Category: early b&w

Death Valley, Thanksgiving 1971

Possibly my favorite place in North America, Death Valley became a frequent destination for photographic treks from about 1967 – 1978.  One such visit took place over a long Thanksgiving weekend in 1971; some new finds from the negative archives are presented here.  From about 1974 on, the Land Rover was the vehicle of choice to traverse terrifying mining trails.  But in 1971, it was the VW camper (pictured a couple of times here).  (I have also done Death Valley with Ford truck, Porsche and Alfa Romeo at various times.)  There is no bad time to go — of course, 120+ degree summers scare off many people, but in some ways that is the best experience.  Thanksgiving is ideal in terms of moderate weather and the least  tourists (springtime is most popular: decent weather and sometimes surprising blooming flowers).  Don’t get me started about Death Valley … it can feel like several distinct planets and a religious experience (think Carlos Castaneda) and more.

Mineral King and Sawtooth Peak Weekend (1972)

Today’s discovery in the ancient and never-published film negative archives documents a 1972 backpack with a couple of friends and Sierra Club members to the Mineral King area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountain range.  First day we hiked to around 7000 feet where we camped overnight on the shore, just a few feet from the water in an ice-cold snowmelt-fed lake.  (You can see the lake in pics both at shore level and looking down from the overhead peak.) The next day was a stripped-down-for-action scramble up the rocks for another 4000 or so feet to the top of Sawtooth Peak.  

Quad-Cities, 1971

After brother Dennis graduated from journalism school at the University of Iowa, he went to work for the Quad Cities’ — Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa; Moline and Rock Island in Illinois; all converging on the Mississippi River — leading newspaper as a reporter.  En route to the east coast on business trips, I stopped over for weekend visits to see his family, including baby Gabrielle.  On one rainy May day, he drove me around the area in his VW bug.  While there is nothing of  particular photographic noteworthiness here, we do present evidence that the dismal quality of life in that part of the country was not just a rural phenomenon.

New York: Visiting Gabrielle and Self-Portraits

At least that is how this particular batch of negatives was marked.  Will probably need help from Dennis again to pin down the exact time period; I’m guessing 1974?  I often stopped over in NYC to visit Dennis’ family in the West Village on my frequent business trips to New York and D.C.  Mostly we just walked and did the subway, going from bookstore to bookstore.  And walked Gabrielle to school.  And shopped the deli’s.  (Perhaps my favorite city, but Tokyo has to be a close second.)  Easy to digress …

Brandelli’s Brig

Stumbled upon this one from circa 1977 Venice.  With a little memory-jogging help from brother Dennis and a current Google Street View image, we can compare this old West Washington Blvd (now Abbott-Kinney Blvd.) watering hole with its locally famous self-referencing mural, then …
UNKDATE_01-33-Edit

… and now.
abbott-kinney_google
This place was within walking distance of my place on Westminster & Speedway, and just up the street from the old Chelsea Gallery, which I once managed.   No, there was no valet parking in those days.  And I recall encountering John Doe and Exene, pre-X, there once.

Santa Monica Canyon Backyard (1975)

Just a little documentation perhaps useful only to give some sense of the place.  The house, a rickety old affair that showed up in a history book (that I later discovered in a local used book store) as the oldest frame house in the Canyon, extended some three stories-worth down the side of a very steep cliff which had become overgrown with all manner of vines and bushes and small wildlife.  (And I recall a mutant orange-lemon tree that had incredibly bitter fruit.)  Sometimes when the haze would abate, you could get a peek of the ocean through the bushes.  One of the photos, taken from the inside through a living room window, shows the rooftop of a neighbor’s house as well as the more or less flat roof of our garage (about four levels down and accessible only from a lower street) where bike repair, furniture refinishing and sunbathing took place.  Plant growth was not just limited to the outside; we packed the interior with spider and other plants to keep the air as pure as possible, although Santa Monica air was among the cleanest of the L.A. area.

Another 1975 Multi-Day Bicycle Trip

These were probably taken somewhere between Santa Barbara and Santa Maria.  During the few months that my brother and niece shared my Santa Monica Canyon house, I perhaps attained my greatest level of physical fitness before or since with miles and miles of daily riding (though only a fraction of what Dennis undertook).   Dennis frequently stopped on these trips to repair his tires; he ran sew-ups while my bike was shod with lower-performing but more durable clinchers.