On March 16, 1933, author John Fante arrived at his parent’s house in Roseville after an earthquake destroyed his Long Beach apartment March 10. The epicenter of the 6.4 magnitude earthquake was 3 miles south of Huntington Beach, caused nearly $50 million in damage, killed 120 people and injured over 1,000 more. Though Fante was inside his apartment when the four-story complex collapsed, he escaped without injury.
Fante, who was known mostly for short stories at the time, would go on to write eight novels and numerous screenplays. His most notable novel was “Ask the Dust,” a semi-autobiographical account of life in Los Angeles published in 1939. Some critics wrote it was the best novel ever written about Los Angeles and it garnered admiration for Fante from authors such as William Faulkner, Charles Bukowski and H.L. Mencken.
Because he spent many of his adolescent years in Roseville, the Roseville Press Tribune wrote numerous articles about his short stories, novels and awards throughout his career. John Fante died in 1983 after multiple complications from diabetes and his final novel, “1933 Was a Bad Year,” was published posthumously.
In 2006, Robert Towne directed the movie “Ask the Dust,” based on Fante’s novel, which starred Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek. Francis Ford Coppola purchased the rights to his novel, “The Brotherhood of the Grape,” which is set in a fictional Northern California railroad town (sound familiar?) but has yet to make the film.
Note: John Fante’s wife, Joyce Smart, was born and raised in Roseville. Her grandfather came to California during the Gold Rush and settled in Dutch Flat. The Smart home in Dutch Flat is still standing and may be the oldest building in that historic town.
Photo: John Fante, c. 1940
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