The former home of Philadelphia noir writer David Goodis is
for sale. The house is located at 6301 North 11th Street in
the East Oak Lane section of Philadelphia. The house is
listed by Graham-Cummings Real Estate, 215-424-8411,
cummfran45@msn.com. The asking price is $260,000.
On June 21, the real estate broker, Frank Cummings conducted
a tour of the house for Louis Boxer, my wife and I. It is a
small and gracious stone single home with a large back yard
in a neighborhood of single homes, most of which date from
the 1920's. The basement is paneled in knotty-pine (real
wood, not composition board). There is a bar in the basement.
The first floor living room has a fire place. I opened a bin
at the foot of the stairs and found a copy of "Shoot the
Piano Player" on top of a pile of books. The owners had good
taste. There is a small dining room and a kitchen. Leading to
the second floor is a secret stairway from the kitchen.
Regretfully, the stairway was blocked off, to make a closet
for the second floor.
The second floor has a master bedroom, a medium size bedroom
and a small bedroom. There are two bathrooms on the second
floor. One has red-violet and black tile and a red-violet
toilet. The other has yellow and black tile. The tiles look
like the originals. I believe the small bedroom was David's
writing room. At the Temple University Library is a
collection of David Goodis materials. Included in this file
is an article from the early 1960's about David in the Temple
Alumni Review. David is pictured looking at a window with the
blinds drawn. The window in the smaller bedroom matches the
picture. I opened the closet in David's room. I imagined what
mysteries had been stored there. The house has an attic. The
front porch is surrounded by high hedges. The present owners
took good care of the house. Except for the copy of "Shoot
the Piano Player," we found no trace of the Goodis
family.
As I toured the house, I expected to run into Dr. Walter S.
Coley, the disbarred plastic surgeon who gave a new face to
Vincent Parry in Dark Passage.
Aaron Finestone
babaganouj@mac.com Read my blog, Visit my Navy and Israel
photowebsites http://www.microbrewjournalism.com/
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
--------------------~--> See what's inside the new Yahoo!
Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/2pRQfA/bOaOAA/yQLSAA/kqIolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 23 Jun 2006 EDT