Sometimes I find the damndest things...

[hildy89]

Three years ago, my Nano novel Alter Egos was set in ersatz 1947 version of Baltimore. I hadn't intended it to completely be Baltimore, just some unspecified comic book city, like Metropolis or Gotham City. But the rewrites are pulling it closer and closer to its original roots. I think I originally picked that year because it was when Black Canary first appeared on the scene. The more I researched the period, the more it made sense. It was a weird middle period. The war was over, but we hadn't quite hit the 50s. McCarthyism was just starting to rear its ugly head. Even Baltimore herself seemed to be right on the verge of a change.

Film noir/crime buff that I am, I had forgotten what else happened that year. In January 1947, Elizabeth Short was found brutally murdered, nicknamed the Black Dahlia. So apparently a blogging group decided to research 1947 era Los Angeles and the results are now at 1947 Project. Now they're researching in 1927, equally of interest to me for Where or When. Through Esotouric, they also run a Crime Bus tour of Los Angeles, showing all the grisly sights and sounds.

My father would probably enjoy the Raymond Chandler tour. Or he'd grumble and gripe about what they'd forget or gloss over...