Los Angeles is the capital of film noir

“MIDDLE OF A drought and the water commissioner drowns,” the mortician remarks drily to Jake Gittes, a private investigator played by Jack Nicholson (pictured): “Only in LA.” Indeed. June 20th marks the 50th anniversary of the release of “Chinatown”, the film truest to the Los Angeles of the countless noirs set in America’s second-most-populous city. Other films revolve around Hollywood—or at least its dark, gritty edges—where every millionaire, wannabe actor and insurance agent has a secret worth killing for. But Gittes was fixated on water, or the lack thereof, a perennial problem in a city that is otherwise constantly changing.