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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.”
Tag Archives: Bill Arney
891 Post: The Reign of Wild Bill Arney, Remembered
Just got a note from Bill Arney, who you’ll remember as the longtime Keeper of the Sacred Shrine, i.e. Hammett’s apartment in 891 Post Street — where a little classic titled The Maltese Falcon was written. Bill just got a … Continue reading
Hammett: “Brigid Skates”
Back in 2009 I had a potential brush with the Court of Historical Review in San Francisco, which plays with old crimes — for fun, they re-try them. The loose plan was that I would provide background info on evidence … Continue reading
Hammett: Trouble in Paradise
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 … Continue reading
Hammett: Gutman’s Daughter Preying on Minds
I was just mentioning to Bill Arney that our days of hanging out in San Francisco bars between ten and twenty years ago was a Golden Age, and that I said so at the time. Golden Ages don’t slip past me … Continue reading
Tour: The Kermit Sheets Copy
Grizzled eBay gunhawk Brian Leno told me that a signed copy of an old tour book currently is on the block — Buy It Now for $39.50. First printing of the second edition from 1982. Same printing as the copy I … Continue reading
Posted in Frisco, News, Tour
Tagged Autographs, Bill Arney, Book Collecting, Bouchercon, Brian Leno, Hammett Tour Book, Kermit Sheets, PulpFest, Tiny Boyles
Hammett: And Chandler, and Nigel, Bill and Don
Slightly over twenty people did the “just show up and walk the walk” routine for the tour yesterday. I always think of twenty as being the average number of tourists gumshoeing the mean streets on the walk over the years, though … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Lit, Tour
Tagged 891 Post, BBC, Bill Arney, Delicatessen, Dominque Pinon, Dwight Frye, Fatty Arbuckle, Jo Hammett, Mark Murphy, Murphy bed, Nigel Williams, Raymond Chandler
Sinister Cinema: Voice of Noir
How about a few more pics from the gig in the Tenderloin Museum? I was supposed to talk for 30 or 40 minutes about Hammett living in the TL, the 1941 film of The Maltese Falcon and so forth — … Continue reading
Frisco Beat: Reeling in the History
Did a couple of groups by appointment yesterday, got lucky with the brutal winter rains holding off. . . . On one of them the mysterious CitySleuth came along and tossed in some tidbits of film/Frisco history — one was … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Frisco, Tour
Tagged 891 Post, Bill Arney, CitySleuth, Heisenberg, Jimmy Stewart, Kim Novak, Lon Chaney Sr., Mark Murphy, ReelSF, Ruby Skye, Tenderloin Museum, The Big Knockover, The Penalty, Vertigo
Hammett: A Few Notes from a Former Thin Man
Naturally, my post the other day about the first meeting of me and no less than Bill Arney on a tour back in 1982 was noticed by Bill Arney, who says: “Oh, man. “That was my first hat, my first … Continue reading
