Echo Park — Steve Scott

Buddy Young, "Echo Park's" narrator and his alter ego, Mr. Peepers, live in a multistory house zig-zagging down a hill that overlooks the most beautiful park in Los Angeles. His house guests include a horse, an elderly gay men's club called the Pastime Jocks, occasionally his Mormon mother competing with Santeria-voodoo, and a "lady" who has many paying sweeethearts.

Charo, the Little General, Father Rudy, Liberty Flame, Neutotica Jones, a transvesite called Fabulosa, The Suku Suku Club for Entertainment staffed by the "Ladies Of The Midnight Sons," to name a few will indelibly mark one's mind with the stamp of unforgettable characters.

The story is borded by the Los Angeles Police Academy, Saint Finbar's almost Catholic Church, Aimee Semple MacPherson's "Angeles Temple" and a suspect sanatorium-all backdrops used by people we seldom see or know. If a surprise doesn't hit you at the turn of every page then a chunk of salacious humor will.