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| Note: Some of the places and dates listed below conflict with those found in Bukowski's FBI/post office files or in previously published biographies. Anything you see here that contradicts "the official record" is based primarily on information found in letters, first-hand accounts, and other reputable, independently researched, non-government-approved sources. Believe it! |
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| Events | Publications | Addresses | Readings | Miscellany | |||
| 1920 | Henry Charles Bukowski born in Andernach Germany [August 16] | Andernach Germany | 1920 | ||||
| 1921 | 1921 | ||||||
| 1922 | 1922 | ||||||
| 1923 | Bukowski's move to America [April 18] | Family moves around; Baltimore, Washington D.C., Pasadena | 1923 | ||||
| 1924 | 1924 | ||||||
| 1925 | Attends San Marino School (now Valentine School), just South of Pasadena | 1925 | |||||
| 1926 | Attends Virginia Road Elementary School | 4511 W 28th St, Los Angeles 90016 | 1926 | ||||
| 1927 | 1927 | ||||||
| 1928 | 1928 | ||||||
| 1929 | 1929 | ||||||
| 1930 | 1930 | ||||||
| 1931 | 2122 S. Longwood Ave, 90016 | 1931 | |||||
| 1932 | 1932 | ||||||
| 1933 | Attends Mount Vernon Junior High School Breaks out in an extreme case of Acne Vulgaris and undergoes painful treatments |
1933 | |||||
| 1934 | 1934 | ||||||
| 1935 | Begins going to the library; the Baldwin Hills branch of the Los Angeles Public Library at 2906 S. La Brea Ave, 90016 Writes first short story about a WWI pilot |
1935 | |||||
| 1936 | Bukowski's father loses his job yet pretends to go to work every day Begins Susan Miller Dorsey High School [September] |
1936 | |||||
| 1937 | Transfers to Los Angeles High School [September] | 1937 | |||||
| 1938 | 1938 | ||||||
| 1939 | Graduates from Los Angeles High School. Attends Los Angeles City College to study Journalism and English |
1939 | |||||
| 1940 | Father throws Bukowski's possessions and manuscripts onto the front lawn after reading his short stories, Bukowski leaves home temporarily and finds a room on Temple Street | First publication; letter to the editor of LA City College paper called Cubby Hole Short story and poem [apparently] published in Write, Vol. 1 No. 2 (no copies known to exist - would be first published poetry and prose) |
2122 S. Longwood Ave, 90016 Temple street 2122 S. Longwood Ave, 90016 |
Works part time in stockroom of Sears & Roebuck on Olympic Blvd. for 55 cents an hour | 1940 | ||
| 1941 | Leaves Los Angeles City College without graduating [June] | 2122 S. Longwood Ave, 90016 | Works in the Southern Pacific railroad yards (unverified), making auto transmission parts at Borg-Warner, 1516 S. Flower St. | 1941 | |||
| 1942 | Leaves Los Angeles to strike out on his own and see the country | Ft. Worth, New Orleans, Atlanta, New York, St. Louis, San Francisco [no verified addresses for these cities] Philadelphia |
Works at Fairmont Motors, 16th and Fairmont St., Philadelphia | 1942 | |||
| 1943 | Loses virginity at age 23 to a woman he describes as a "300 pound whore" | 1943 | |||||
| 1944 | Taken into custody by FBI agents in Philadelphia for suspected draft evasion [7/22]; spends 17 days at Moyamensing Prison Exempted from service in World War II for "Failing To Meet Medical Standards" after a physical and psychological evaluation [8/7] |
Aftermath of a Lengthy Rejection Slip published in March/April issue of Story Magazine | Philadelphia | 1944 | |||
| 1945 | 2122 S. Longwood Ave, 90016 1623 Green St., Philadelphia [October/November] |
Works at Merry Co. (picture frame factory?), 634 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles | 1945 | ||||
