Sins of the City: The Real Los Angeles Noir

Admirers of films like CHINATOWN and L.A. CONFIDENTIAL will find the photographs collected in this book to be enthralling. Had the author located a paragraph from Raymond Chandler and company for each image (as he does for a few) this would have been a far better book. Unfortunately, the author provides us with a tabloid-style prose of his own. Also,admirers of vintage pornography will be disappointed by Mr. Heimann's rather tame and uninspired choices.

First of all, this is largely a fun read. And a quick one, because this book is 75% photos, 15% captions, and 10% introduction. Personally, I was disappointed there was not more text; what IS here is deliciously noir (it was tough to read without hearing Bogie's voice). But this is more a concept than a book, and it seems the author spent more time researching photos than writing and that was an unfortunate decision. But if you're looking for the seedy underbelly of L.A., you won't be disappointed.

I too bought this book after hearing Larry Mantle's interview with the author. As a newly arrived local, I have become very interested in LA's history and this book is a worthy addition to anyone's library of books on LA. However I was a little disappointed that Mr Heinmann didn't give us specific addresses of places shown in the wonderful photographs he miraculously uncovered. I especially like to drive around LA and see what these sites look like thesedays. However Heinmann thought to give us very little in the way of specifics of address. This is fair enough when we're looking at anonymous bartenders caught in the crossfire of mafia killing sprees. But when were looking at nightclubs on Sunset in the 1940s or 50s, it would have been great to know where exactly there were.

Larry Mantle's "Air Talk" on KPCC is the inspiration for a number of the book purchases I've made in recent years. This same pattern held true for Heimann's "Sins of the City." For those of us somewhat familiar with LA's past, the photographs and sparce commentary provided a look at Los Angeles of the 1930s and 40s. They helped to fill in some of the blanks as well as raise new interests about things heretofore unknown. The book provides an entertaining two-hour read at the beach, but leaves the reader thirsting for more details. Last week Heimann's interview was played on "The Best of Airtalk." After having read the book and hearing Heimann's interview twice, I felt very deprived. Perhaps it's the ability of Larry Mantle to draw the best out of his guests, or maybe Heimann wanted his readers begging for more. Whatever the case, the narrative of the book pales to what it could have been had Heimann's interview on KPCC been used as the source of the book's narrative. For those of us who like to read Chandler or Elroy, this book provides us with the authentic photographs of the era to go along with their classic narratives.

If you like the novels of James Ellroy, especially his L. A. trilogy, this book shows the reader many of the non-fiction characters and places. It's a great companion book.