Publisher Jeffrey Goldman, a second-generation Angeleno, received his bachelor’s degree in English (creative writing emphasis) from UCLA, where he had the good fortune to study with both future United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and renowned Irish novelist Brian Moore. Goldman then entered the MFA playwriting program in UCLA’s Theater Department where he enjoyed studying with both the world-famous translator of classic plays Carl Mueller and the legendary film director and Group Theatre member Michael Gordon, eventually earning an MA in Theatre, while completing PhD coursework in both Theatre and Folklore (under the tutelage of such legendary folklorists as Robert Georges, Michael Owen Jones, Donald J. Cosentino, and Joseph Nagy).
While at UCLA, Goldman was the Arts and Entertainment Editor at the Daily Bruin, and worked in the publicity department at Columbia Records. Over the next ten years, he published interviews, feature stories, and music and theater reviews in the Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, New Musical Express (UK), Sounds (UK), and Studies in American Drama, among many others. He was the Associate Editor for Artist magazine, and the Feature and Theater Editor for the Village View (which was subsequently sold to New Times), where he wrote offbeat feature stories (such as “L.A.’s Odd Attractions: A Twisted Tour Guide for Bored Angelenos”), a weekly column (“Our Town”) about life in Los Angeles, and extensively covered the Los Angeles theater scene.
His interviews with playwrights Edward Albee and August Wilson were syndicated internationally by the Los Angeles Times and have been anthologized in numerous books. Included among the many fascinating theater (and film) artists Goldman has interviewed are: The Actors’ Gang, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Gary Beach, Cary Brokaw, Peter Chesney, Danny DeVito, Michael Dinner, Michael Douglas, Michael Eliasberg, John Fleck, Steve Golin, Christopher Hampton, Werner Hlinka, Gregory Hoblit, Klaus Lucka, Jeff McCarthy, Joe Medjuck, Murray Mednick, Carolyn Pfeiffer, Peter Sellars, Domenic Sena, David Schweizer, Louis Schwartzberg, Sigurjon Sighivatsson, John Steppling, Kathleen Turner, and Jim Yukich.
Goldman was also fortunate to have reviewed many landmark theatrical productions, including: August Wilson’s Fences with James Earl Jones and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone with Delroy Lindo; Sam Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind with Holly Hunter; Reza Abdoh’s Peep Show; Old Times with Harold Pinter and Liv Ullmann; George C. Wolfe’s The Colored Museum; The Actors’ Gang’s Carnage and Freak Show; Sharon Ott’s Lulu; Simon Rattle’s Wozzeck; One Thousand Airplanes on the Roof by Philip Glass, David Hwang, and Jerome Sirlin; David Rabe’s Hurlyburly with Sean Penn, Danny Aiello and Mare Winningham; and even the Martha Graham Dance Company’s 50th Anniversary celebration!
Goldman covered the historic 1990 Los Angeles Festival for a Dramatics Magazine cover story that included an interview with festival director Peter Sellars, as well as reviews and features of such performers and performances as Bread & Puppet Theater, Cambodia’s Classical Dance Troupe, Robert LePage’s The Dragons’ Trilogy, Nixon in China, The Royal Court of Yogyakarta Java, and The Wooster Group.
During his professional music journalism career, Goldman interviewed such celebrated rock and roll bands as The Clash, The Doors, The Minutemen (his personal fave), and X. He also reviewed and/or wrote features on dozens and dozens of artists, including: The B52s, Black Flag, Blondie, David Bowie, Ray Charles, Crosby Stills Nash, Elvis Costello, Dead Kennedys, Bo Diddley, Bob Dylan, Echo and the Bunnymen, The English Beat, The Eurythmics, Marianne Faithfull, Peter Gabriel, Gang of Four, Husker Du, Michael Jackson, King Sunny Ade, Fela Kuti, Jesus and the Mary Chain, Madness, The Meat Puppets, Van Morrison, The Neville Brothers, Nine Inch Nails, Tom Petty, Prince, The Ramones, REM, Linda Rondstadt, Social Distortion, Bruce Springsteen, The Stranglers, The Style Council, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, and Neil Young. He also covered such notable concert events as The US Festival and the 20th Anniversary of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
After gaining exposure to the book publishing industry by working as a researcher and editor for a best-selling novelist, as well as an editor and designer for an educational book publisher, Goldman began writing and creating his own small-format reference and how-to books, which he sold as premiums and promotional items to a variety of companies, from gas station chains to direct mail order catalog corporations. He eventually expanded several of these titles—including Letter Writing Made Easy! (over 250,000 copies sold); How to Win Lotteries, Sweepstakes, and Contests (over 100,000 copies sold); and How to Find Your Family Roots (over 50,000 copies sold)—and placed them into the book, gift, and catalog trade.
His varied background in literature, folklore, theater, music, and popular culture heavily influenced the types of books Goldman began to publish — from Offbeat Museums to Route 66 Adventure Handbook to MGM: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot — and today Santa Monica Press is an internationally acclaimed small press, known around the world for its eclectic list of award-winning titles. See our “About” page for a more detailed history of Santa Monica Press.
Goldman now lives in the San Diego area with his wife and two children. His philanthropic work includes serving on the Board of Words Alive for 10 years, where he was a Board Chair, and sat on the Finance Committee and Development Committee for many years. While at Words Alive, he was honored to volunteer for several years as a Writing Facilitator at the Monarch School, which serves children impacted by homelessness.
Goldman also served for six years on the Board of Trustees for the La Jolla Playhouse, where he was the Chair of the Education and Outreach Committee, and a member of the Executive Committee. Goldman was a Board Member and a member of the Finance Committee and the Education and Outreach Committee for the San Diego Symphony for two years.
He is currently a member of the Northwestern University Libraries Board of Governors, and a member of the Northwestern University Press Editorial Board.
A life-long Lakers’ fan — his family has had season tickets since 1965 — Goldman is proud to say that even though he is firmly ensconced in middle age, he can still consistently hit an NBA three!