Novelist Identified as Man Who Jumped From Venice Building Monday

By City News Service

A man who jumped to his death from a four-story building in Venice was a Budapest-born author known for Beat Generation-inspired novels.

Les Plesko, 59, died about 10 a.m. Monday after jumping off the building on Westminster Avenue next to the Venice Dog Park, according to police and the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

The Hungarian writer was the author of the novels "The Last Bongo Sunset," "Slow Lie Detector" and "'Who I Was," and had taught creative writing at UCLA Extension.

"He was a wonderful writer," said Bonnie Reynolds of Small World Books in Venice. "We carried all his books. It was just a shock."

Reynolds said Plesko was well-known in literary circles and lived in the building at Westminster and Pacific avenues where he died. He had lived in Venice "at least 15 or 20 years," she said.

Plesko described his writing "like jazz, or like the beats."