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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: Literary Plaques
891 Post: Nicotine Yellow
The corner outside the door into the kitchen in the Sam Spade apartment shows some of the roughest rough stage work as Bill Arney labored to get the place ready for a new inhabitant. You can see some of the … Continue reading
891 Post: Enter the Apartment
On September 20, 2009 I gumshoed up to the gate of 891 Post. Corner of Hyde. In the night, the plaque we’d put on the building early in 2005 to commemorate the residence of Dashiell Hammett gave off a dim … Continue reading
Tour: Two Sundays in November
One Sunday tour left in October, then two more in November to wrap up the year. . . . The pic above came from Mario Ruiz, and he dates it to 2014, when he rolled down from Portland to walk the … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Chandler and the Great War
Brian Wallace lets me know about news popping in scattered corners of the noir universe. I suspect he thinks I’m too lazy to look for the stuff myself, and if so, he isn’t wrong. For many long years I have operated under the … Continue reading
Posted in Frisco, Lit, News
Tagged Brian Wallace, Literary Plaques, London's blue enamel plaques, Raymond Chandler, The Great War
Tour: 3 Sundays in October
For anyone who wants to just show up by noon near the revolving “L” sculpture with 20 bucks and four hours to kill, take your pick from Sunday October 15 or Sunday October 22 or Sunday October 29 — the tourist … Continue reading
Rediscovered: A Mil Plus Will Get You Boucher Central
Wooden crates house the library of William Anthony Parker White — better known by the penname Anthony Boucher to the mystery-reading world — in the upstairs office area of his longtime Berkeley home. D. S. Black of the Bancroft Library just … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Anthony Boucher, Bancroft Library, D.S. Black, literary homes, Literary Plaques
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
Tour: Sunday May 17 and Sunday June 7
Okay, the requests for walks have rolled in, so if you’re ready and able on either Sunday May 17 or Sunday June 7, you can just show up at noon clutching $20, with four hours available to kill gumshoeing up … Continue reading
Tour: Sunday September 21
Image above — gesticulating next to the plaque marking the Sam Spade apartment building in 891 Post Street. And if you want to gumshoe the mean streets on The Dashiell Hammett Tour this month, your chance to do so … Continue reading
Tour: Hot Off the Mean Streets
My gumshoes have barely stopped smoking after leading the tour yesterday and I learn that Bill O’Such already has a photo gallery up for any and all to see. He wasn’t lugging around that camera just for grins. You’ve got some shots of … Continue reading
