Chapter 16

Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.

Page numbers refer to editions with 369 pages, where the story begins on page 1. Not sure if there are other editions with variant pagination. Please let us know otherwise.

Page 275

Rhus Frothingham
"Rhus" is the formal name of the plant genus commonly referred to as Sumac. It includes various desirable plants, but also Poison Sumac and Poison Ivy. See: Plants of Inherent Vice

Page 277

indict a bean burrito
An amusing local twist on the common adage, which virtually every lawyer probably learned in law school, that a prosecutor can get a grand jury to "indict a ham sandwich."

Page 278

Midnight, pitch dark . . . blind cannonball
That's quite a metaphorical excursion!

Page 280

the playoffs, even though it was Eastern Division
The fifth game of the NBA finals way played in New York Monday, May 4, 1970. The Knicks won 107-100 over the Lakers.
it was time for the eleven-o'clock news..."Give it a rest Bugliosi"
11:00 P.M. Monday, May 4, 1970. Given that this is the day of the killings at Kent State, it seems odd that the late news would be taken up by the Manson case.

Page 281

A promo came on for the late movie
Late night Monday, May 4, 1970.
Next day was as they say another day
Oh, it's another day all right. Pynchon has inserted a day in between Monday, May 4, 1970 and Tuesday, May 5. This day continues until the end of chapter 17, a total of 34 pages, making it the day with the most pages in the book.
The events of this day are unusual, to say the least.
No reference to time of day is given. As a matter of fact, the one clock mentioned (in the District Attorney's office) is not working.
Doc is given most of the information needed to resolve the mysteries he is working on.
The women Doc encounters during this day act very unusually, in most cases bizarrely.
Finally, a dead President tries to give Doc some advice on how to proceed.

Page 283

Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme
One of Charles Manson's devotees, not charged in the Tate murders, but later jailed for coming at President Gerald Ford with a loaded gun. Coincidentally, she was paroled after 30 years in jail, the very week Inherent Vice was released...

Page 290

El Huevoncito
Someone with a better grasp of idiomatic Spanish can correct this, but:

"Huevon" is a vulgar slang insult, implying that that the subject is lazy and stupid. The "cito" is a dimunitive suffix. I suppose an English translation might be "little lazy asshole" or something along those lines.

Page 294

Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson also makes a brief appearance on pg. 395 of Mason & Dixon. The transcription of TJ's language (like "traffick in Enslavement") echoes the faux-vérité 18th-century style of M&D too.

the tree of liberty . . .
This quote is from a 1787 letter Jefferson wrote to W. S. Smith.