Colleen Dunn Bates is the editor and publisher at Prospect Park Books and a longtime food and travel journalist. She’s the editor and/or co-author of Hometown Pasadena, EAT: Los Angeles, Hometown Santa Monica, Mammoth from the Inside and Storybook Travels. She writes about restaurants for Westways, was the longtime restaurant critic for L.A. Style, and has written for many national and regional magazines. A sixth-generation Southern Californian, Colleen lives in Pasadena with her husband, film editor and Mac man Darryl Bates.

Nancy Gottesman (Hometown Santa Monica) is a true Santa Monica native (she was born at Santa Monica Hospital). Nancy has been an editor for practically every magazine in town and is now a freelance writer who’s happily AWOL: Always West of Lincoln. She lives in Ocean Park and takes frequent breaks from the writing life to play tennis, hike Temescal Canyon, hit the Sunday Main Street farmer’s market, and meet friends for a martini at Chez Jay.

Bandini (EAT: Los Angeles) is the hungry man of mystery behind L.A.’s beloved Great Taco Hunt blog. Bandini has not revealed himself to any one at Prospect Parks, not even Colleen.

Jean T. Barrett (EAT: Los Angeles) is a longtime wine, food and travel writer for such publications as Westways and the Los Angeles Times, as well as the co-author of three books with Colin Cowie, including Colin Cowie Weddings. She’s a hell of a cook, too. She lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband, marketing consultant and opera buff David Gibb.

Linda Burum (EAT: Los Angeles) is the author of A Guide to Ethnic Food in Los Angeles and an expert on international cuisines. She writes regularly for such publications as the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles magazine. Linda lives in Santa Monica with her husband, cinematographer Stephen Burum, but she roams all over Southern California in her never-ending quest for that great little market or secret cafe.

Zak Klobucher (Hometown Santa Barbara) is a screenwriter with credits from Disney, Fox, Castle Rock and Nickelodeon Pictures. He’s also a software guy, a Harvard grad and the husband of Hometown Santa Barbara co-author Leslie Dinaberg.

Cheryl Crabtree (Hometown Santa Barbara) is story editor of Montecito Magazine, a contributor to Fodor’s guides and Fodor.com, a writer for Santa Barbara Seasons, co-author of the upcoming California Directory of Fine Wineries—Central Coast and a Stanford grad. She lives in Santa Barbara with her husband, scientist Chris Crabtree.

Mel Malmberg (Hometown Pasadena) is a hometown girl who went to Occidental College and started her journalism career at the Pasadena Weekly. She has since written several books for Disney and befriended seemingly everyone in the greater San Gabriel Valley. Mel is a world traveler, skier, avid student of both Pilates and yoga and all-around bon vivant. She also helped out with EAT: Los Angeles.

Leslie Dinaberg (Hometown Santa Barbara) is a screenwriter, a columnist for the Santa Barbara blog noozhawk.com, and a contributor to such magazines as Santa Barbara Seasons and Santa Barbara Magazine. A California native, she lives in Santa Barbara with her husband, Hometown Santa Barbara co-author Zak Klobucher.

Nancy Roberts Ransohoff (Hometown Santa Barbara) is a contributing editor for Montecito Magazine and Westways and wrote for Touring & Tasting in Santa Barbara’s wine country. Before she and her husband, physician Kurt Ransohoff, moved to Santa Barbara in 1992, the Rhode Island native was an editor for Bon Appetit and Knapp Press in Los Angeles.

Joe Dunn (Pocket of Paradise) started surfing in Malibu in the early 1950s and has been a homeowner on Beach Road in Capistrano Beach since the early 1960s. The Los Angeles native was a longtime partner/owner of the Charles Dunn Company, an historic L.A. commercial real estate firm, and he is now a real estate investor, surfer, golfer, grandfather and author. His first book, Pocket of Paradise, is in its fourth printing, which is inspiring work on a new book. He lives in Capo Beach with his wife, painter Eleanor Dunn.

