Welcome to a hard-boiled and not without noir blog with news and reviews, occasional outbursts of maniacal Autograph Hound activity, plus archival records from the forty-five year run of The Dashiell Hammett Tour. 
The Dashiell Hammett Tour
1977-2022
Arkham House Ephemera
The Classic Years 1937–1973
Death Lit
Essays and Reviews Selected from Fifty Years of Writing 1974–2024
Willeford
The Book
Category Archives: Tour
Tour: 3 Sundays in October
For anyone who wants to just show up by noon near the revolving “L” sculpture with 20 bucks and four hours to kill, take your pick from Sunday October 15 or Sunday October 22 or Sunday October 29 — the tourist … Continue reading
Rediscovered: FLIVVER GAME (!!!)
Operatives of the Mean Streets scour the country, looking for clews. I know it. I trust you know it. Agent Paul Herman just sent in a report after he “went to a collectible ephemera show in Hartford last weekend.” Naturally, … Continue reading
Hammett: Popping into Stookey’s
A Sunday or three back I was in Frisco, just hanging out, and stopped into Stookey’s for a pop. I needed a Corpse Reviver No. 2 to keep the old corpse going, and they’ll always shake one up for me, even … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, News, Tour
Tagged Burritt alley, Bush and Taylor Streets, Corpse Reviver, Faverman's drugstore, Stookey's Club Moderne
Tour: 3 Sundays in September
People have been asking if I was ever going to offer some just-show-up walks again. I admit, it’s a fair question, this year being my Fortieth Anniversary and all. John Q. Public could reasonably expect some mean streets leadership to … Continue reading
Tour: Sunday June 11
In the pic above, The Dashiell Hammett Tour of that moment stands on the northwest corner of O’Farrell and Larkin, taking in the perfect 1920s blocks rolling down O’Farrell to the east (until you get to The Hamilton, a large … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, Tour
Tagged Blanco's, Great American Music Hall, Larkin Street, O'Farrell Street
Tour: Sundays May 7 and 28
Keeping the roll going, anyone who wants to show up palming a $20 with four hours to kill can join in on Hammett Tours set for Sunday May 7 and Sunday May 28. No appointment needed, just show up by … Continue reading
Tour: Mentioned Alongside Janis and Jerry
For anyone who wants to surf over and check it out, the Hammett Tour just got a line or two in an article by Patricia Corrigan in the Napa Valley Register. Patricia — author of 100 Things to Do in San … Continue reading
Posted in Frisco, Tour
Tagged Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia, Napa Valley Register, Patricia Corrigan
Tour: Sundays April 9 and 23
Image: Dashiell Hammett Tour perched atop the Stockton Tunnel, about to hike over to where Miles Archer got his. . . . Anyone who wants to show up clutching a $20 with four hours to kill —- no appointment necessary — can … Continue reading
Mort: Where’s Miguel?
After the tour on the 26th I made it back to my lair in time to catch most of the Oscars ceremony, including the debacle with Best Picture. Pretty funny. Keep Bonnie as far away from Clyde as possible, that’s … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Tour
Tagged Mary Tyler Moore, Miguel Ferrer, Oscar, Robert Vaughan, Robocop, SAG Awards, The Magnificent Seven
Sinister Cinema: “He’s Hicks”
I knocked out the little tribute to the late Bill Paxton the other day as I did my usual morning struggle to wake up. I’ve been aware of him for his entire career — Near Dark, nice reunion of the … Continue reading
