Imagine a night in Santa Monica, circa 1926. See a white mansion overlooking a relatively untouched Pacific Ocean. You look around and Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable and Greta Garbo are chilling in black-and-white. (Let's be real, they never really existed in color.) This description summons the beginnings of the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica, where old-Hollywood ambience still permeates the walls. On Tuesday, the Beach House will be the backdrop for three of California's best literary writers as Red Hen Press presents Ron Carlson (pictured), Tara Ison and Rachel Resnick. Here's why you should attend: Carlson, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's and Esquire, is able to write about Idaho and Los Angeles with the same eye for the marvelous and expansive as Jack Kerouac and Wallace Stegner. Ison's work has appeared in Tin House and The Los Angeles Times, and she is a co-writer of the cult classic Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead. And Resnick, a bestselling author who has taught in almost every major academic institution in California, will close the reading. To summarize: Three critically acclaimed writers, a beach house in Santa Monica and the event is free — need we say more? Annenberg Community Beach House, 415 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica; Tues., June 12, 6:30 p.m.; free. (310) 458-4904, redhen.org.

Tue., June 12, 6:30 p.m., 2012

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.