Dashiell Hammett
San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Marker Inscription
Home of Dashiell Hammett and Sam Spade. Dashiell Hammett (1896 -1961) lived in this building from 1926 until 1929 whe he wrote his first three novels Red Harvest (1929), The Dain Curse (1929), and The Maltese Falcon (1930). Sam Spade's apartment in The Maltese Falcon is modeled on Hammett's, which was on the northwest corner of the fourth floor.
Erected by Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations ALTAFF Literary Landmarks Register
The Story
In this apartment building the former Pinkerton detective Dashiell Hammett turned his investigative years into a new kind of American fiction, writing Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, and The Maltese Falcon here between 1926 and 1929. His own fourth-floor rooms became the model for Sam Spade's apartment, blurring the line between the writer's life and the noir world he invented. These few years established the lean, unsentimental style that reshaped crime writing.
Why it matters
It marks the birthplace of the American hard-boiled detective novel, a genre that influenced literature and film for generations.
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Related people
- · Dashiell Hammett
- · Sam Spade
Themes & tags
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