by James Ellroy
Ruth said, “You have not the cachet. A deportation order has been issued against me. I am held to be a seditious alien, and I have no means of redress.”
She had green panther eyes. He had beady eyes. They discussed it their first night. Elmer slalomed in and dialed their eyes tight.
“You can’t deport the wife of a U.S. citizen. Husbands can’t fink out their wives for Murder One.”
Ruth turned on the radio. A violin and cello tangled chords and fought. She kept the volume low.
“Might we have a Jewish wedding?”
Elmer said, “Don’t press your luck.”
134
KAY LAKE’S DIARY
(LOS ANGELES, 4/29–5/8/42)
Early-wartime L.A. The blackouts, the attendant car wrecks, the impromptu race riots spurred by enveloping dark. The grinding shame of the Japanese internment. The revelry of fearful folks disinclined to step outside. The unexpected pregnancies and great volume of kids expected in the fall of ’42.
The muzzle flash of Pearl Harbor burned bright through the spring, as the phenomenon of the war was subsumed by the war as our refuge and justification. Early-wartime L.A. was a time of great crimes and witheringly ambiguous solutions. It was a time to celebrate the shit-kicking American spirit and our mass resolve to see this thing through. Early-wartime L.A. The booze and the muzzle-flash love affairs. There was no better time to howl and throw parties.
Jack Horrall hosted an acquittal bash at Kwan’s Chinese Pagoda. It celebrated Bill Parker’s and Elmer Jackson’s bold move to squelch the Fed probe. The PD and City Hall crowd showed up in force. The acquittals formally justified the soirée. I held it to be a wrap party for the span of events preannounced by a New Year’s Eve rainstorm. The gang was there. We were there. Comrades and adversaries crammed into Ace Kwan’s back room. Bill, Elmer, Buzz, Brenda. Thad Brown and Nort Layman. Mike Breuning and Dick Carlisle. Ray Pinker, Fletch Bowron, my beleaguered Lee Blanchard. DA Bill McPherson, with Loretta McKee in tow. Reconciliation overwhelmed rancor. Something big had ended as the war progressed. I chatted with Mike Breuning. He said, “Whew, Kay.” I said, “Whew, Mike” right back. Our conversation fizzled then. There was no need to say anything else.
We were there. Provocateurs and profiteers. Bill Parker danced and drank with Claire De Haven. They argued the Baltimore catechism and defamed my most revered Martin Luther. Then something extraordinary happened.
Jack Horrall gave a speech. He blew raspberries at the Feds and crowed over the mass acquittals. He praised the diligent detectives who solved the klubhaus job and notably omitted Dudley Smith. He broke down and wept as he lionized the “late and surely great” Hideo Ashida.
Elmer married Ruth Szigeti two weeks later. There had to be a hidden story there—but Elmer refused to divulge it. The Protestant service dismayed Ruth. The wedding party vacated the church and reconvened in Mike Lyman’s front room. Fake gold bars served as dinner-table settings. The Reverend M. L. Mimms supplied them.
Buzz brought his pet scorpion. He slid steak tidbits into his cage and dared people to stick a finger in and pet him. The acquittal-bash crowd celebrated the Jackson-Szigeti nuptials. Otto Klemperer and Joan Klein joined us, along with the Koenigs and Sandor Abromowitz. Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor dropped by and heckled Ruth. We’ve lost you to a cop bumpkin. Say it ain’t so. You’ve lost nothing, Liebchens. My husband understands me as I understand him.
Indeed. Brenda Allen, Ellen Drew, and Annie Staples had served as Ruth’s maids of honor. Ellen hawked her new Paramount oater; Annie told Elmer not to lose her phone number. Bob Taylor took Brenda aside. He slid her a roll of bills and told her to set Babs up with “Ten-Inch” Tony Mangano.
I sat with Elmer and Ruth at the head table and overheard their conversation. Ruth thanked Elmer for his great generosity. Elmer said, “Hush, now. It’s not like I’m suffering, and it’s not like I don’t like you.”
Early-wartime L.A. Profiteers and privateers. My most valued Kameraden.
