “I think they gave me the wrong room. Sorry to disturb you.” I backed away slowly, just waiting for a scream or security people to show up and tackle me. Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened and I returned to the lobby.

When I told the front desk what happened, she just about passed out - not because she was worried about my reaction, I’m sure, but the “poor” celebrity that had run into me. She apologized profusely, threw more Starwood points and drink coupons at me and then proceeded to upgrade me yet again to a corner Fabulous Suite.