Unreinforced Masonry Studio

Forget the cliches about Los Angeles as a vast autobahn zone, a "city of the future" where the past is a dot on the horizon. Historian-slash-indie publisher Michael Jacob Rochlin wants to show you a timeless, intimate Los Angeles that's waiting to breathe its mysteries into your ear if you'll just get out of the car. These days Rochlin has been doing talks and bookstore appearances for "Arcadian L.A.

Forget the cliches about Los Angeles as a vast autobahn zone, a "city of the future" where the past is a dot on the horizon. Historian-slash-indie publisher Michael Jacob Rochlin wants to show you a timeless, intimate Los Angeles that's waiting to breathe its mysteries into your ear if you'll just get out of the car. These days Rochlin has been doing talks and bookstore appearances for "Arcadian L.A.

Down in the basement, far from the smooth-sell of publishers he calls "the big guys," Michael Jacob Rochlin is proudly pitching his own wares. "L.A. history? Los Angeles history?" asks the Silver Lake-based chief of Unreinforced Masonry Studio, which is in every sense of the word a "small press."