| 1946 | 20 Tanks From Kasseldown published in Portfolio III Publishes first poems in Matrix |
603 N 17th St, Philadelphia, PA 19130 | Works in a tool warehouse, Philadelphia, October | 1946 | |||
| 1947 | Meets Jane Cooney Baker, they live together on and off until 1955 FBI files indicate the two were married, though Bukowski never acknowledged a marriage to Jane |
2020 Mt Vernon St, Philadelphia [April] 2122 S. Longwood Ave, 90016 |
Works at Milliron's Dept. Store, 4th and Broadway (Milliron's became The Broadaway) | 1947 | |||
| 1948 | 737 S. Union Ave. 90017 [August] | 1948 | |||||
| 1949 | 521 Union Dr, 90017 503 Union Dr, 90017 |
Works at Milliron's Dept. Store [cont.] Works at Sunbeam Lighting Co., 777 E. 14th Pl. |
1949 | ||||
| 1950 | 334 S Westlake Ave, 90057 [not in FBI file] | Works at Sunbeam Lighting Co. [cont.] Works for post office for the first time, December 11 to December 27 as a Temporary Substitute Carrier |
1950 | ||||
| 1951 | 503 Union Dr, 90017 268 4/6 S Coronado St, 90057 |
Works at Sunbeam Lighting Co. [cont.] Works at Calnevar Co. (making simulated wire wheels for cars), West Washington Blvd. |
1951 | ||||
| 1952 | 268 4/6 S Coronado St, 90057 2325 Ocean View Ave, 90057 [listed in FBI file, but no correspondence to verify] |
Works at Calnevar Co. [cont.] Starts work for the Post Office as an Indefinite Substitute Carrier [3/5] |
1952 | ||||
| 1953 | 268 4/6 S Coronado St, 90057 | Works for the Post Office as an Indefinite Substitute Carrier [cont.] | 1953 | ||||
| 1954 | Treated at LA County Hospital for an internal hemorrhage (bleeding ulcer), nearly dies [April] (this event is widely reported to have taken place in 1955, but letters from the era indicate the year was 1954) Resumes writing poetry, now in greater quantity |
323 1/2 N Westmoreland Ave, 90004 | 1954 | ||||
| 1955 | Sends letter of resignation to the post office (citing "ill health") after three years as a letter carrier [3/11] Sends another letter to the post office asking to be re-hired [6/16] Married to Barbara Frye in Las Vegas [10/29] |
323 1/2 N Westmoreland Ave, 90004 Wheeler, Texas 2254 1/2 Branden St, 90026 (with Barbara Frye) |
Works for the Post Office as an Indefinite Substitute Carrier [cont.] Works for Supreme Lighting Co., 600 E. Turner St. Works at Graphic Arts Center, 1534 W. 7th St. Underwood portable typewriter |
1955 | |||
| 1956 | Begins first novel, A Place to Sleep the Night [unfinished] Mother, Katherine Bukowski, dies [12/24] Takes art classes at L. A. City College [10/56 to 2/57] |
2254 1/2 Branden St, 90026 580 N Kingsley Dr, 90004 |
Works at Graphic Arts Center [cont.] | 1956 | |||
| 1957 | Co-edits Harlequin with Barbara Frye | Works at Graphic Arts Center [cont.] P.O. Box 75-451, Sanford Station (3751 W 6th St.), Los Angeles, 5, Calif. [11/12] |
1957 | ||||
| 1958 | Separated from Barbara Frye Divorced from Barbara Frye [3/18] Father, Henry Bukowski, dies [12/4], Bukowski sells father's house for $15,000 ($8000 was still owed on the mortgage) Reconnects with Jane Cooney Baker [December] |
1623 North Mariposa Ave, #303, 90027 | Takes a job at the post office as a Temporary Substitute Distribution Clerk (mail sorter) [1/2] Postal Employee Number: 106160 |
1958 | |||
| 1959 | Promoted to Distribution Clerk (still sorting mail, but no longer temporary) [3/21], works as a clerk until January, 1970 | 1959 | |||||
| 1960 | First contact with Outsider publisher Jon Webb Begins submitting poems to small literary magazines in greater numbers |
Flower, Fist and Bestial Wail [October] | 1960 | ||||
| 1961 | Attempts suicide by gas, wakes up with a headache, opens windows | 1961 | |||||
| 1962 | Jane Cooney Baker dies [1/22] First important review of his work, by R.R. Cuscaden |
