While Conrad was stateside visiting his parents in Santa Barbara in 1947, he heard that the author of “Main Street” and “Arrowsmith,” among other important novels, was also in town. Lewis agreed to meet the eager writer. Conrad had 75 pages of his first


novel written and Lewis wanted to take a look. The Nobel laureate said, “Get rid of the first 72 pages,” Conrad recalls of the harsh critic. “You’ve got something in the last three.” Nevertheless, Lewis was impressed by Conrad and invited him to work as his secretary, provided he learned how to play chess. After learning chess, he joined Lewis at his estate in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he spent most of his time writing his first published novel, “The Innocent Villa.” Its publication was “no small thanks” to Lewis, says Conrad. On the later success of “Matador,”


Conrad opened a new chapter in his life, owner/operator of an exclusive San Francisco nightclub named El Matador. There were no nice places in San Francisco in 1953 to go out and listen to piano, concluded Conrad after a night out with friends. He thought he should open such a place, and did so to flying success, due in large part to the owner’s colorful personality and many talents. Justice cannot be done here to all


of the big names listed in El Matador’s guest book and to the anecdotes of idiosyncratic celebrities Conrad can spin at the drop of the hat. Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Kerouac, they all spent one or many nights in El Matador, and Conrad wrote lively tales of the many witching-hour happenings in his memoir, “Name Dropping,” published in 1994. Conrad shut the doors of El Matador in the early


1960s. Balancing the long nights with productive days became impossible. The next chapter brought him to Rincon Point, where he used his influence and array of connections to establish the Santa Barbara Writers Conference in 1973. Conrad attracted authors like Gore Vidal, Joan Didion, Eudora Welty and Ross MacDonald to the conference. The annual conference


is still running, but Conrad and Mary are no long in charge. There’s more to come. The John Wilkes Booth


book is a spin-off of an idea conceived between Conrad and his writing mentor, Lewis, over a half century ago. And another work of fiction is currently being spun; this one about Lewis, a private, mercurial character. “My next book’s already half-written,” says Conrad. All of Conrad’s work is unmistakably American,


rife with rugged characters, outdoor pursuits, and bravado. Hardly a more qualified person exists to capture the American Century in words and images. ¢


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