Dale Says

July 24, 2012

Shadowing Dashiell Hammett

Filed under: Colorful Characters — Dale @ 11:46 am

He looks the part and we could tell who he was from a block away. We had contacted him weeks ago, and he was going to guide us around the parts of San Francisco where Dashiell Hammett lived, worked, and wrote. And there he was, standing in front of the historic Flood Building on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Don Herron looks to be around 60, and the years have made him round and pale. His hair and beard are gray, and his face and hands have taken on a gray tint. His attire is subdued, too: a well-worn tan fedora and open tan overcoat, which partially covered his black shirt, tan slacks and brown shoes.

Don was born in Detroit, moved to San Francisco from St. Louis in the 1960s, and taught literature for awhile at San Francisco State University. He originally started this tour for his college students.

In 1977, he recognized the value of the tour, copyrighted it, quit teaching, and began operating the tour for a living. Since then, he has conducted the tour “hundreds of times.”

Today, Don lives in San Jose, drives a San Francisco cab part-time when he isn’t giving the tour or lecturing to clubs, and manages a website and blog on Dashiell Hammett and other mystery writers.

Don is a wealth of knowledge about Dashiell Hammett, San Francisco, and 20th-century American literature. He talks nearly non-stop throughout the four-hour tour, relating stories about San Francisco, Dashiell Hammett, and Sam Spade. He’s quirky, unique, and (if you like Dashiell Hammett) fascinating!

Today, Don lives in two distinct worlds: the high-tech, instant communication world of the 21st century, and the hard-boiled, shadowy world of Dashiell Hammett’s roaring ’20s. He seems to enjoy both.

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