Jim Heimann is the executive editor for TASCHEN America. He is also a historian, cultural anthropologist, memorabilia collector, writer, graphic designer and an instructor at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Heimann has written over a dozen books on pop culture, architecture and California culture and history. His works include Los Angeles, Portrait of a City, California Crazy and Beyond and Sins of the City, the Real Los Angeles Noir. He is currently working on the most in-depth cultural history of surfing that has ever been undertaken. His vast private collection of collectible memorabilia has been featured in museum exhibitions across the globe. A true native Los Angeleno, Heimann not only loves the city he lives in, he cherishes the history and the heart of the place. It is often difficult to find the heart of Los Angeles and sometimes it takes a master like Jim Heimann to unveil the unpolished raw beating heart of a city where utopia and dystopia coexist and thrive.