San Fransisco and Dahiell Hammett...

Dinah has a conference in San Francisco, and I didn't have anything going on. So, after looking at the weather report and seeing that tempratures that were in the double-digits, jumped at the chance to join her. Law school starts next week--this week is for fun and relaxation.

We came in on Tuesday and visited Chinatown that night. Wednesday we took a ferry from the Embermarcado to Sausalito, seeing the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz along the way. Then we went to Ghirdelli Square and the North Beach area. It's been a busy visit, but very good.

Thursday, however, Dinah's conference began and I was left to my own devices. It didn't take me long to figure out what I wanted to do. San Francisco, in my mind, is the city of The Maltese Falcon. And I wanted to see whatever I could that was a backdrop to the book and its author, Dashiell Hammett. And, lucky you, I'm gonna share some of the pictures I took.

The next pictures are from the building on 111 Sutter St., where Hammett put Detective Sam Spade's office in the book. It's a pretty nice building from what I could see. In the book, Spade's office is on the fifth floor. Checking the directory, I could see that Harvard University has some space up there now.

The following picture is of the Geary Theater, where Joel Cairo takes in a play. The building is still a functioning theater. I didn't get a chance to look inside the theater, as I would've liked, but the outside was very impressive. But I love old theaters.

The next three pictures are of the Monaco Hotel. When Hammett was writing The Maltese Falcon, it was called the Hotel Belvedere. It was here that Joel Cairo stayed during his trip to San Francisco. You can see from the pictures that I made my way inside. Obviously, the interior has changed since the time of the book, but I thought it was still the kind of sumptuous atmosphere that Cairo would likely be found in. I especially loved that wooden staircase. It was so beautiful.

The next two pictures are of the alley at Burritt and Bush, where Spade's partner was shot. Looking at the first picture does spoil the book and the movie, so turn away if you haven't read or watched. Also, if you haven't read or watched, you should. Both works are worthy of your attention.

When I first got to the area, I was sure I was in the wrong place. In the book, the area is described as being hilly (and everything in this San Francisco is hilly), and Archer's body went down the hill so far that Spade didn't want to go down and look at it. But, as you can tell, this area is not really all that hilly. But, there's the plaque, so I was in the right space. So my guess is either, it was hillier before the buildings were put up around it, or Hammett wasn't being that exact with his descriptions.

The following two pic are of the building on Dashiell Hammett way (see the first pic), where Hammett resided for some time to get away from his family so he could drink. After the holidays, I'm sure many of us can relate to that sentiment.

All in all, I was surprised at how close all of these places were to each other. In fact, it only took me a morning to look in on all of these places. And I walked the whole way.