Literary San Francisco: Dashiell Hammett

Dashiell Hammett Street (formerly Monroe), off Bush Street between Stockton and Powell.

Dashiell Hammett is the exemplar of 20th Century noir detective writers. San Francisco's foggy streets and mysterious atmosphere were a perfect match for Hammett's dame-and-gumshoe imagination. The Thin Man, Black Mask, and Maltese Falcon author lived at 891 Post Street #401, one of his many San Francisco addresses in the 1920s. Hammett worked as a private eye for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in the Flood Building on Market Street before his success as America's author of crime and murder fiction. Completists will find an ersatz descendant, Pinkerton Security Services, at 731 Market.

Detail

Burritt Street
Dashiell Hammett Street
Maltese Falcon
Flood Building
John's Grill


Copyright 2001 Hank Donat
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