- Hollywood Babylon is a book by avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger, which details the purported scandals of famous Hollywood denizens from the 1900s to the 1950s. The book was banned shortly after it was first published in the U.S. in 1965, and remained unavailable until reprinted ten years later. Upon its second release in 1975, The New York Times said of it, “If a book such as this can be said to have charm, it lies in the fact that here is a book without one single redeeming merit.” The Daily Beast described Anger’s book as “essentially a work of fiction. There is no doubt that many—if not all—of the stories Anger shares in his slim bible have no merit.” Film historian Kevin Brownlow repeatedly criticized the book, citing Anger as saying his research method was “mental telepathy, mostly”.
- Seattle Neighborhoods: Maple Leaf — Thumbnail History (historylink.org)
Although Seattle’s Maple Leaf neighborhood appeared in the 1890s as a dream of real estate developers, the hilltop community northeast of Green Lake was slow to grow. The last half of the twentieth century saw dramatic changes to the area, but Maple Leaf remained a stable home to middle-class families. The residents were late to organize themselves politically, but their patient and focused persistence soon gained nationwide recognition.