Book Reveals Stories of Thomas Mann, Local History

By LILY TINOCO | Reporter

Los Angeles is often recognized for its rich history and culture, and the pocket of Pacific Palisades is no exception.

Editors Benno Herz and Nikolai Blaumer share their knowledge of Nobel Prize-winning German novelist Thomas Mann—who resided in The Riviera while exiled from Germany—in the recently published book “Thomas Mann’s Los Angeles: Stories from Exile 1940-1952,” with hopes of reaching a broader audience.

Herz said he and Blaumer had the idea to create this book at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when fellows had to move out of the Mann House—the former home of Mann, which offers residency fellowships for German artists and intellectuals.

Without events or anybody at the house, the two brainstormed to create content relevant to Mann and share it on social media.

“We were thinking about ways that we could make the cultural significance and meaning of the house, and the history of the house, accessible to a broader audience,” Herz said to the Palisadian-Post. “We started a social media series with the hashtag #MannsLA and we just started to tell brief stories about individuals or sites or places, restaurants that Mann and his family visited … and spun stories around the house, around Mann … At one point, we had the idea to turn this into something bigger than just a social media series.”

From there, the two approached Angel City Press with the idea to launch a book—and the team was excited to move it forward.

Herz said “Thomas Mann’s Los Angeles: Stories from Exile 1940–1952” is structured around eight different themes, from the exile film culture and their involvement with the movie industry, to the music scene, politics and more.

“All of these themes are opened by introduction chapters that actually give a broader overview about the time: what happened, the history, the people involved … and Mann’s role within that context,” he explained. “People will have the chance to dive into the topic of 1940’s European German Jewish exile in Los Angeles from a non-academic scholarly perspective, from more of a storytelling perspective. It’s very accessible … And what the book does is [connect] these histories with certain things that are still relevant in our present today and I think that might be a fun aspect for the readers.”

The book features illustrations by artist Jon Stich, vintage photographs, a hand-drawn map and nearly 70 essays by different authors, including Alex Ross, Lawrence Weschler and Donna Rifkind.

Blaumer said there is still so much rich history to uncover and untold stories to tell, but with “Thomas Mann’s Los Angeles,” Palisadians can get a glimpse of “one of the most fascinating parts of LA’s history.”

“It’s so fascinating [that some of] the most important, eminent intellectuals of the time … were based in Los Angeles at the time, in a fairly small area in Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica and Brentwood,” he shared. “It was an extremely productive, intellectual and artistic network. It was an extremely prolific period, and I think to get more insight into the daily lives of these people is helpful to understand our culture today.”

“Thomas Mann’s Los Angeles” was released on Tuesday, July 12. Benz said it can be found in local bookstores, including The Last Bookstore in Downtown LA and Skylight Books.

The book is also available for purchase through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and more.