Bukowski’s San Pedro 1

by Angela “Romee” Romero

Originally published in San Pedro Today, July 30, 2020

 “I type my first poem here / switchblade in pocket / I type this / for my tax accountant / for the girls in Omaha . . . I am broke again / I own ¼ of this house . . . /  everybody is worried about my soul now / I am worried about my soul now”

Charles Bukowski’s decision to move to San Pedro in 1978 was strictly business. He needed both figurative and literal space from his old stomping grounds in Hollywood to get some of his most celebrated work completed. He also needed a tax write-off. And although his house on the hill made him somewhat broke again, at least he had equity and his beloved second-floor sanctuary where he could punch out his prolific prose.

This month, on August 16, we celebrate Charles Bukowski’s 100th birthday. For sixteen of those years, he wrote his heart out in his San Pedro home; books, short stories, movie scripts, and hundreds upon hundreds of poems. Bukowski wrote with an intensity for the brutal and beautiful honesty of life, and it is the legacy of his life’s work that we honor for his centennial. While he didn’t come here to write about San Pedro, the town couldn’t help but sneak its way into his heart and his art.