The author, Lyle J. Barnes, JD, is a 43-year hostage of a history started in 1966. Trying to avoid boring historical subjects in the task of writing a master's thesis, he opened up a Pandora's Box of facts and data filed away in newspapers, police reports, and the memories of the people who lived the saga of Two-Bit Street. He has been quoted in history books and sought by professors and others to clarify and give enlightenment about the Street's colorful past. Kind of like a chronic itch, his need to share this revealing history has been permanently scratched.