Shot above from a few years ago, Mike Humbert, Don, Bill Arney standing in front of the folded-up Murphy bed in Sam Spade’s apartment, 891 Post Street. Mike maintains a Hammett website and Bill is famed as the one-time occupant of the Spade digs.
You might think that other than going under the knife on occasion, that nothing much happens to Hammett fans — certainly that they’re not involved in any exciting news.
Unfortunately, not so.
Bill reported a couple of days ago, “I just got off the phone with Mike Humbert, whose house, along with most of the town of Paradise, has burned to the ground in California’s latest brush/forest fire. Mike got out, literally with his hair on fire, as his roof was bursting into flames.
“His books, typewriter collection, hell, most of his clothes, are gone.”
Other than the singed hair, it sounds as if Mike survived. And he’s not the only guy who got whacked by the fire (now not even the latest, with two more popping up near LA), and he’s luckier than the people who didn’t even make it out.
I’ll report better news, if any drifts in.
