Category: early b&w

Bill Adds More Motion to Things

Bill sends me his first cut at a rework of a still photo I took of him and his then-wife in 1974 or 75.  This was probably at Point Vicente or somewhere south of L.A.  And, yes, the wind was actually blowing fiercely that day. Click on through to Bill’s FB page to see the thing the way it is intended to be seen, if you see no animation here. 

Revisting the EOU Back Stairs

As I just received an inquiry from a person for a print of the “historic EOU grand stairs” based on something she saw several years ago, I started dredging out all such photos — this has been a recurring subject for me over the last fifteen or twenty years — to see what she might have in mind.  (I also supplied some pics a couple of years ago for a restoration project fundraiser, and those must be around somewhere, too.)  Here are a few that I have rediscovered so far.

Kosher Burritos and the Manson Girls (1972)

Lunchtime, during my GAO years, when I was working in the downtown LA office rather than on a job site or flying around the country, often meant strolling to nearby quick food eateries like Philippe’s or those found on Olvera Street or many other neighborhood ethnic destinations.  One day in February 1972, a few of us walked past City Hall on our way to the Kosher Burrito (a most wonderful and inexpensive source of burritos featuring ingredients such as corned beef).  In 1971, if memory serves, Charles Manson had received a death sentence, but the death penalty was about to be overturned by the state Supreme Court.  Manson supporters, some of the Manson Girls who had not been criminally charged, were keeping a vigil outside City Hall, where I photographed them on my way to lunch.

Death Valley and the Region – December 1971

Despite high winds, falling snow and a blizzard advisory, Kim walked Charles the Great this morning, and I joined for another session this afternoon after the air had calmed a bit.  But it was unpleasant enough to compel me to find alternative visual inspiration.  So digging through old Kodachromes, I find these from a December 1971 trip to Death Valley, taken somewhere in the Owens Valley on the way:

Plus these in Death Valley itself:

ARCHIVES: Jan, OOG

Sometime after sister Jan moved to California, she flew back to Iowa to gather up her left-behind Dodge Dart.  I then flew to join her to help drive the thing back in about August 1976.  Before we learned that the car’s gas gauge was faulty, we ran out of gas (OOG) on the road several miles from Las Vegas.  Here we document the wait, around sunset, for roadside assistance.

ARCHIVES: Death Valley, Forty Years Ago

Starting to nibble around the edge of my old color slides. Not nearly as numerous as my black & white negatives, and stored in pretty much total disarray. Here is my phototog friend Bill, his truck, and friend Mike — the same crew that did Mexico — on a Death Valley weekend in December 1976.  In discussing this with Bill yesterday, he recalled our terrified screaming as we hurtled down a twisty road with the the smell of brake fluid in our noses.  And then we blew a head gasket.  On another trip, a cylinder cracked in a snow storm near Mammoth.