I’ve been (surprisingly) getting a fair amount of feedback on my old Venice image resurrections. Some is from old friend and ex-UCLA-colleague, John, who tells me that he was coming of age then in the Dogtown (aka Venice) skateboarding culture era. Along with many fascinating details of the sport, the music of the time, Venice itself and his own youth as a skateboarder, he reminds me of the 2001 documentary, narrated by Sean Penn, of the skateboarding scene in Venice in the 1970s. Here’s the trailer (and I will try to see if it can be viewed online in its entirety somewhere — perhaps YouTube):
Category: travel
Venice Beach, Forty Years Ago
I didn’t know her at the time, but my later-to-be friend, Ann Nietzke, was living almost next door to me when she wrote her “Windowlight” book about her life in the neighborhood. The flavor of the place, and her observations and musings, came back to me as I stumbled upon a few more photographs from that time …
Incidentally, if you want to get a taste of the transformation of Venice Beach in recent years, visit the website of the contemporary Cadillac Hotel.
Utah, Perhaps?
Circa 1975, these are from newly discovered and freshly scanned but previously unprocessed negatives. Including a selfie or two from the distant analog world, taken during the Great Southwest USA Landrover Expedition, a two-week or so trek that my brother and I undertook to explore Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, etc. in one of the finest vehicles known to mankind.
Archives: Iowa Series?
Scanned another roll’s worth of previously-unseen negatives today, still at January 1974. Here are some more from eastern Iowa. Bleak City. (Btw, I couldn’t figure out why repeated cleanings of the negatives didn’t clear up the apparent dust spots. Then I realized that light snow was falling in some images.)
Global Confusions
Quartz tries to straighten us out on some common global naming conventions, geographic and otherwise:
http://qz.com/483444/40-easily-confused-english-words-that-make-global-travelers-look-ridiculous/
Montana Trip Epilogue I
Last month, Ivi and Honorary Daughters Marina and Olivia drove to Montana for The Event of the Season — the Conor-Larkin wedding. They returned with some 677 photographs, allegedly most done by Marina (and you have already seen Olivia’s fine bride-groom document). So far, of the ones that are scenic rather than personal in nature, these caught my eye. (My curations presented here have some with very modest tweaking such as mild cropping and straightening.) I don’t know who did what here, but I hope to track down attributions soon.
rday One-Hundred-Forty-Three
Today we saddle up to penetrate the state of Washington to visit Ray French Orchards, our favorite purveyor of pick-your-own fruit, particularly peaches. Two+ hours later, we arrive and fill the back of the Caravan with an hour’s worth of harvested peaches. Most of your correspondent’s time was spent talking with Robin, the son of the orchard’s founder (1963), discovering that he is an avid amateur photographer, and — as usual — engaging in “windshield photography” to and from. Ivi handles the driving chores and also shares producing antics and hilarious banter in league with honorary daughter Olivia. Picnic lunch at Deadman’s Pass. Perfect weather today.
Icelandic Surf
My old photography sidekick, Bill, sends me this clip and link on an award-winning film related to his old obsession. When I met Bill, he was chief photographer for International Surfing Magazine, and did the waves daily himself.
Portland Trip Postscript
In the previous post, we didn’t mention that our return trip was stalled by about an hour, when I-84 traffic came to a halt about around 110th Street, headed out of Portland. The time was about 10 or 10:30am. We were positioned at the dividing strip between the freeway and an off-ramp when a police car came alongside after 15 or 20 minutes. We overheard the policewoman tell the occupants of the car just ahead of us that the freeway would likely be closed for hours, and that anyone who could should get off. So we crossed the triangle and were just able to get to the off-ramp. We searched for an appropriate through street somewhat parallel to the freeway, rejoining I-84 in about three or four miles. We found virtually no eastbound traffic, but the westbound lane was stacked up at a standstill for several more miles. It was not until today that Kim’s research disclosed the reason for the delay:
A Lewis & Clark Labor Day Weekend
This weekend we set off to return Ivi to her senior year at L&C. Ivi, now our driver of choice for Portland wanderings, checks into her 5th floor room. (She’s lived here before when the building was brand new, but now has a preferred top-floor private room in the LEED-certified forest-surrounded — as is the whole L&C campus — structure.) Then it is on to our hotel, where Dad naps while Kim and Ivi find provisions at a nearby Trader Joe’s. The next morning we help Ivi unpack, then head east to see how Charlie and Nik made out in our absence.
