“I’ve made it,” she said, “I’ve c… through.” she had on new boots, pa… and a white sweater. “I know what… want now.” she was from Chicago an… had settled in L.A.’s Fairfax dis…

I got a letter in the mail. It was addressed from Hollywood. Dear Chinaski: I’ve just read almost all your books. I work as a typist in a place on Cherokee Ave. I’ve hung your picture i...

self-congratulatory nonsense as th… famous gather to applaud their see… greatness you wonder where

“What’s a guy like you doing in a place like this?” We got into my car and she told me where she lived. We stopped for a couple of big steaks, vegetables, stuff for a salad, potatoes, b...

drive to the beach at night in the winter and sit and look at the burned-dow… wonder why they just let it sit th… in the water.

I took Tanya to Santa Anita. The current sensation was a 16 year old jockey still riding with his 5 pound bug advantage. He was from the east and was riding at Santa Anita for the first...

and the sun wields mercy but like a jet torch carried to hi… and the jets whip across its sight and rockets leap like toads, and the boys get out the maps

is an orange animal with hand grenades fire power

I only met one student at City College that I liked, Robert Becker. He wanted to be a writer. “I’m going to learn everything there is to learn about writing. It will be like taking a ca...

the house next door makes me sad. both man and wife rise early and go to work. they arrive home in early evening.

I had this room in front on DeLon… and I used to sit for hours in the daytime looking out the front window.

Phillipe ’s is an old time cafe off Alameda street just a little north and east of the main post office. Phillipe’s opens at 5 a.m.

my mother, father and I walked to the market once a week for our government relief food: cans of beans, cans of

she sits up there drinking wine while her husband is at work. she puts quite

my moustache is pasted-on and my wig and my eyebrows and even my eyes... then something stuns me... the lampshades swing, I hear