I examine the Los Angeles legacy of the Paisley Underground through three ‘L.A. stories.’ The first involves its origins, as I discuss the Paisley Underground’s historical parameters by identifying its key bands and explain how it failed to constitute a proper scene, notwithstanding assertions by journalists, fans, and even its own members. The second story involves its urban representations, as I examine the musical styles, visual imagery, and lyrical themes in the Paisley Underground’s key early recordings, noting their emphasis on psychedelic themes, relationship narratives, and various literary and artistic traditions. I make further note of the manifest absence of Los Angeles in the Paisley Underground’s music, in contrast to L.A. underground rock before and after. The third story explains the prescience of the Paisley Underground’s aesthetic sensibility for a future Los Angeles, in which its musicians deploy cultural capital to revitalize and synthesize overlooked musical styles in ways that would see wider urban parallels after their ‘scene’ ends. Though modest in commercial connection with audiences of the time, the Paisley Underground anticipated the sociological emergence of a suburban, middle-class subjectivity that consumes overlooked styles and seeks communities of affinity in the cultures and spaces of Los Angeles.