1-3.jpg">1-3.jpg">1-3.jpg?resize=200%2C200" alt="" width="200" height="200">“The best historians in L.A. are storytellers. They’re gangsters in east L.A., they’re ex-cons, they’re guys who worked in their garage their whole life, they’re guys who’ve worked at one business for forty years, people who’ve lived on one street for forty years… “

menu.com">“All Night Menu” started with a question: What is a well-known photograph of William Faulkner not telling us about his time in Hollywood? Since then writer Sam Sweet has spent four years prowling LA for its most closely-held stories. The result is a lovingly-produced, meticulously-researched and gorgeously-written three volumes of the city’s secret history.

Top: Photo of the Maravilla handball court by Sam Sweet. Read Sam’s remarkable story on the Maravilla court in its entirety menu.com/501-n-mednik">here. 

Music:

• “Tangle,” by Blue Dot Sessions
• “Sprout,” by Podington Bear
• “All The Ways,” by Podington Bear
• “Morning Mist,” by Podington Bear
• “Peas Corps,” by Podington Bear
• “Prelude No. 2,” by Chris Zabriskie
• “Life In A Moment,” by Scott Holmes

Audio assistance for the episode was provided by Sameer Sengupta.

Summer 1942: William Faulkner at the Highland Hotel, 1922 Highland

Thanks to Sam Sweet, whose non-fiction novel “Hadley Lee Lightcap” will be published in September by All Night Menu Books. You can order the three volumes of “All Night Menu” published so far menu.com/shop/">direct from Sam, or if you’re in Los Angeles, find them at Skylight Books and South Willard.