Los Angeles Lost and Found (Essays on Identity, Place, and Belonging)

Los Angeles Lost and Found is a collection of essays and photographs that explores Los Angeles as a city of constant reinvention, where history is often buried beneath layers of change. Experience designer Margaret Chandra Kerrison uses the lens of narrative placemaking to examine how LA’s physical spaces—its streets, neighborhoods, and landmarks—shape both individual and collective identity.

What sets this collection apart is Kerrison’s deeply personal approach. She weaves her own story into the fabric of the city’s landscape, grounding cultural analysis in lived experience. Her reflections on the recent Los Angeles wildfires are especially poignant, revealing how natural disaster can strip a place down to its essence and reshape the stories we tell about it. Through these moments of vulnerability, she illustrates how loss and resilience are embedded in the urban environment.

Blending memoir with observation, Kerrison highlights how overlooked spaces carry emotional weight and cultural memory. In doing so, she invites readers to view Los Angeles not just as a city of spectacle, but as a living, breathing narrative. Los Angeles Lost and Found is both intimate and expansive, offering a portrait of a city that continues to inspire and challenge those who call it home—or dream of doing so.