Category Archives: Tour

Hammett: More on “Death”

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Don

Prompted by Terry Zobeck’s post on “Death and Company,” I pulled out my Dell Mapback edition of The Return of the Continental Op and checked through all his corrections. Took a little bit of work, since Terry’s page and line numbers refer to … Continue reading →

Posted in Dash, Frisco, Lit, News, Tour | Tagged "Death and Company", "Mike Alec or Rufus", "The Creeping Siamese", "The Farewell Murder", "The Thin Man", "Women Politics and Murder", 408 Turk, 620 Eddy, 891 Post, 895 Post, Bill Arney, Black Mask, Cap Shaw, Dell Mapbacks, Frederic Dannay, Hammett Tour Book, Pru Whitfield, Pulps, pure texts, Terry Zobeck, The Glass Key, The Return of the Continental Op |

Tour: Two More in May

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Don

Only two more Sundays left in May, two more chances to put your gumshoes on the mean streets before I jump over to other things in the month of June, and maybe July, as well. . . . For the … Continue reading →

Posted in News, Tour | Tagged Burritt alley, Burritt alley plaque |

Frisco Beat: Still Dashiel. . .

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Don

As of last night, the street sign at the bottom of Dashiell Hammett Street still reads “Dashiel Hammet.” The sign at the top of the street is the original, correctly spelled version. And I did get a new theory about … Continue reading →

Posted in Dash, Frisco, News, Tour | Tagged Dashiell Hammett Street, Steven Meikle |

Death Lit: The Black (Mask) Bird

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Don

While I’m not doing a regular crime and mystery review column any more, and you’d have a very hard time talking me into the idea again, I still manage to knock out seven or eight standalone reviews every year in … Continue reading →

Posted in Dash, Lit, News, Tour | Tagged AHMM, Big Read, Black Mask, Cornell Woolrich, Erle Stanley Gardner, Falcon from Knopf, Jo Gar, Otto Penzler, pure texts, Raoul Whitfield, Raymond Chandler |

Sinister Cinema: A Couple of Popes

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Don

Breaking the pattern of recent years, this season I didn’t offer the usual Palm Sunday Tour in honor of Charles Willeford’s death, which fell on a Palm Sunday, March 27, 1988 — Willeford, who would be crowned posthumously by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Tour, Willeford | Tagged Burt Young, Change War, Daryl Hannah, Eric Roberts, Fritz Leiber, Gary Oldman, Mickey Rourke, Palm Sunday Tour, Palookaville, Sid and Nancy, The Pope of Greenwich Village |

Hammett: The Ripper

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Don

On the tour I sometimes use the 1929 story “Fly Paper” for a quick introduction to the Continental Op stories, always getting into the Op’s showdown with the gangster Babe McCloor. I always mention the fact of arsenic poisoning being a key … Continue reading →

Posted in Dash, Tour | Tagged "Fly Paper", Alexandre Dumas, Babe McCloor, Black Mask, Brian Leno, Count of Monte Cristo, Dorian Grey, Florence Maybrick, Frederick Seddon, Jack the Ripper, Old Time Radio, Orson Welles, Oscar Wilde, Ripperology, The Cimmerian, Virginia Wolfe |

Sinister Cinema: Jackie Cooper

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Don

I noticed that on May 3 Jackie Cooper passed on — thanks to the Hammett tour and dumb luck, I got to meet him one time. The year was 1982. I was back on the Jim Eason program on KGO radio — … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Frisco, News, Tour | Tagged Albert R. Broccoli, Golden Gate Avenue, Jackie Cooper, James Bond, Jim Eason, KGO, Oscar, Radio, Superman, Ted Healy, Tenderloin, Three Stooges, Wallace Beery |

Tour: Guest Stars

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Don

And on that tour by appointment for April 19 I was talking about, Charlie Morfin and Carrie-Anne of the Black Dahlia walks in Hollywood were up to check out the Frisco scene, get some tips about leading tours for film … Continue reading →

Posted in News, Tour | Tagged Bela Lugosi, Bing Crosby, Black Dahlia tours, Bogie, Burritt alley, Burritt alley plaque, celebrity graves, Charlie Morfin, Dwight Frye, Jack Benny, John Ford, Lon Chaney Sr., Musso & Frank |

Tour: Every Sunday in May

Posted on April 27, 2011 by Don

I can’t make it any simpler: you’ll find a Dashiell Hammett Tour each and every Sunday in May. Four hours. Ten bucks. The usual. No reservations needed, just show up with your gumshoes polished, ready to walk.

Posted in News, Tour | Tagged Burritt alley |

Tour: Banner Ad

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Don

I’ve got to give Vince Emery credit for his job publishing the newest edition of the Hammett Tour book — and he tells me that he has taken out a banner ad for the trade paperback printing over on the … Continue reading →