L.A. Crime writer to speak at police museum
Teen-criminal-turned-novelist James Ellroy is known for L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia, but less so for his tireless support of the Los Angeles Police Museum in Lincoln Heights. Their newest exhibit is about Gangster Squad – the movie even filmed here – and this Friday the “Demon Dog” is front man for a double delight of noir films from the 1950s.
He’ll dispense his unique brand of eloquence and entertainment before, after and probably during screenings of 1954 genre classics Dragnet (with the inimitable Jack Webb) and Crime Wave (starring Sterling Hayden and Gene Nelson), though his connection to the LAPD is darker than stories; his mother was murdered in 1958 in El Monte, and the search for her killer has given him a rolodex mind of names, dates and crimes of that era.
The first in a series of monthly events, Ellroy is also working with the Museum’s LAPD crime photo archive on LAPD ’53, a book about that year in crime, which is due to be released around November, though daily visitors to ex-police station No. 11 can see vintage vehicles, uniforms, badges, guns and souvenirs from notorious cases.
Info: Friday 25th, 6pm, Sold Out/$40
https://www.laphs.org/
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