How can they arrest him for dodging the draft through moving without giving record, when he stayed at this one adress all this time? Doesn't make sense, does it?
Actually, the only way they
could find him is if he stayed in one place for a period of time. If he was constantly on the move, they would have never caught up with him.
I don't doubt that he spent time in all the cities he mentions, I just think the period of time that he bounced from city to city was very brief. When I make my case for a short time "on the road," a lot of it is based on my interpretation, obviously, since we do not have a lot of details. But in my interpretation I try to look at the big picture, as well as the details we get from the FBI files.
So, big picture; we don't know exactly when he left Los Angeles, and we know that we can't place him in Philadelphia (for sure) until 1942. So it's entirely possible that he dropped out of college in the summer of 1941, laid around his parents house for a while, then in December the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, everything changed in America overnight, and he hit the road.
So early in 1942 he is out there in the world with no destination. Well, maybe he had a destination in mind. Or maybe he just needed to find someplace to get work. He couldn't have left Los Angeles with very much money. This is a good place to insert the "ramblin' man, made a lot of stops" bit, but that hobo mythology ignores one big motivating factor in Bukowski's life: Fear.
If you look at his writing output, he really started writing in the quantity that people find so amazing after he quit the post office and had financial responsibility not only for himself, but for Frances and Marina. So I think it's safe to say that much of that post-1969 work ethic was rooted in fear. We also know from people who knew him that he feared poverty (as a lot of depression-era people did), and always maintained money in the bank to shield himself from unexpected circumstances or problems. These things do not really fit into the profile of a man who is likely to spend a lot of time in limbo, with no source of income and no place to stay.
That's why I think he spent most of that time away from Los Angles in Philadelphia. He mentions in several places spending at least a year in the infamous Philadelphia bar. But begging sandwiches and drinks cannot support someone, they don't buy you even a cheap room, so he had to work. Then after he was released by the military, we know there was a period of a few months before moving back in with his parents.
So yeah, on his way to Philadelphia (whether that was his intended destination or not), and on the way home, he had some time to bum around. But for a lot of reasons I still think the bulk of those 2 1/2 years away form Los Angeles was spent in Philadelphia.
But again, that's just my interpretation of the info we have. Doesn't mean anything. You're just as right as I am, and if Sounes has evidence of a period of time in San Francisco or elsewhere, then maybe my theory is bunk.
I'll have to re-read Sounes, because I don't recall seeing any evidence (other than stories) to support the other cities. If it's there I'll add it to the timeline. Eventually, with enough info in the timeline, the story tells itself.
