Podcast Episode Details

Charles Bukowski: Slacker, Drunkard, Misanthrope, Poet, Artist, Hero.

Heinrich Karl Bukowski was born in Andernach, Germany on August 16, 1920.  Andernach is a small German town located on the Rhine River, between Bonn and Koblenz.  Bukowski’s father, also named Heinrich Karl Bukowski was a sergeant in the US Army of occupation following World War One.  He met and impregnated Bukowski’s mother Katerina Fett in late 1919 and their marriage would not occur until July of 1920, one month before the birth of their son

The Bukowski’s settled briefly in Baltimore where they Anglicized their names before saving enough money to relocate to Los Angeles, where Bukowski’s father was born and raised.  Bukowski’s paternal grandparents were separated, his grandfather a successful carpenter plagued by alcoholism. The extended family was quite dysfunctional with siblings harboring deep resentment for each other. 

This dysfunction also plagued Bukowski’s relationship with his father, who beat him from a young age and was generally cold and hostile.  The family would come to reside in a typically modest home in a central Los Angeles neighborhood at 2122 Longwood Avenue.  Bukowski spent a great deal of time describing his painful and difficult childhood and he would refer to this address as the “the house of agony.”