The Big Hello And The Long Goodbye

Book by Gessner, Peter

Peter Gessner is a licensed private investigator based in San Francisco. Born in New York City, he, like many of his generation who came of age personally and politically during the Vietnam War, migrated westward to San Francisco to reinvent himself. Too late for the Summer of Love, there was still plenty of time to fall in love with the city that had been home to an earlier author/detective. His first weeks were spent on a friend's couch devouring early paperback editions of Dashiell Hammett's stories, many with maps conveniently placed inside their back covers. Gessner has been a Visiting Professor of Cinema at San Francisco State University and for one summer early in his career, he worked as a reporter for the Village Voice. He graduated with highest honors from Swarthmore College with Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and attended Yale Drama School. Prior to his arrival in California, Gessner had been an independent filmmaker; several of his documentaries that dealt with anti-war and labor themes received prizes at international film festivals.