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

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!

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.

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.

Nostalgic descriptions & pictures of an neighborhood long gone … now covered over (with hugh glass boxes) by the planners of “best use” urban renewal.

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.

This book is a doubled-barreled delight. In addition to a passionate and exacting description of Bunker Hill, the scene of so many noir films, we also get an lucid and brilliant expose on the importance and reasons for shooting on location vs. on canned film sets.

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.

This book was everything I was hoping it would be: a history of a lost neighborhood that should still be in Los Angeles; great references to the movies filmed there and the sad story of its demise. Thank you Esotouric.com for the recommendation to read this book.

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.

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.