When you fall in love with a city, you fall in love with the character of the city, that hard-to-define sense of place that is sometimes revealed through architecture, cultural achievements, climate … or by its taco trucks and $4 cupcakes. In this issue, we look at Los Angeles through the people who live here — the characters of the city. The coroner’s investigator who is the Nancy Drew of ancient Indian burial sites. The mixed-martial-arts expert who lugs his guitar to the gym along with his workout gear. The journalist who spent a year documenting every homicide in the city. The blogger who found instant fame this year with an idea that half the country thinks they should have thought of first. The major Hollywood star and producer who has found artistic freedom on the Web. Risk-taking comedians. We are a city of celebrity hairdressers and rock-star life coaches, but just as telling is the artist who adorns the city’s power lines with his work just to make it a more beautiful place. Or the pretty greenskeeper at one of the city’s most exclusive golf courses who can do one-arm push-ups.

In Los Angeles, everyone has more than one thing going on. We are dreamers who often find what we’re looking for and then want more. In this, our third-annual L.A. People issue, we’ve found so many personalities to write about that we have decided to expand the concept from a once-a-year event to a weekly feature. In L.A., the baby-faced, 7-foot Spaniard with the NBA basketball could be the boy next door.

All photos by Kevin Scanlon. To see slideshows of Scanlon's People 2008 photos click here and here.

Also see our People 2007 issue here.

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