Jim Heimann Sins of the City: The Real Los Angeles Noir, Chronicle Books: San Francisco, CA, 1999, 159 pp., 1850s
"Almost from the start, Los Angeles had a reputation as a hell-hole. In the mid-1800s it was filled with murderers, vigilantes, thieves, and prostitutes. Streets were rutted paths where mongrel dogs roamed and dead animals were dumped. . . ."