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
Tag Archives: Burritt alley
Tour: 45 Years — 1977-2022
Man, it would have been swell to get to the 50 Year mark leading the Dashiell Hammett Tour, but I guess I started in just a little too late. The gumshoes are willing but years weigh heavy. And I can’t … Continue reading
Hammett: Prowling Burritt Alley
I guess it was in 2021 when I shot some footage with Duane and Rachel Anderson of Travel by the Book TV. Took them awhile, but they’ve got about 20 minutes now up on YouTube, touring Hammett sites in San … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, News, Tour
Tagged Burritt alley, Dashiell Hammett Street, Duane and Rachel Anderson, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Travel by the Book TV
Tour: Journal of the Plague Year
2020, without question, a great year for binge-watching — but taking a moment to think about it, I don’t believe I did any more bingeing than usual (which is to say I am a binge-master, the only trick is tracking … 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: 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: Every Sunday in October
Partly because some people asked for some of the dates, partly to give the packed audience for the Hammett talk in the Mechanics’ Library a chance to slip on the old gumshoes and ease on down the mean streets, you’ll … Continue reading
Hammett: Out of the Past
Do you remember my description in the recent PulpFest report about how a dealer showed me a copy of my 1982 tour book in gray wraps which he had priced at $15? I was going to put it back for … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, Tour
Tagged Autographs, Bill Arney, Burritt alley, Hammett Cult in San Francisco, John D. Haefele, Morgan Holmes, PulpFest, Red Harvest, Tom Krabacher
Frisco Beat: “Burrito” Alley
A couple of Wednesdays back I noticed that someone had changed the lettering on Burritt alley to make “Burritt” into “Burrito” — but last night saw that the name had been returned to Burritt and all is well with the … Continue reading
Hammett: KALW and the Mystery of the Black Bird
The Maltese Falcon presides over San Francisco — the novel, the film, a thousand and one statues made of plaster, the two or three (or more?) figurines wrought out of lead with a golden bronze patina — the lead ones from … Continue reading
Tour: Sunday February 22
We’ve got a Hammett tour coming up fast, where anyone can show up palming twenty bucks and walk the walk — this Sunday, January 18. Next one in line rolls up on Sunday February 22. Meets at noon, near the “L” … Continue reading
