As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
On The Table Read Magazine, “the best entertainment eBook magazine UK“, Lorraine Gibson Cohen’s The Hipster’s Legacy is a hilarious and heartfelt memoir of a quirky 1960s California family, brimming with jazz, dreams, and eccentric characters.
The Hipster’s Legacy
Lorraine Gibson Cohen’s The Hipster’s Legacy: A Memoir of Dreams, Jazz and Family in 1960s California is a colorful, nostalgic dive into a world of eccentricity, humor, and heartfelt coming-of-age moments. Reading this memoir feels like blending the tender introspection of Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn with the quirky familial chaos of Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals. With 15 original illustrations by Cohen and 37 black-and-white family photos, the book vividly captures a unique slice of Southern California life in the early 1960s.
Cohen, daughter of 1940s jazz pianist Harry “The Hipster” Gibson—who claimed to have coined the term “hipster”—weaves a story that reads like a novel. Her father’s wild energy and musical genius, which helped shape the evolution of rock and roll, cast a long shadow over her upbringing. Raised in a musical family with dreams of fame, Cohen’s tale centers on her life in a funky, red-shingled cottage next to a landfill in Hermosa Beach, a small coastal town brimming with oddballs, misfits, and dreamers.
At 22, Cohen ventures to Hollywood, armed with an Associate of Arts degree from a local junior college and aspirations of an art career. But the city proves unforgiving. Her job as a receptionist is a flop, her longtime boyfriend dumps her, and a bout of severe laryngitis pushes her to the breaking point. Defeated, she returns to the cottage at 230 Culper Court, only to find her family structure upended. Her sensible mother has left to live “in sin” with Bob, a used car salesman, leaving Cohen’s older sister Arlene, Arlene’s three children, and Cohen’s shy, saxophonist younger brother Jeff to fill the void.
Arlene, a talented but erratic artist, seems perpetually puzzled by motherhood. Jeff, a budding jazz musician, quietly draws a crowd with his soulful playing. The cottage becomes a revolving door for a cast of eccentric characters—quirky friends, exotic misfits, and talented drifters—who bring humor and chaos to Cohen’s life. As she navigates this reconfigured family and their colorful orbit, Cohen, a late bloomer and quiet dreamer, finds her place in the world.
The Hipster’s Legacy shines with its blend of nostalgia and wit, painting a vivid portrait of a family shaped by a near-saintly, hard-working mother and a larger-than-life father whose jazz legacy reverberates through the pages.
Cohen’s illustrations and family photos add a personal, visual layer, bringing the beachside cottage and its inhabitants to life. This memoir is a love letter to the 1960s, to unconventional families, and to the resilience of dreamers finding their way in a world as vibrant and unpredictable as a jazz riff.
Lorraine Gibson Cohen
Lorraine Gibson Cohen, born into a musical family in Southern California near Hollywood, transitioned from artist to writer after studying at El Camino College, later becoming a package designer for JCPenney, and now resides with her husband on New York City’s Upper West Side, where a glimpse of Central Park requires a daring lean out her window.
Find more from Lorraine Gibson Cohen now:
Kindle: https://amzn.to/4jrkD4C
Paperback: https://amzn.to/4jLbEeh
Hardcover: https://amzn.to/4lJAdKJ
We strive to keep The Table Read free for both our readers and our contributors. If you have enjoyed our work, please consider donating to help keep The Table Read going!
Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates.