12.1.09

F I R S TP R E V917NEXTLAST

Dashiell Hammett Place, Nob Hill
In 1988 the San Francisco supervisors renamed a dozen streets after famous local writers and artists. One of those, Monroe Street, became Dashiell Hammett Place to honor the hard-boiled mystery writer who lived here during the 1920s at number 20, apartment 9. Hammett who wrote detective stories featuring Sam Spade and Nick and Nora Charles had worked as a Pinkerton detective before turning to novel writing.

During the time that he resided here Hammett was married to Josephine Dolan, and had two daughters. However his family lived in Marin County because Hammett had developed tuberculosis and wanted to avoid exposing them. The time apart from his family put stress on and eventually ended his marriage. In 1931, Hammett began a thirty-year affair with playwright Lillian Hellman.

For those interested, there is a Dashiell Hammett walking tour through San Francisco that visits a number of real and fictional locales from the Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man and other novels. A special thank you goes out to FogBay reader, Donna H. for e-mailing and suggesting this post.
[ MAP F-14 ]


3 Comments:

Blogger AphotoAday said...

Super photo!
I admire your style!

6:15 AM  
Blogger rudyfan1926 said...

Whoa, I'm flattered and yet another great photo!

2:25 PM  
Blogger dutchbaby said...

My book club read The Maltese Falcon in preparation for our weekend in San Francisco. It was a great read. We stayed at the Rex Hotel where Hammett's quotes are painted on the walls.

Gorgeous photo!

8:20 AM  

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