Among Rense's works as an author, "The Oaks" (2007) is his semi-autobiographical account of growing up in 1960s Thousand Oaks, and "The Last Byline" (2003) details life at a fictional newspaper from the same era. Rip Rense's parents were Arthur F. Rense and the latter's first wife, Madelon. His father was a sports journalist with the Los Angeles newspaper the "Daily News" before going on to a successful career in public relations, notably with the Douglas Aircraft Company and the Summa Corporation. The family home during the 1950s and 1960s was in the then-rural suburb of Thousand Oaks, north-west of Los Angeles. Rense was the youngest of three sons. Rense attended Venice High School, where one of his classmates was Scott Wannberg, later a leading figure in the Los Angeles poetry and literary establishment. At the start of his career in journalism, Rense worked as a reporter for the "Valley News" and the "Los Angeles Herald-Examiner". He recalls that one of his early assignments, for "LA Weekly", was to attend a chaotic press conference held by former Beatle George Harrison in February 1979. During the early 1980s, Rense wrote several articles for the "Herald-Examiner" on Hollywood film legends Laurel and Hardy, particularly about a series of rediscovered short films featuring the comedy duo. In his 1990 biography of Laurel and Hardy, Wes D. Gehring pairs Rense's insights with those of "New York Times" reporter Mervyn Rothstein; the two journalists' findings, Gehring writes, combine to form "a Laurel and Hardy composite, complementing each other both in relationship to these specific rereleased short subjects and to their comic charisma in general". Rense's 1994 "Los Angeles Times" features on the first film dramatization of Superman – 1951's "Superman and the Mole Men" – included an interview with Phyllis Coates, who discussed the gender politics behind her portrayal of the character Lois Lane. While at the "Valley News" in the late 1970s, Rense interviewed one of Hollywood's pioneer studio owners, Allan Dwan. Among his contributions to "Billboard" magazine, he wrote an article in September 1986 on the rise of corporate sponsors such as Westwood One and their effect on the music industry. Rense interviewed George Harrison for "Guitar World" magazine in 1987. In his book "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", author Simon Leng quotes Rense's observations on the importance of Harrison's guitar contributions to the Beatles' sound.