Poems and Drawings (EPOS Magazine special issue) [3/17] Run with the Hunted [March] Longshot Pomes for Broke Players [Spring] |
Reading on Los Angeles radio station KPFK (44 minutes) [8/5] | 1962 | |||
| 1963 | Meets Frances Smith Outsider of the year award from the Webbs First published interview in Chicago Literary Times |
It Catches My Heart In Its Hands [11/26] | 1963 | ||||
| 1964 | Marina Louise Bukowski born [9/7] | 5126 1/4 DeLongpre Ave, 90027 (with a pregnant Frances Smith) [May] 5124 DeLongpre Ave, 90027 [December] |
1964 | ||||
| 1965 | Writes poems for Crucifix in A Deathhand in New Orleans [March 6 - March 20] Receives first letter from future publisher John Martin [10/19] Separated from Frances Smith [November] |
Crucifix in a Deathhand [April] Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live with Beasts [August] Cold Dogs in the Courtyard [Summer] |
5124 DeLongpre Ave, 90027 | 1965 | |||
| 1966 | Bukowski and John Martin meet for the first time [1/22] Hemorrhoid operation [3/2] Starts novel The Way the Dead Love [unfinished] |
John Martin publishes first Bukowski broadside True Story in an edition of 30 (first Black Sparrow publication) [April] The Genius of the Crowd [June] All The Assholes In The World and Mine [September] |
Drives 1957 Plymouth | 1966 | |||
| 1967 | 2 Poems [4/7] Notes of a dirty old man column debuts in Open City weekly [Vol. 2 No. 2, May 12 - 18] - ran 87 weeks The Curtains Are Waving And People Walk Through The Afternoon Here And In Berlin And In New York City And In Mexico [10/13] |
1967 | |||||
| 1968 | Post office officials and FBI interview Bukowski [2/8] | At Terror Street and Agony Way, book and reel-to-reel tape [5/15] Poems Written Before Jumping Out Of An 8 Story Window [Summer] |
1968 | ||||
| 1969 | John Martin offers to pay Bukowski a quarter of his own income ($100/mo at the time) "for life" to quit the post office and write full time [December] | Notes of a Dirty Old Man [1/24] A Bukowski Sampler [7/15] The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over The Hills [12/30] Penguin Modern Poets |
First known public readings at The Bridge bookstore, Los Angeles [12/19, 12/20] | Remington typewriter Records 6 hours of poetry for Beatles short-lived experimental/spoken word label, Zapple. [February] Record is never released, but excerpts appear on CD in the 1990's. |
1969 | ||
| 1970 | Quit post office [1/9] Finishes first novel Post Office [1/21] Starts novel The Horseplayer [unfinished] Meets Linda King First airplane trip (to Washington state for readings) |
Fire Station [March] Notes of a Dirty Old Man published in Germany, first of many German translations |
Cal State L.A. [2/17] The Kiva, University of New Mexico [5/15] West Washington State College [5/29] Bellevue Community College [5/30] Bookstore ? [7/3] California State University Long Beach [7/22] Venice, CA coffeehouse [8/5] |
1970 | |||
| 1971 | Sells his literary archive and papers to UCSB for $5,000 | Post Office [2/8] | Venice, CA [January] University of Southern California [4/23] Benefit for Kenneth Patchen [?] |
Switches from an Underwood typewriter to a Royal (Quiet De Luxe) [January]. Used mainly portable Underwood typewriters prior to the Royal Drives 1962 Mercury Comet |
1971 | ||
| 1972 | Starts novel The Poet [unpublished] | Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions And General Tales Of Ordinary Madness [April] Mockingbird Wish Me Luck [6/1] Me And Your Sometimes Love Poems |
Two readings in one day (noon and early evening), California State University Long Beach [April] City Lights Poets Theater, 555 Chestnut, San Francisco [9/14] Papa Bach's bookstore, Los Angeles [maybe two readings, dates unconfirmed] |
