I Was Looking for a Street

“I’m proud to say I knew the man who wrote this book,”writes Elmore Leonard of cult crime writer CharlesWilleford’s moving memoir of his youth.“It is pure writing, never pretentious or forced, never melodramatic, but honest storytelling of the highest order. This is how to do it, if anyone wants to know: how to write simple prose from a young boy’s point of view and hold the reader spellbound.” IWas Looking for a Street tells the story of the author’s childhood and adolescence as an orphan, as he moves from railroad yards to hobo tent cities, to soup kitchens and deserts around Los Angeles and across the United States. The ensuing tale is at once a picaresque adventure through Depression-era America and a portrait of the writer as a young man of seemingly little promise but great spirit.Written afterWilleford’s later literary success with Cockfighter,Miami Blues and TheWoman Chaser, this memoir is the work of a writer at the height of his powers, looking back without nostalgia or regret, and preserving in his clear and powerful prose the great American adventure of his youth. IWas Looking for a Street is the first in a series of PictureBox reissues of the work ofWilleford,who today counts writer Luc Sante (who contributes a preface to this volume), director Quentin Tarantino and musicianWill Oldham among his many devoted fans.