Dahlia: The corner of 39th and Norton

Elizabeth Short's mutilated body lay in the vacant lot on the corner of 39th and Norton. Throughout the novel, this corner continued to remind not only the readers, yet also the characters, of the horrendous crime against the Black Dahlia. This corner is extremely interesting because of its unexpected entrance into the story. Had Lee and Bucky not arrived at the garage related to Junior Nash, Mr. Fire and Ice perhaps might have been so involved with the case. From this point on, the vacant lot, even the names of the streets 39th and Norton, are highlighted. The officers on the case only have to refer to the streets in order to conjure the memory of the murder. This location is used to invoke not only the actual crime, yet perhaps the brutal reality of the cruel intentions. The place where Elizabeth Short is destined to be found after her treacherous death is a vacant lot, in the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles. Not only does this characterize the murder as cruel because of the location's closed and deserted location, yet the location also emphasizes how the crime is discovered outside of the central areas in Los Angeles. The actual destructive and brutal crime takes place within the heart of downtown Los Angeles, yet the murderers leave Short's body out in a vacant lot. The central part of Los Angeles perhaps has the tone and the environment for such a horrible murder to be initiated, yet the final area for the finishing touch (the discovery of the body) is meant to be a less populated and less central area.