Otto debuted Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony the following week. The performance was not billed as such. The five-hundred-dollar-a-pop tickets were sold via hushed word of mouth. Otto was preempting Maestro Toscanini’s formal premiere of the work. He had put together an orchestra of relocated exiles and film-studio musicians. Ruth Szigeti was the first-chair violin; the Koenigs and Sandor Abromowitz played alongside her. The occasion was strictly black-tie. The Wilshire Ebell Theatre held roughly one thousand seats. The proceeds were earmarked for European war relief. Every woo-woo movie star and local hotshot of the day was there. I squeezed Bill Parker’s hands as Otto raised his baton and went Now.
The symphony was brutal, at the expense of majestic and elegiac. It was an hourlong disruption of my most dear hopes and my most conceited dreams. I rode with the shock of it. Foreshortened crescendos dashed my sense of savagery as beauty and the beauty of art itself. Human love will not sustain us in this time of horror. Comrade Dimitri mocked the assumption. He sought only to instill a brutalized survivors’ resolve.
So be it, then.
The antithesis of resolve is relinquishment. It’s wartime L.A., and I am a brilliant and passionate young woman with stories to tell. Circumstance is destiny. I may never live as boldly and adroitly as I live now. This is my war and my country. Do not mock the love that I hold for both. I willed thunderstorms as a child in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I must do that here and now. Reminiscenza, this storm, this savaging disaster. My options are do everything or do nothing. My hot date with History continues. It is now May 8, 1942. These final strains of the Leningrad Symphony mark my refusal to die.
This Storm is the second volume of the Second L.A. Quartet. The first volume, Perfidia, covers December 6 through December 29, 1941. The L.A. Quartet—The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz—covers the years 1946 to 1958 in Los Angeles. The Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy—American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand, and Blood’s A Rover—covers 1958 to 1972, on a national scale.
The Second L.A. Quartet places real-life and fictional characters from the first two bodies of work in Los Angeles, during World War II, as significantly younger people. These three series span thirty-one years and will stand as one novelistic history. The following list notes the previous appearances of characters in This Storm.
SALVADOR ABASCAL. A real-life Mexican fascist.
SANDOR ABROMOWITZ. An exiled Hungarian musician.
BRENDA ALLEN. The real-life Allen appears in The Big Nowhere and Perfidia.
ARCHIE ARCHULETA. This character is a dope fiend and rowdy Fifth Columnist.
AKIRA ASHIDA. The brother of police/U.S. Army chemist Hideo Ashida. Mr. Ashida appears in Perfidia.
HIDEO ASHIDA, Los Angeles Police Department/Army SIS. Ashida appears in Perfidia.
MARIKO ASHIDA. The mother of police/U.S. Army chemist Hideo Ashida. Mrs. Ashida appears in Perfidia.
EUGENE BISCAILUZ. The real-life Sheriff of Los Angeles County. Biscailuz appears in Perfidia.
OFFICER LEE BLANCHARD, Los Angeles Police Department. Blanchard appears in The Black Dahlia and Perfidia.
FLETCH BOWRON. Mayor of the City of Los Angeles. Mayor Bowron appears in Perfidia.
“BIG BOB” BOYD. Captain, Kern County Sheriff’s Department.
SERGEANT MIKE BREUNING, Los Angeles Police Department. Breuning appears in The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, White Jazz, and Perfidia.
LIEUTENANT THAD BROWN, Los Angeles Police Department. The real-life Brown appears in Perfidia.
VICTOR TREJO CAIZ. Fifth Column assassin.
ARCHBISHOP J. J. CANTWELL. The real-life boss of the L.A. Archdiocese. Archbishop Cantwell appears in Perfidia.
FRANKIE “EL CABRÓN” CARBAJAL. Hoodlum and raucous Fifth Columnist.
SERGEANT DICK CARLISLE, Los Angeles Police Department. Carlisl
e appears in The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, White Jazz, and Perfidia.
DR. LIN CHUNG. A plastic surgeon and proponent of eugenics. Dr. Chung appears in Perfidia.
