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Los Angeles's Bunker Hill: Pulp Fiction's Mean Streets and Film Noir's Ground Zero! Kindle Edition

by Jim Dawson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 64 ratings
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An illustrated history of the iconic Hollywood neighborhood featured in numerous film noir classics—and the shadowy story of how it disappeared.
 
When postwar movie directors went looking for a gritty location to shoot their psychological crime thrillers, they found Bunker Hill, a neighborhood of fading Victorians, flophouses, tough bars, stairways, and dark alleys in downtown Los Angeles. Novelist Raymond Chandler had already used its real-life mean streets to lend authenticity to his hardboiled detective stories featuring Philip Marlowe.
 
But the biggest crime of all was going on behind the scenes, run by the city’s power elite. And Hollywood just happened to capture it on film. Using nearly eighty photos, writer Jim Dawson sheds new light on Los Angeles history with this grassroots investigation of a vanished place.
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  1. Print length
    163 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    The History Press
  5. Publication date
    June 22, 2012
  6. File size
    5045 KB
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jim Dawson is a graduate of West Virginia University and a longtime resident of Hollywood. He is the author of over a dozen books, including Los Angeles s Angels Flight (2008), as well as a short documentary called Los Angeles s Bunker Hill (2011) on the Criterion Collection s Blu-ray/DVD reissue of the 1955 film noir classic Kiss Me Deadly.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01B04FDZQ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The History Press (June 22, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 22, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5045 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 163 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 64 ratings

About the author

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Jim Dawson

Jim Dawson

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Jim Dawson is a Hollywood, California-based writer who has specialized in American pop culture (especially early rock 'n' roll) and the history of flatulence (three books so far, including his 1999 top-seller, "Who Cut the Cheese? A Cultural History of the Fart"). Mojo magazine called his "What Was the First Rock 'n' Roll Record?" (1992), co-written with Steve Propes, "one of the most impressive musical reads of the year"; it remains a valuable source for music critics and rock historians, and an updated 30th anniversary edition was published by Genius Music Books in 2022. Dawson also wrote a series of articles on early rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll pioneers for the Los Angeles Times, including a 1989 front-page story in the Calendar entertainment section on the forgotten tragic figure Ritchie Valens. The piece led directly to Rhino Records reissuing Valens' entire catalog (with Dawson's liner notes) and eventually to the 1987 biopic "LaBamba," which used some of Dawson's research. Since 1983 Dawson has also written liner notes for roughly 150 albums and CDs, including Rhino's prestigious "Central Avenue Sounds" box set celebrating the history of jazz and early R&B in Los Angeles. He has also written extensively about Los Angeles history, pulp fiction, and film noir. Dawson is currently working on a novel about a 1920 coal mine war in his native West Virginia.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
64 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

J M Dho
5.0 out of 5 stars Must have for fans of LA Noir
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2012
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Whether you're a fan of the classics of Los Angeles film noir like 'Murder My Sweet,' 'Double Indemnity,' 'Kiss Me Deadly' and 'Criss Cross' or you were recently introduced to Los Angeles' mean streets by last year's excellent computer game, LA Noir. . .this book is for you.

Bunker Hill was once one of LA's premiere residential areas but by the late 1940s, it had regressed to a run down neighborhood of once opulent hotels and mansions converted to low-income apartments. The seedy nature of the neighborhood along with spectacular views of the rapidly expanding Los Angeles skyline and some great locations, including the Angels Flight funicular and the Third Street tunnel, and its proximity to the Hollywood studios made Bunker Hill a made-to-order film set.

Sadly, Bunker Hill succumbed to redevelopment in the 60s leaving very little of the original intact. As Jim Dawson points out in his excellent paen to Bunker Hill and LA-based film noir, even the restored Angel's Flight railway was reinstalled in the wrong location! Mr. Dawson's copiously illustrated book takes the reader on a nostalgic journey through the famous and not so famous movies of the late 40s through early 60s while providing a fascinating history of arguably the most interesting neighborhood in Los Angeles, past or pressent.

Highly recommended!
20 people found this helpful
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R. Sawyer
5.0 out of 5 stars "Big Jim" has done it again!
Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2012
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Dawson, an expert on film, music, and the cultural history of Los Angeles, has put together a fun book about the development, and sad final decline, of LA's Bunker Hill neighborhood, focusing on its use for location filming for great noir thrillers. I would have enjoyed more photos and maps (especially as the literal destruction of the geologic Hill itself and the invasion of today's office skyscrapers makes it nearly impossible for a visitor to get oriented), but the list of films in the appendix is priceless. Add to that, Dawson introduces the reader to some writers he or she might not know. Had it not been for this book, I might never have considered tracking down a used copy of John Fante's "Ask the Dust," his spare novel of a brief period in the life of Bunker Hill. I did, and enjoyed the novel thoroughly. And through it all, of course, Dawson maintains the wonderful sense of humor -- tempered with respect -- that he brings to everything he does, whether his books, his internet radio show with Ian Whitcomb on Luxuria Music, or his personal appearances. This is one you'll want for your library.
9 people found this helpful
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Frank Kapaun
4.0 out of 5 stars Informative
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2014
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Great read on a niche' aspect of film noir. Required reading for any fan of film noir even the most casual fan will recognize the locations.
2 people found this helpful
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M. D. ROY EARLE
5.0 out of 5 stars Evocative of the past
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2019
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A fine book that brings the Bunker Hill area of Los Angelas to life. Interesting details include a discussion of Angel's Flight funicular railroad, and a listing with brief descriptions of many of the older movies filmed on location.
The book tells the story of film noir's first on-location shooting set. Movies filmed there have a realism missing from those produced on the typical studio soundstage. While some of the movies discussed in this book are only of average quality with regard to screenplay and acting, all profit from being freed of the confines of the studio, and filmed in a wonderfully atmospheric locale that is now long gone.
One person found this helpful
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S M Senden
3.0 out of 5 stars DeBunked
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2013
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This book was an interesting look at the lost area called Bunker Hill in LA. It discusses the area through the perspective of films made in the area that captured the changing face of the hill before it was dozed into oblivian. It gives a short plot line synopsis of the many movies made there, and tells the reared where they can find these films. An enjoyable read.
4 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Old Los Angeles neighborhood brought to life.
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2021
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Nostalgic descriptions & pictures of an neighborhood long gone … now covered over (with hugh glass boxes) by the planners of “best use” urban renewal.
2 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Its a shame we have to see it only in ...
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2018
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Its a shame we have to see it only in films. I remember an "Asian" house - Pagoda type, sitting alone on top of a hill. Too young to carry a camera around. Its gone now. Angels Flight, rode the final days the first time around. Got my son to ride after it was moved. Bradbury Bldg - one can not go beyond landing, due offices above that level. A gem of a bldg.
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Stephen E. Pease
4.0 out of 5 stars Old LA
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2016
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Terrific picture
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Top reviews from other countries

Val H.
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating must-read for the noir lover
Reviewed in Canada on May 13, 2014
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This book was recommended to me by a friend who knows his noir. I'm now using the list of movies Dawson details to catch glimpses of this lost neighbourhood in the noir films that romanticize it. Also lead me back to rereading Raymond Chandler. Next up for me, Dawson's book on Los Angeles's Angels Flight.
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J. Connelly
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but Limited
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 24, 2015
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This wasn't what I thought it would be as it really is a history of a Los Angeles neighbourhood and while interesting this is quite limiting.
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