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Sins Of The City
 
 
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Sins Of The City [Paperback]

JIM HEIMANN (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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In the first half of the 20th century, Los Angeles was as well known for its lurid nightlife and criminal underground as it was for the Hollywood film empire. Often, of course, the two sides of L.A. met, as when Robert Mitchum was busted for marijuana possession in 1949; among the photos collected in Sins of the City you'll find a snapshot of Mitchum in prison gear during his 50-day incarceration. You'll also find several pictures of local crime boss Mickey Cohen and his gang, usually after somebody's made an attempt to rub them out. Several of the crime scene photos are not for the squeamish, including the shooting death of mobster Bugsy Siegel and the discovery of both halves of the body of Elizabeth Short, better remembered as the "Black Dahlia." (Actually, the two pictures of Short's bisected corpse are taken from a distance, compared to more gruesome photos of that scene found in other sources.)

Jim Heimann's introduction provides some historical context, but it's the photos themselves that are the real attraction here. From them you'll get a sense of what the gambling parlors, speakeasies, and drag balls of the period looked like--as well as Beverly Hills movie premieres, the back alleys of Chinatown, and the exteriors of such swank nightclubs as La Conga and the Mocambo. Sins of the City is fascinating reference material for readers of classic L.A. noir (it includes quotes from several authors, among them Raymond Chandler and John Fante), as well as anyone interested in studying or writing about this period.

Review

So you've seen LA Confidential more than a few times and you're itching to know more about the City of Angels' seedy side? In Sins of the City, Jim Heimann collects tabloid shots taken at morgues, mafia murder scenes and marijuana heists-plus some sweet ol' amateur port thrown in for good measure. Perfect browsing material to keep next to the can at your swing club. -- Ray Gun
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First Sentence
"DOWN THESE MEAN STREETS A MAN MUST GO WHO HIMSELF IS NOT MEAN, WHO IS NEITHER TARNISHED NOR AFRAID." Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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 (1)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
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2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2.0 out of 5 stars For the "I Hate L.A." crowd only, Dec 27 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Sins Of The City (Paperback)
The author was obviously inspired by the best movie of 1997, L.A. Confidential, to dig into archival photos to show the "real Los Angeles." However, his ugly condemnation of the city--a city that needs to be "redeemed"--is as hysterically false as the boosterism of the "noir era" that proclaimed the metropolis as an eden of sunshine and wealth. His iconoclastic glee is a little too much. Are we really to be shocked that in a city of millions you'll find crime, gangsters, potheads, gambling joints, religious frauds and crooked cops? And author Heimann, breathless as he seems to be, is hardly the first to dredge the underbelly of the glamour capital of the world. Writers like Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain and Nathanael West did so many, many years ago. As other reviewers have noted, the photos are interesting but the text is witless and non-instructive. And his generalizations are annoying. As a lifelong Angeleno, most of the city's residents--then and now--are ordinary folks working hard to make a living and raise their families. This comes off as a smear job. I don't love L.A., but I don't think it's a non-redeemed hellhole either, now or in its history. Chronicle Books is one of my favorite publishers, but this is very poor journalism verging on propaganda.
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3.0 out of 5 stars Great photos, but lacks the stories, Dec 9 2000
This review is from: Sins Of The City (Paperback)
Sins of the City is a great picture book, with awesome images of pre and postwar Los Angeles noir. But it does lack the stories behind these images except for a few captions. I was expecting to find more text on L.A. noir and was a bit dissapointed. This is a great book to look at after reading "The Big Sleep" and "Farewell My Lovely" by Raymond Chandler. 3 stars for the great photos.
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3.0 out of 5 stars Sins of the City, Mar 31 2000
By 
Vito Delsante "writer/all around nice guy" (Staten Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Sins Of The City (Paperback)
Awesome pics, but not as graphic as I would have expected. Not much coverage on the Black Dahlia case, but it was all inclusive of Los Angeles from the 20's to the early 60's. Overall, it's pretty cool, but it reads very easily and very coldly...a very non partisan POV, which helps. It's like watching "Mysteries and Scandals" on E! Television, but with less detail.
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