Sins of the City: The Real Los Angeles Noir

by Jim Heimann

New in town, huh? Look around, kidpalm trees, movie stars, glittering promises of fame and fortune....Now look closer, and you'll see the real action in the City of goons and thugs, backroom dice clubs, motel room cheesecake shots, crusading cops, and a few unlucky saps who didn't make it out alive. Sins of the City is a daring photographic compendium of vintage vice in Los Angeles from the '20s to the '50s, the true-life pictures of a milieu immortalized in the hard-bitten novels of Raymond Chandler, Walter Mosley, and James Ellroy, and such films as Criss Cross, Double Indemnity, Chinatown, and LA Confidential. Pore over 200 shots of the people, places, and events that only tabloids such as Hush-Hush, Confidential, and Whisper dared publish. Witness the LAPD bust a floating casino, see a dapper Bugsy Siegel "before" (living) and "after" (deeply deceased), and marvel at the criminal excess of marijuana-stuffed suitcases. Author Jim Heimann has scoured archives and newspaper morgues for prime examples of Southland's inglorious past, presenting a compelling history of its notorious corruption. Sure, it's a tough city, but thankfully someone was there to record it all.

Genres: History, True Crime, Nonfiction, Noir, Crime, Photography, Art

144 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1999

Reviews

[Blair Hoyle]

There are some gnarly photographs throughout Dark City, but it's not nearly as "graphic" as some of the reviews have made it seem. It's more of a documentation of the architecture of 1930s-1950s Los Angeles than anything. There are some excellent landscape shots and some fun photos of the nightlife of the era.

[R D]

A somewhat interesting assemblage of photos showing the dark side of L.A., plus reprints from some of the scandal sheets of the era (1920- 1960).

[Philip Costea]

You'd think moving to the city of angels would give you a chance to become one - to some extent - instead, it was a playground for the vile and depraved. So many non-natives came to L.A. only to bring their debauchery and wickedness, but for every demon there's an angel somewhere.

[Karla Dee]

very graphic book about the crimes committed in LA.

~Lana Turner kills a gangster she had a kid with and def got w lots of married men. tbh kinda sus.
~Lots of corrupts police biz, weird religious cults, zuit suit riots, brothels, porn industry, corrupt hollywood...

Film list:

Mildred Pierce-Michael Curtiz
Double Indemniy-Billy Wilder
The big sleep-Howard Hawks
The postman always rings twice
Criss Cross-Robert Siodmak
Sunset Boulevard-Bill Wilder
The killing-Stanley Kubrick
Touch of evil-orson welles
L.A. Confidential-Curtis Hanson
Chinatown-Roman Polanski

Books:

Queer People-Carroll and Garett Graham
They Shoot Horses Don't They-Horace Mccoy
The Day of the Locust-Nathanael West
The big sleep-Raymond Chandler
Mildred Pierce-James M Cain
Double Indemnity- James M. Cain
The loved one-Evelyn Waugh
True confessions-John Gregory Dunne
The Black Dahlia- Jame Ellroy
Devil in a blue dress-Walter Mosley

[Sarah Jackson]

Another interesting collection of crime scene photographs of Los Angeles. Among the images of corpses and crime scenes there are some great historical photos of LA, including some amazing scenes of what the down town area looked like before it was developed. This book contains graphic images and is not for everybody.

[Meleya]

Quick look at LA and the crime that inspired the Film Noir Genre. Great book to check out from the library. Don't buy it unless you are a collector of early LA pictures.