1972 | |||
| 1973 | Separates from Linda King [8/1] Bukowski, Taylor Hackford's film premieres at Barnsdall Park Municipal Gallery Theater [11/25] Bukowski, Taylor Hackford's film (60 minute version) airs on KCET in Los Angeles [11/26] |
While The Music Played [2/12] South Of No North [12/17] |
2440 Edgewater Terrace, 90039 (with Linda King) 151 s. oxford ave #24, 90004 |
California State University Long Beach [11/29] San Francisco Museum of Art, Poetry Center [December] |
P. O. box 26469, Los Angeles, 90026 [10/19] | 1973 | |
| 1974 | $5,000 grant from National Endowment of the Arts to write a novel | Burning In Water Drowning In Flame [6/21] Poems Written Before Jumping Out Of An 8 Story Window German translation sells 50,000 copies |
5526 Carlton Way, 90027 5437 2/5 Carlton Way, 90027 |
Underwater Poetry Festival, Salt Lake City [10/5] MCCC-TV Studio, Detroit [10/31] Santa Cruz Poetry Festival [11/25] |
Telephone: (213) 462-0614 | 1974 | |
| 1975 | Africa, Paris, Greece [3/21] Factotum [12/18] |
5437 2/5 Carlton Way, 90027 | Northern California [May] Telegraph Hill Gym, San Francisco [5/31] Golden Bear, Huntington Beach [6/25] Houston [October] Baudelaire's, Santa Barbara [October] Golden Bear, Huntington Beach [10/31] Evanston, IL [11/18, 11/19] |
Switches from Royal typewriter to an Olympia Standard [December] | 1975 | ||
| 1976 | First trip outside the U.S. for a reading in Canada [October] | Scarlet [4/14] Art [12/13] |
Amazingrace, Chicago [January] St. Mark's Church Poetry Project, New York [June] Troubadour, Los Angeles [7/11 comedian Steve Martin opens] San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center [9/10] Troubadour, Los Angeles [9/29 met Linda Lee Beighle] Western Front, Vancouver [October] Santa Cruz Poetry Festival [11/13] |
Major profile in Rolling Stone magazine [June 17] Drives Volkswagon Beetle |
1976 | ||
| 1977 | Maybe Tomorrow [3/1] Love Is A Dog From Hell [9/15] |
Baudelaire's, Santa Barbara [6/5] | 1977 | ||||
| 1978 | First trip to Europe [May] Travels to France and appears on (and walks off) popular arts program Apostrophe [October] |
You Kissed Lilly [2/8] We'll Take Them [9/5] Women [12/15] Legs, Hips And Behind |
San Pedro [October] | Milwaukee, U of W [4/17] Germany [May] |
1978 | ||
| 1979 | Meets Barbet Schroeder and begins writing the screenplay, The Rats of Thirst, which would eventually be filmed as Barfly Buys first new car, a BMW |
Play The Piano Drunk Like A Percussion Instrument Until The Fingers Begin To Bleed A Bit [7/25] Shakespeare Never Did This [September] |
Viking Inn, Vancouver [10/12] | Drives BMW | 1979 | ||
| 1980 | Final live reading at the Sweetwater in Redondo Beach [April] | Bukowski stops using carbon paper and begins to use a Xerox machine to make manuscript submission copies [May] | 1980 | ||||
| 1981 | Italian film production of Tales of Ordinary Madness starring Ben Gazzara released [9/11] | Dangling In The Tournefortia [9/25] | Temporary split with Linda [February] Phone: (213) 832-3170 |
1981 | |||
| 1982 | Ham On Rye [7/28] Horsemeat [12/27] |
Temporary split with Linda [December] | 1982 | ||||
| 1983 | Bring Me Your Love [7/8] Hot Water Music [9/28] The Bukowski/Purdy Letters [November] The Most Beautiful Woman In Town And Other Stories [December] Tales Of Ordinary Madness [December] |
Temporary split with Linda [August] Switches from Olympia typewriter to an IBM Selectric [August] |
1983 | ||||
| 1984 | There's No Business [3/28] War All The Time [10/16] Barfly [December] Horses Don't Bet On People & Neither Do I Going Modern |
Phone: (213) 519-7279 | 1984 | ||||
| 1985 | Proposes to Linda Lee Linda Lee Beighle [3/20] Marries Linda Lee at the Church of the People in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles [8/18] |
