More Dreams from Bunker Hill

THIS WEEK, the corner of 5th Street & Grand Avenue moved up in the world.
The City of Los Angeles is formally naming the intersection after the author of Ask the Dust and Dreams from Bunker Hill. It's a symbolic choice of course, as 5th and Grand sit at the foot of the old neighborhood, Bunker Hill we've been talking about and looking at in class. It was where he once lived -- and suffered. It was also a quick walk to the Central Library, a place that the author haunted. Years later, a young poet happened upon his books in the stacks, and they in turn inspired him to become a writer. Charles Bukowski would champion Fante for the rest of his life.

For those interested in a long-look back there will be a bus tour, John Fante's Dream's From Bunker Hill, on April 17 sponsored and hosted by the Los Angeles Visionary Association. Check here for details.
-- L.G.
(photo: Fante's Bunker Hill duplex, credit: fishbowl, l.a.)

Bukowski Court: Almost Vanished L.A.

WHILE WE'RE the subject of Bukowski, this story had his fans up-in-arms. The little bungalow where the author wrote "Post Office" was almost razed. At the 11th hour, the City of Los Angeles moved to protect it as a historical landmark, but this story isn't unfamiliar. This is how much of L.A. history is erased, quickly, quietly and under the cover of night.
-- L.G.

(photo: Charles Bukowski's Hollywood house
photo credit: from LAist)

Chandlertown -- Raymond

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AS WE round the corner into the 1930s and 1940s how about a taste of Raymond Chandler-- L.A.'s noir writer laureate.

Red Wind & Noir

JOURNALIST/ESSAYIST, Joan Didion understood the Santa Ana Winds as a season in and of itself. She hauntingly articulated their impact on the region. But it was Raymond Chandler who started the conversation for the hard-boiled poet in all of us:

"There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge"
-- Raymond Chandler
from "Red Wind" from the collection, Trouble is My Business

What happens when the winds come around for you? What other L.A. natural phenomena (ritual, cyclical, infrequent) inspires deep emotion in you?

-- L.G.