Pat Novak for Hire is an old-time radio detective drama series which aired from 1946 to 1947 as a West Coast regional program and in 1949 as a nationwide program for ABC. It is set on the San Francisco waterfront and depicts the city as a dark, rough place where the main goal is survival. Novak is not a detective by trade, but he owns a boat shop on Pier 19 where he rents out boats and does odd jobs to make money.