1985 | |||||
| 1986 | The Wedding [January] The Day It Snowed In L. A. [September] You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense [9/26] Relentless As The Tarantula |
P. O. box 132, San Pedro, 90731 [March] | 1986 | ||||
| 1987 | Barfly film released [10/16] Belgian film Crazy Love, released, based on Bukowski stories [October] The Bukowski Tapes premieres in America at EZTV in Santa Monica, CA (with Bukowski and Schroeder in attendance), limited release on VHS by Lagoon Video |
Bukowski Photographs 1977-1987 [September] | 1987 | ||||
| 1988 | The Roominghouse Madrigals [5/25] Beauti-Ful [August] |
1988 | |||||
| 1989 | Undergoes treatment for Tuberculosis, which forces him to (temporarily) give up drinking | Red [1/30] Hollywood [4/25] |
1989 | ||||
| 1990 | Septuagenarian Stew [5/10] This [5/25] Not Quite Bernadette [Fall] Darkness & Ice [November] |
1990 | |||||
| 1991 | First full-length biography published, Neeli Cherkovski's Hank - The Life of Charles Bukowski | In The Shadow Of The Rose [7/25] People Poems |
Switches from the IBM Selectric to an Apple MacIntosh at the suggestion of Abandoned Planet bookstore owner Scott Harrison [January] Abandons the Xerox machine and now uses only the computer printer to make manuscripts [April] |
1991 | |||
| 1992 | Undergoes treatment for cataracts, diminishing his vision | The Last Night Of The Earth Poems [3/23] Three Poems [5/21] |
1992 | ||||
| 1993 | Spends 64 days in the hospital for Leukemia treatment (chemotherapy), quits drinking and smoking. Begins practicing Transcendental Meditation [9/19] | Bukowski Photographs 1977-1991 [January] Run With The Hunted (collection of previously published poems) [5/4] Screams From the Balcony (letters) [11/15] |
1993 | ||||
| 1994 | Bukowski dies [3/9] Buried at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes, near his home in San Pedro [3/14] |
Pulp [4/22] | Uses a fax machine to send his "first fax poem" to John Martin [February 18] | 1994 | |||
| 1995 | Heat Wave [October] Living on Luck (Letters) [11/15] |
1995 | |||||
| 1996 | Betting on the Muse [5/13] | 1996 | |||||
| 1997 | Bone Palace Ballet [3/25] The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship [3/23] |
1997 | |||||
| 1998 | 1998 | ||||||
| 1999 | Reach For The Sun (Letters) [June] what matters most is how well you walk through the fire [September] |
1999 | |||||
| 2000 | Open All Night [October] | 2000 | |||||
| 2001 | Beerspit Night and Cursing (Letters) [May] the night torn mad with footsteps (Final Black Sparrow Bukowski poetry release) [September] |
2001 | |||||
| 2002 | Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line the Way (first release published by Ecco/HarperCollins) [December 24] | 2002 | |||||
| 2003 | Bukowski (Photographs) Final Black Sparrow publication The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountain [December 23] |
2003 | |||||
| 2004 | Born Into This documentary feature released [5/28] | 2004 | |||||
| 2005 | Factotum film released in Europe (U.S. release in 2006) | Slouching Toward Nirvana [January 18] | 2005 | ||||
| 2006 | Linda donates Bukowski's papers to the Huntington Library in Los Angeles [June] Huntington Library event, "Celebrating Bukowski," to announce Linda's donation [9/20] The Bukowski Tapes gets wide release on DVD |
Come On In! [January 3] | 2006 | ||||
| 2007 | The People Look Like Flowers At Last (Final book of "new" poems?) [April 1] Pleasures of the Damned (collection of previously published poems, includes a few uncollected works) [10/30] |
2007 | |||||
| 2008 | Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook [not yet released] | 2008 | |||||