LIEUTENANT LEW COLLIER, Los Angeles Police Department. Collier heads up the PD’s Alien Squad.
JOAN CONVILLE, Los Angeles Police Department. Miss Conville appears in Perfidia.
FATHER CHARLES COUGHLIN. The real-life radio priest and nativist blowhard.
HUEY CRESSMEYER. Glue sniffer, psychopathic killer, and Fifth Column traitor. Mr. Cressmeyer appears in American Tabloid and Perfidia.
DR. RUTH MILDRED CRESSMEYER. Dr. Cressmeyer is Huey’s mom, and a film-studio abortionist. She appears in American Tabloid and Perfidia.
EX-CHIEF JAMES EDGAR “TWO-GUN” DAVIS. The real-life Davis appears in Perfidia.
CLAIRE DE HAVEN. Dope addict and shrill left-winger. Miss De Haven appears in The Big Nowhere and Perfidia.
ELLEN DREW. The real-life film actress. Miss Drew appears in Perfidia.
MONDO “EL TIGRE” DÍAZ. Hoodlum and raucous Fifth Columnist.
CHUCKIE DUQUESNE. Jazz musician and psycho killer.
FRITZ ECKELKAMP. Armed robber and Marxist-fascist extortionist.
BILLY ECKSTINE. Real-life singer and bandleader.
SERGEANT COLIN FORBES, Los Angeles Police Department. The real-life Forbes works out of the PD’s Hollywood Station.
LEANDER FRECHETTE. Labor goon and heist man.
MEYER GELB. Armed robber and Marxist-fascist extortionist.
TOMMY GLENNON. Hot-prowl rapist and Nazi shitheel.
SERGEANT AL GOOSSEN, Los Angeles Police Department. The real-life Goossen works out of the PD’s Hollywood Station.
WILLIS “BIG DADDY” GORDEAN. A bouncer at the Taj Mahal Klub.
KYOHO HANAMAKA. Japanese naval attaché and Fifth Column mastermind.
MONSIGNOR JOE HAYES. Morally dubious priest with the L.A. Archdiocese.
CHIEF C. B. “CALL-ME-JACK” HORRALL, Los Angeles Police Department. The real-life Horrall appears in Perfidia.
SID HUDGENS. Newspaper scribe and scandalmonger. Hudgens appears in L.A. Confidential and Perfidia.
SERGEANT ELMER JACKSON, Los Angeles Police Department. The real-life Jackson appears in Perfidia.
WAYNE FRANK JACKSON. Drifter, armed robber, Fifth Columnist. Brother of Sergeant Elmer Jackson.
WALLACE N. JAMIE. Real-life private eye.
OFFICER GEORGE KAPEK, Los Angeles Police Department. Shitbird cop on the Alien Squad.
JOAN ROSEN KLEIN. Fifteen-year-old girl, on the loose in Mexico. Miss Klein appears in Blood’s A Rover.
OTTO KLEMPERER. The real-life conductor and composer.
MAGDA KOENIG. An exiled Hungarian musician.
MIKLOS KOENIG. An exiled Hungarian musician.
UNCLE ACE KWAN. Tong warlord and restauranteur. Uncle Ace appears in L.A. Confidential and Perfidia.
KAY LAKE. Miss Lake appears in The Black Dahlia and Perfidia.
DR. NORT LAYMAN. A Los Angeles County deputy coroner. Dr. Nort appears in The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and Perfidia.
CONSTANZA LAZARO-SCHMIDT. Concert violist and fascist femme fatale.
JUAN LAZARO-SCHMIDT. Governor of Baja, California, and Marxist-fascist tool.
EDDIE LENG. Restauranteur, tong man, Fifth Columnist.
ANDREA LESNICK. Ex-Communist and lunatic about town. Miss Lesnick appears in The Big Nowhere and Perfidia.
DR. SAUL LESNICK. Red tool and headshrinker to the stars. Dr. Lesnick appears in The Big Nowhere and Perfidia.
OFFICER “CATBOX” CAL LUNCEFORD, Los Angeles Police Department. Shitbird cop on the Alien Squad.