Starshine Roshell (Hometown Santa Barbara) is the author of the wise and witty new book Keep Your Skirt On (Cabal Publishing). She’s also a columnist for the Santa Barbara Independent, a writer for Santa Barbara Magazine, a survivor of the Santa Barbara News-Press implosion, and the proprietress of starshineroshell.com, where she waxes sassy on sex, politics, kids, fashion and life in Santa Barbara, where “carpools collide with couture.” Her husband, graphic designer John Roshell, is also her art director.

Jill Alison Ganon (Hometown Pasadena, At Home Pasadena) is the author of three books and the former managing editor of American Bungalow. Jill’s an accomplished cook, a swimmer, a literary Jill of all trades, a traveler and a storyteller. Jill is a Staten Island native who has lived in Pasadena for more than twenty years with her husband, jazz musician David Arnay.

Amelia Saltsman (EAT: Los Angeles) is the author of The Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook (Blenheim Press). The L.A. native and longtime Santa Monican also writes about cooking, markets and food for such magazines as Bon Appétit, and she’s a regular guest on Evan Kleiman’s “Good Food” on KCRW. You’ll see her at the Wednesday Santa Monica market almost every week.

Jenn Garbee (EAT: Los Angeles, Hometown Santa Monica) is the author of Secret Suppers, a new book about America’s underground restaurant culture. The former professional baker often writes about food, drink and restaurants for the Los Angeles Times, among others. She lives in Santa Monica with her husband, comedian Kevin Garbee.

Pat Saperstein (EAT: Los Angeles) is the savvy sleuth behind L.A.’s best food blog, EatingLA.com. The South Pasadena resident is also a senior editor at Daily Variety, and in her spare time she writes about restaurants for the Los Feliz Ledger and posts regularly on Chowhound. (See if you can figure out which poster she is!)

Sandy Gillis (Hometown Pasadena, At Home Pasadena) is a former “Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” staffer who, as a college intern, was yelled at by John Belushi. Sandy’s talents and passions are many, from gardening to jewelry making, chicken farming to flower arranging. She lives in Altadena with her husband, comedy writer Tom Gammill.

Margery L. Schwartz (Hometown Santa Monica) is a longtime Santa Monican who went to Palisades High School and grew up playing volleyball and bodysurfing at State Beach. Now an editor for the L.A. County Museum of Art, she has worked for everyone from the Los Angeles Times to Los Angeles magazine, and she’s also a copyeditor for Prospect Park Books.

James Barkley is a graphic designer who designed all the Hometown books and At Home Pasadena. A Pasadena native and Art Center alum, he’s also the author and designer of Eames House (American Vessel).

Joseph Shuldiner (EAT: Los Angeles) is an art director extraordinaire (ex of the Los Angeles Times), as well as an accomplished fine artist and an eat-la.com blogger. He’s an L.A. native who lives in a 102-year-old former hunting lodge in Eagle Rock with his partner, Bruce Schwartz, owner of Pasadena’s Yoga House.

Ethel Fisher (Hometown Santa Monica) has been living and painting in the Palisades for 40 years. Her work has been shown in galleries from New York to Los Angeles.
 

R. Kenton Nelson (Hometown Pasadena) is a Pasadena native whose paintings have graced New Yorker covers. His work is in the collections of, among others, Steve Martin and Diane Keaton.

 Hank Pitcher (Hometown Santa Barbara) is a lifelong painter and surfer who grew up in Santa Barbara, attended UCSB, and is a professor there today. His work is in collections at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Syracuse Museum of Art, Citicorp and Gainey Vineyards.

David R. Brown (At Home Pasadena) is the executive director of Descanso Gardens.

Fannie Flagg (Hometown Santa Barbara) is the author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, among many other books.

Larry Mantle (Hometown Pasadena) is the host of KPCC’s AirTalk.

April Smith (Hometown Santa Monica) is the author of North of Montana, among other books.

Larry Wilson (Hometown Pasadena) is the Public Eye editor of the Pasadena Star-News.