Charles Bukowski in 1985 giving a tour around Hollywood Blvd and Western Ave in Los Angeles from the back of a convertible, pointing out his favorite bars, hookers and drug dealers. The scene is interview #9 from the documentary The Charles Bukowski Tapes by Barbet Schroeder, who later went on to make the film Barfly in 1987, based on the semi-autobiographical screenplay by Bukowski.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
“the most vicious women in the world came to my door… they found me, a softy.”
Quoted For Emphasis
This is awesome. I love this guy, makes me want to read more of him. Never seen the film, either.
Thanks for sharing!
My father took me to what was billed as Charles Bukowski’s first formal poetry reading in LA in 1969. My father and his pals in the English department at Moorpark College were big fans, and they were ahead of the curve in appreciating this ..er.. rustic urban poet. It was a tiny affair, about 30 people. We were all drinking lots of beer, emulating the Great Man, who sat behind a podium, apparently enjoying himself, reading “Shot of Redeye” and other gems of LA skid row wisdom. (actually, I can tell from the video I had that wrong. It was Hollywood skid row wisdom.) Chuck B. was a friendly drunk that night. Later I heard that all changed. He got to despise his audiences and cursed them regularly in the pungent terms he was so clearly the master of. One of my father’s students, Sean Lazarchuck, (I remember his name, but perhaps not the spelling) had come along too. At one point it seemed like the beer went off in all the male bladders about the same time, so
intermission was called. Either there was no toilet, or it was full, or we were too drunk to give a shit. Whatever, we all staggered outside to piss in the alley. Bukowski was one position down from me, on the other side of Sean L. Later, Sean said with evident awe “I took a piss with Bukowski!” adding “and he got it on his shoes!”
The reading was a profitable experience for a 13 year old. I ended up with a great anecdote, and I was the only one who pissed on my shoes.
Yeah i actually remember when the eastern part of Hollywood Blvd. looked like that, having been a Hollywood resident for nearly 31 years. It’s interesting if you go into the BofA at Vermont and Hollywood, they have a mural behind the tellers
that runs the entire length of the bank. That mural looks exactly as it looked the day that i moved here and got a J-walking ticket.