Brown Acres: An Intimate History of the Los Angeles Sewers

The complex and often alarming history of the Los Angeles city sewer system is captured for the first time in Anna Sklar’s Brown Acres: An Intimate History of the Los Angeles Sewers.

With more than fifty photographs, diagrams and maps, Brown Acres is the first historical narrative to detail any world-class city’s sewer system, complete with the relationship between headstrong politicians and the reformers who sought to “heal the bay” after a century of pollution and contamination. Brown Acres provides a unique look at the underground history of Los Angeles.

Anna Sklar was formerly an NPR reporter and public affairs director for the Los Angeles Department of Public Works. Like millions of other Angelenos, she lives on a desert by the sea.