Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles

by Elizabeth M. Ward, Alain Silver (Editor)

Reissued for the 50th anniversary of the film of Chandler's novel, The Big Sleep, this evocative and elegant book juxtaposes excerpts of Chandler's tough, cynical prose with black-and-white photographs of the city he described as "no worse than others, a city rich and vigorous and full of pride, a city lost and beaten and full of emptiness." 100 photos.

Genres: Noir, Mystery, Nonfiction, Photography, Detective, History, 20th Century

240 pages, Paperback

First published October 19, 1987

About the author

Elizabeth M. Ward, M.S, R.D., is a freelance writer and nutrition consultant in the Boston area. She is the author or co-author of Healthy Foods, Healthy Kids; Pregnancy Nutrition: Good Health for You and Your Baby, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Feeding Your Baby and Toddler. Ward writes for several publications, including Prevention, Men’s Fitness, Fit Pregnancy, American Baby, Boston Globe, Parents, and Parenting.

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I expected this big picture book to be loaded with photos from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, the decades when Chandler's novels are set. Instead, Ward & Silver give us black-and-white photos of LA in the late 80s and expect us to imagine what these buildings looked like forty years before. Seeing Marlowe's 1930s office building with a Toyota Corolla parked out front is a little disconcerting. The book would have worked a lot better if the authors had gone to the library and churned up some real period pictures of mid-century LA, showing not just buildings, but the suits and dresses and automobiles mentioned in the novels. What's here isn't bad, but it's not Chandler's LA, and it could have been so much better.

[Brian Fagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a treat ! If you're a fan of Raymond Chandler's highly evocative descriptions of L. A. locations in his novels, this book of excerpts and accompanying site photographs is a lot of fun. I'm already familiar with Elizabeth Ward and Alain Silver, from their Film Noir: The Encyclopedia. They call Chandler "a writer who described L. A. like no one else ever had." And they maintain "his use of unusual similes has been copied by many and parodied by perhaps even more."

They present 61 Chandler quotes, mostly from the novels, with accompanying photos of sites he described, and frequently add updates on changes to those places. The book was published in 1987, so obviously further major changes have occurred in some places. Some readers have complained that they wish Ward and Silver had used period photographs corresponding to Chandler's era. They instead did their own photography of the locales in the late 80's. The photographs range from snapshot quality to some really nice mood pieces. I was thinking about photographic choices and I realized that not only would Ward and Silver have had the paragraph of Chandler's prose in front of them, and their memories of what they imagined when they first read the book as they worked a site, but subconsciously or consciously they would also have images from the many film adaptations in their minds as well.

Chandler wrote in his novels and letters with an ambivalent attitude toward L. A. He detested the rich and their attitudes and behavior. He also hated the sights and odors of squalid parts of town. But his prose lovingly describes locales of great beauty all over the city.

I got a bonus out of reading this book. I read Chandler's novels starting about 11 years ago. After I finished them, I kept remembering that one book really excelled at setting place moods around L. A., but I haven't been able to remember which one it was. After reading the excerpts in this book, I'm pretty certain it was Farewell, My Lovely. I'm going to make it a reread soon.

[Carla Remy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I'd hoped. Mostly a collection of excerpts from Chandler's fiction paired with photos of L.A. taken in the 80s. I found it hilarious that the photo of Mann's (Chinese Theater) was taken when "Police Academy 2" was playing. I would have thought they'd include at least a few 40s photos.

[Jackson Burnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine collection of quotes from Raymond Chandler's fiction and photographs of the places he wrote about or could have been writing about. Some annotation is provided.

The photographs are in black and white, and the book is rather succint, both of which are major detractions from the effort.

I think the book rates 3.5 stars and is thus rounded up to 4 stars.

This book well demonstrates what I discuss in my blog post "All the Great Places Aren't Taken." http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...

[Samantha M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much like many reviewers, this would have been a nice collection of passages and photos if the photos had been sourced closer to the period, and certainly would be a great project for any historian. That being said, some of the places (even though photographed in the 1980s) are gone now. Hopefully, since Chandler's work is on-brand Los Angeles, we'll likely see a similar publication eventually. One book to look out for that I loved, though it is just the first Philip Marlow story The Big Sleep, is The Annotated Big Sleep edited by Owen Hill and Pamela Jackson. These two do a much better job digging deeper to tie the text with locations and extraordinary historical context about class and gender/sexuality than this does. This is a nice overview, but leaves any fan of hardboiled crime noir fiction and/or pulp wanting more.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like others have said FOR THE LOVE PEOPLE THESE PHOTOS WERE SHOT IN THE 1970s/1980s!!

Having said that, some of these places in the 30 years since are gone, so I guess from a vantage point where we stand now we should be grateful for having some documented. For fans of Chandler who have never been to Los Angeles you can get a great feel for these locations.

I love Los Angeles with all my heart so this is a 3 star rather than 2.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read some disappointed reviews but tried this anyway. Well, it's a compilation of quotes, with some additional connective text, and photos of places in LA that resemble, or are, the places Chandler was writing about.
But the photos are indeed fairly uninteresting as photos, and the quotes, out of context, don't make for a continuous reading experience. More a slightly dull toilet book, in all honesty.

It might be more interesting to have this to hand while reading one of the novels. I may try this, as I've recently started The Big Sleep; and to give credit where it's due, the List of Excerpts does facilitate this type of exercise (though it would be better if it gave page or chapter references for the excerpts so that you could know when to look at which photo/text combo).

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a lot to this, but I liked looking at photos of Los Angeles and reading little snippets of Raymond Chandler books. Now if only the pictures were from the 1930s-1950s.

[Noiresque · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fantastic idea!

Raymond Chandler's novels basically feature L.A. as a character, with extended descriptions of various famous buildings, vistas, neighborhoods, etc. It's one of the things that make his novels such good reads.

The authors of this book decided to go and photograph, whenever possible, the real places that Chandler included in a thinly-disguised way in his books. Included are the relevant excerpts from the books, as well as nicely written discussions of relevant biographical details from Chandler's life and discussions of the locations. There are plenty of places that just don't exist anymore, and in those cases, the authors have had to substitute something.

The result is, for any Chandler fan, a great visual tour. The photos are all black-and-white, and nicely realized. I pick up this book whenever I finish (or am in the middle of) a Phillip Marlowe story. I would heartily recommend it to any Chandler fans.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this photograph odyssey through the Los Angeles landscape that Raymond Chandler treated as another character. Looking at the pictures and accompanying passages inspires me to read, or re-read, this prolific author’s works.

Raymond Chandler’s lyrical prose is akin to poetry. My own writing is more to the point, so at times his skill with metaphors and similes wears me out … but not before I’ve succumbed again and again to enchantment.

[Joe Noir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorgeous, evocative photography. In glorious black and white. Some photos (or changes to the landscape in them) are more recent than the words of Chandler that caption them, so they are not quite Chandler's L.A. All in all, I think the book succeeds, it does what it was meant to do.

[Myrna Minkoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book as a gift, but read it before I sent it. This is for those who declare Los Angeles to be a vacuous pit devoid of history, mystery, romance and meaning. FACE!