The Bizarre Journey of the Mansion Which Inspired the Opening of The Big Sleep
Raymond Chandler’s debut masterpiece drew on his knowledge of Southern California
One of the opening revelations in the new annotated version of The Big Sleep is a head-twister.
The annotators note that the “Sternwood” mansion may have likely been inspired by the real life “Greystone” mansion in the same neighborhood, built by an oil millionaire Raymond Chandler may have known during his oil executive days.
They then point out this bizarre factoid: the Greystone mansion was featured in The Big Lebowski, as The Big Lebowski’s mansion. So, the real life mansion inspired the fictional mansion in Chandler’s novel and in the (above) film, which in turn inspires the parody/homage which uses the real life mansion.
[Inspired by Lebowski, Chandler, and the Los Angeles I’ve come to know today, I wrote a screenplay last year with my own take on the themes. I intend to turn it into a novel soon too…]
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Photo by skeeze (Pixabay)
About the Author
David M. Swindle
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David M. Swindle took over in 2021 as Liberty Island Media Group's new owner, Publisher, and Editor-In-Chief. He joined LI in May of 2015, initially as West Coast Editor. He previously worked as associate editor of PJ Media from 2011-2015 where he grew the PJ Lifestyle vertical, and associate editor of FrontPageMag from 2009-2011 where he developed the media criticism site NewsReal Blog as its managing editor.
David double-majored in English (creative writing emphasis) and Political Science, graduating from Ball State University in 2006. After years of feeling torn between creative work and political activism, David now embraces the late Andrew Breitbart’s aphorism that “Politics is downstream from culture.”
As a novel editor David will consider books of just about any genre or type (he hands off romance, young adult, legal, and military titles to those better equipped on the team). His current areas of strongest interest include science fiction, fantasy, thriller/suspense, hard-boiled detective and crime, horror, westerns, historical, alternate history, speculative, cultural satire, literary, and religious fiction. He also reviews nonfiction submissions on politics, arts, media, faith, and counterculture.
His first novel he both edited and published is Tom Cosentino's
The Art of Looking for Trouble.
Liberty Island titles which David edited include
Justice, Inc by J.P. Medved,
Mad Jones, Heretic: The Accidental Prophet, Book 1 by Quin Hillyer,
Silver & Lead: A Novella of the West by David Churchill Barrow and MaryLu Barrow,
Snowflake’s Chance: The 2016 Campaign Diary of Justin T. Fairchild, Social Justice Warrior by Curtis Edmonds,
Mad Jones, Hero: The Accidental Prophet, Book 2 by Quin Hillyer,
Mad Jones, Agonistes: The Accidental Prophet, Book 3 by Quin Hillyer,
Pulse of the Goddess: The American Blackout, Book 1 by Fred Tribuzzo,
Slaves Beneath the Stars: American Blackout, Book 2 by Fred Tribuzzo,
Gangster Town: The American Blackout, Book 3 by Fred Tribuzzo, and
First Shot: Jin & Tonick, Book 1 by Bokerah Brumley.
David's articles have been published at such publications as The Daily Wire,
The Washington Examiner, The Investigative Project on Terrorism,
The Algemeiner,
The American Spectator, The Daily Caller,
The California Courier, Campus Watch, Rebel Media, Big Hollywood, and
The Indianapolis Star. He currently lives in Burbank, California. Follow him on Twitter
@DaveSwindle.
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