Artwork by Paul Dilworth, from Iliad Bookshop's former mural

"Then I noticed the Zen master's ears in the candlelight. The candlelight shone through them as if they were made of the thinnest of toilet paper. The Zen Master had the thinnest ears of any man I had ever seen. That was what made him holy! I had to have those ears! For my wallet or my tomcat or my memory. Or for under the pillow. Of course, I knew that it was all the scotch and water and all the beer talking to me, and then, in another way, I didn't know that at all. I kept staring at the Zen master's ears... " From "The Great Zen Wedding", in TALES OF ORDINARY MADNESS.

In his March 10, 1994 obituary, the LA TIMES called him "Poet of L.A.'s Low-Life". Charles Bukowski often called himself Hank or, in his largely-autobiographical prose, Henry Chinaski. We like to call him simply The Buk, but the truth is there's no easy label to slap on his work. Bukowski was a novelist and prolific short-story writer who disdained traditional narrative structure, a poet who wasn't afraid to express his intense dislike of most other poets and their work, and a letter writer of surprising warmth and congenial humor. His work is equally capable of great emotion and great vulgarity; one paragraph can be both crude and sublime. Alcoholism, sex, beer, brawling, wine, job-finding, and more alcohol are his favorite subjects, told with blinding honesty and frequent self-deprecating irony. His best-known novels are POST OFFICE and WOMEN; for short story collections, try TALES OF ORDINARY MADNESS; and if it's his poetry you're interested in, you might check out LOVE IS A DOG FROM HELL or PLAY THE PIANO DRUNK LIKE A PERCUSSION INSTRUMENT UNTIL THE FINGERS BEGIN TO BLEED A BIT.

Films: BARFLY (1987), directed by Barbet Schroeder. Stars Mickey Rourke as Bukowski's cinematic alter ego, and Faye Dunaway as his equally alcoholic soulmate. Enjoyable and recommended.
TALES OF ORDINARY MADNESS (1983), directed by Marco Ferreri. This time Ben Gazzara essays the Bukowski part.

There has been at least one documentary about the Buk, BUKOWSKI, by Taylor Hackford and Richard Davies. There's one commercially-available videotape of Bukowski reading, "BUKOWSKI AT BELLEVUE"

Bukowski Gesellschaft - It may be in German, but it's a great Bukowski site
The Hollywood Insider - "When Bukowski Was a Nazi!"
Buk's page: How can you not love a Bukowski site hosted by a server called "Realbeer"? They have lots more great Buk links, too.
Charles Bukowski: An American Lowlife A nice compilation of Bukowski information and links.