James M. Cain and Malibu

The Widow’s Mite, or Queen of the Rancho | Hollywood | Vanity Fair

In an engrossing time-capsule of writing,Vanity Fairoffers us James M. Cain‘s August 1933 article of the birth of Malibu and the early stages of its development as a suburb of Hollywood.

The article came out before the novels (The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce, Double Indemnity)for which Cain’s name would enter the American canon. As a literary curiosity it is an example of some of Cain’s best journalism, and as history it provides a snapshot of the L.A. Gold Coast uncluttered by what it later became.

Thank you, VF!