I like KS's reply. Let me add to it:
In California, Wealth was (is?) more on display, openly and
arrogantly, at the very time it was starting to hide behind
walls, long driveways, and trees in the East. Heck with the
low tree lines in parts of Calif., it's just harder to hide
your mansion, espec. if you've bought the top of a big
hill.
Always figured that California as a dream, the paradise you
move to, especially in the Depression, and where you find a
hard reality (Hoovervilles, Watts), created a natural
foundation of disillusionment necessary for noir.
And those who came (come?) tended to be people on the
make.
Or, how about this: the seedy is more seedy in eternal
sunlight.
Finally, much as we like to think fiction influences what
movies show, couldn't this be a case of B movies influencing
where fiction is set? Or perhaps a case of following the lead
of major crime writers, some of whom were themselves looking
for movie deals?
Why do I have the feeling that I just went around in a
circle?
Bill Hagen
billha@ionet.net
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