1. Screenshot of Pynchon’s “block” (his unit, running beside Manhattan Beach Blvd., is in the bottom right-hand corner) from Google Maps.
2. Photo of the Street – Manhattan Beach Blvd. – that ran downhill to the beach past Pynchon’s home.
(Carolyn and I walked down this street almost every day [in the summers of 1970 and 1971] when Pynchon was deep into completing GRAVITY’S RAINBOW [1973] after getting off the metropolitan bus from Joe Dun Sloan’s home [maker of the D-Cell] in Huntington Park [near Watts].
3. “Horrible drawing… but it gives a general idea of how the house looked from across the street. Angle of hill reduces the size of the street level home. This is just in case you find old photos of homes in that area, and want to narrow things down. There’s a good chance that it’s no longer there. Like I said, it seemed to be a 1920’s bungalow-type of structure and had the look of a rather cheap build. I remember it as being white, with wood siding. There was a smallish porch outside of Bill’s unit (second floor – Pynchon’s unit was on the first floor). All the memories I’ve related to you are nearly 60 years old, so I can’t claim that they are 100% accurate (but, I do have a fairly good memory).” – Bruce Gaddy, Jan.15, 2026
Recorded on January 13, 2026
