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About DonHerron.com
In 1977 Don Herron began leading The Dashiell Hammett Tour, now the longest-running literary tour in the nation. On this site you’ll find information on current walks — dates, where to meet, arranging tours by appointment — plus a hard-boiled blog with news, reviews of books and film, and a dash of noir.
The latest and greatest edition to self-guide you up and down the mean streets.
Willeford: The Book
Includes the first “Mr. Hunt” story, “Knives in the Dark.”
Category Archives: News
Mort: Hopfrog Nevermore
The month of March adds another death to its grim stats with the passing at age 67 of Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire, May 3 1951-March 26 2019. Got to give him a mention here if only because of his introduction to … Continue reading
Frisco Beat: At Least One Guy Hits the Century Mark
Doing a quick check of the net, it looks as if Lawrence Ferlinghetti turns 100 years old today. The event could have slipped past my radar, except a few days ago I got a deluxe one-sheet poem from D. S. … Continue reading
Posted in Frisco, Lit, News
Tagged City Lights, D.S. Black, Donald Sidney-Fryer, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Nancy Peters
Mort: Ten Years After Tompk
Hard to believe it was ten years ago today when Steve Tompkins punched his ticket. Only 48 years old, hospitalized for food poisoning after hitting Burger King, then out of the blue a heart attack. If they can’t handle a … Continue reading
Tour: Some Media No More
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon — and who knows?, maybe for the rest of your life — the Some Media clump in the banner above is going to disappear. Every few years I dink around with the … Continue reading
Frisco Beat: Anniversary 101 for Stan McNail
As it turned out, the first installment of my short-lived review column for Lit, a literary supplement for The San Francisco Bay Guardian, hit print in May 1995 — timing that allowed me to wrap up the piece with a … Continue reading
Posted in Frisco, Lit, News
Tagged Arkham House, Bay Guardian, Book Collecting, Dirk Mosig, Galley Sail Review, Greyhound, Jack Spicer, Lawrence Hart, Paul Dobish, Something Breathing, Stan McNail, Steve Eng, The Activists
Hammett: Chump Change
Evan Lewis, my de facto reporter on the ground for news of the auction of books from the Otto Penzler collection — which is to say, I’m never going to bother to follow something like that, whereas Evan is covering it like … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, News
Tagged Evan Lewis, Lillian Hellman, Otto Penzler, Red Harvest, The Big Knockover
Hammett: A Paperback for Lillian Hellman
Apparently a large chunk out of Otto Penzler’s personal collection is going on the block over the next year or two. I know this news because A) it is public information, no black cats out of the bag or anything, … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, News
Tagged Book Collecting, Creeps by Night, Evan Lewis, Frederic Dannay, Lillian Hellman, Otto Penzler, Pru Whitfield
Two-Gun Bob: Brian Leno, Reporting Ringside
Whoa. Courtesy the production wizards over at The Cimmerian Press, yesterday Brian Leno popped out his second TriplePunchPack — Ringside with Robert E. Howard. Just an appetizer against the full feedbag of the book he’s working on, an in-depth look … Continue reading
Posted in Boxing, News, REH
Tagged Brian Leno, Ernest Hemingway, Jack Dempsey, Jim Tully, Kid Dula, The Cimmerian Press
Rediscovered: The Morgman on The Augman, and Others
As any long time reader, surfer or dipper into The Mean Streets may have noticed, I’m not great on anniversaries — yeah, I hop on the annual birth and death days for Hammett, and usually remember Robert E. Howard’s birthday. … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Arkham House, August Derleth, Dwight Frye, John D. Haefele, Morgan Holmes, S.T. Joshi
Hammett: Only $227 mil
Brian Wallace just popped me the news that Sam Spade’s office building in 111 Sutter has sold for a mere 227 million bucks. Makes the sale of Sam Spade’s big cushy armchair for $90,000ish seem like chump change. In addition … Continue reading
