PennyDreadfulCityOfAngels creator John Logan drew inspiration for the horror series from LA’s past: “You can’t tell the story about the history of Los Angeles without dealing with the Mexican American story”
’s love of maps. In this case, historic maps of Los Angeles, and how they chronicle the city’s rapid growth in the early part of the 20th century.
That led to Logan’s “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels,” which premieres April 26 on Showtime. The series centers on the Vega family: Middle son Tiago is the first Mexican American detective in the Los Angeles Police Department — which doesn’t go over well with the rest of the force.
“I started reading about the Third Reich influence in Los Angeles, which is complete news to me,” Logan says. “In the last few years, a couple of really good books have come out dealing with Third Reich sabotage and infiltration of Los Angeles. I’m an Angeleno, and I had never heard of any of this.”“City of Angels” is a sequel of sorts to Logan’s 19th century-set macabre series “Penny Dreadful,” which ended its three-season run in 2016.
“The major theme of the first ‘Penny Dreadful’ was ‘Accept the monster within yourself,’ because we all are,” Logan says. “This is more ‘Beware the monsters around you.’ They’re not supernatural monsters; they’re not vampires and werewolves. Magda doesn’t wave her magic wand and lightning bolts shoot out. She whispers to people. She manipulates them.”Jim Fiscus/Showtime
Outside his office at the Melody Ranch, the studio backlot — which just recently doubled as the 1880s town of “Deadwood” for the HBO reunion movie — has now been made over to look like Belvedere Heights, a fictional 1930s L.A. neighborhood inspired by Boyle Heights, Highland Park and long-erased areas like Sonoratown and Chavez Ravine .
Another upcoming series, Netflix’s “Hollywood,” also mines old Los Angeles to tell a period story. But in the case of “City of Angels,” Logan says he was conscious about keeping the entertainment business mostly out of it. “When people ask me if I’m doing a Hollywood show, I tell them no, Hollywood is never mentioned in the show. We’re dealing with Los Angeles — and the various neighborhoods around downtown.
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