Ahead of Ray Bradbury’s 100th birthday, a look at his writing and love of shopping malls

Saturday marks author Ray Bradbury’s 100th birthday. He moved with his family to LA when he was 14 and attended Los Angeles High School in Mid-City.

He grew to be an iconic science fiction author, most notably for “Fahrenheit 451.” But he also had a big impact in his adopted city of LA.

Bradbury was a futurist, taking people to different planets through his writing, but at the same time, he was nostalgic for his small town past, says KCRW’s Frances Anderton. She adds, “When Glendale Galleria was built, it was inspired by a Bradbury essay published in the LA Times in 1970, which focused on the pleasures of small town life."

She says Bradbury believed that people could create community life in shopping malls, as well as a pleasing sense of being lost. Jon Jerde, architect of Glendale Galleria and Horton Plaza, was inspired by Bradbury's ideas. So were the developers of Hollywood and Highland.