In the realm of Tacoma based oddities I discovered this bit of video from a lead by artist Chris Sharp. At 3:10 in this clip the Tacoma born poet Richard Brautigan reads a little mystery story he titled Dashiell Hammett a la Mode. The novelist, poet and short story writer found celebrity while living in San Francisco during the counterculture 60’s but as a boy growing up in Tacoma in the late 40’s he devoured mystery novels and pulp fiction. The minimal spare storytelling voice of the pulps was a characteristic of Brautigan’s hallucinogenic literary style. What makes this poem so interesting is the intersection of Brautigan and Hammett, both writers who found Tacoma in their own travels and in the stories they told. Something for the file on Tacoma books and letters.
For background on Dashiell Hammett and Tacoma Noir and pulp fiction check out earlier stories.
tacoma history 