DR. TERRY LUX. Hotshot plastic surgeon and closet nativist. Dr. Lux appears in The Big Nowhere and Perfidia.
“TEN-INCH” TONY MANGANO. Call boy and fruit hustler.
DONALD MATSURA. Dope peddler and skeevy Fifth Columnist.
JAMES J. McBRIDE. Lawyer for the L.A. Archdiocese.
LORETTA McKEE. Vocalist at the Taj Mahal Klub.
BILL McPHERSON. The L.A. district attorney. McPherson appears in L.A. Confidential and Perfidia.
SERGEANT TURNER “BUZZ” MEEKS, Los Angeles Police Department. Corrupt cop, on the prowl. Meeks appears in The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and Perfidia.
MAJOR RALPH D. MELNICK, Army SIS. The boss of the SIS contingent in Baja.
HAROLD JOHN MICIAK. Psychopathic flotsam. Miciak appears in White Jazz.
THE REVEREND MARTIN LUTHER MIMMS. Slumlord and race racketeer.
HECTOR OBREGON-HODAKA. Jazz aficionado and Fifth Columnist.
CAPTAIN WILLIAM H. PARKER, Los Angeles Police Department. The real-life Parker appears in L.A. Confidential, White Jazz, and Perfidia.
CAPTAIN JUAN PIMENTEL, Mexican State Police. Fifth Column mastermind.
RAY PINKER, Los Angeles Police Department. The real-life forensic chemist appears in L.A. Confidential, White Jazz, and Perfidia.
OFFICER WENDELL RICE, Los Angeles Police Department. Shitbird cop on the Alien Squad.
GEORGE LINCOLN ROCKWELL. The real-life race baiter and provocateur.
SERGEANT LEW SARNI, San Diego Police Department. Fat-slob Burglary cop.
EDMUND J. “ED THE FED” SATTERLEE. Dubious FBI agent. Satterlee appears in The Big Nowhere and Perfidia.
JOHNNY SHINURA. Jazz hound and broker of fetishistic curios.
“BLOW JOB” BEV SHOFTEL. Hooker and proprietress of a notorious mail drop. Miss Shoftel appears in Blood’s A Rover.
ELIZABETH SHORT. The illegitimate daughter of Dudley Smith. Miss Short appears in The Black Dahlia and Perfidia.
FUJIO “THE WEREWOLF” SHUDO. Sex psycho and scapegoat for a quadruple homicide. Shudo appears in Perfidia.
SERGEANT DUDLEY SMITH, Los Angeles Police Department/Army SIS. Smith appears in The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, White Jazz, and Perfidia.
JEAN STALEY. Carhop and Commie seductress.
BARBARA “BUTCH” STANWYCK. The real-life film actress.
ANNIE STAPLES. Call girl and shakedown artist.
RUTH SZIGETI. An exiled Hungarian musician.
ROBERT TAYLOR. The real-life film actor.
ELLEN TULLOCK. Deputy Karl Tullock’s querulous widow.
KARL TULLOCK, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department. Thuggish cop, on the prowl.
CAPTAIN JOSÉ VASQUEZ-CRUZ, Mexican State Police. Politically ambiguous war profiteer.
JORGÉ VILLAREAL-CAIZ. Communist tool.
ORSON WELLES. The real-life film auteur.
AL WILHITE. MP lieutenant at the Manzanar internment camp.
ROBERT “BANZAI BOB” YOSHIDA. Part-time Buddhist priest and samurai-sword peddler.
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Ellroy was born in Los Angeles in 1948. He is widely considered to be the greatest living crime novelist and a major literary figure, genre designations aside. His L.A. Quartet and Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy novels have won numerous awards, were international best-sellers, and are now available in Everyman’s Library editions. This Storm is the second volume of Mr. Ellroy’s Second L.A. Quartet. The first volume, Perfidia, was much honored, and achieved international best-seller status. The Second L.A. Quartet places real-life and fictional characters from Mr. Ellroy’s first two bodies of work in Los Angeles, during World War II, as significantly younger people. The design is monumentally ambitious.
Mr. Ellroy currently lives in Denver, Colorado.
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