Damn Doug, that is so cool, to be from the Big City, yet be from the small town that hasn't changed much . . .at the same time! Not sure I've ever encountered such a story before. I'm from the Deep South, where if a building is over 30 years old, it must be torn down and replaced! I'm a big city kid, 10 years in Miami, 6 years in Houston, 26 years in Atlanta, 2 "on the road", 13 in Charlotte . . . you return to find precious few landmarks still there. That'll make a man nostalgic. . . "It ain't the Atlanta I grew up in" . . . I would say you're lucky, but I believe we make our own luck . . . So, you're not lucky, you're smart! (He's a pretty smart feller) Oh yea, and as for being young? We'll always be 28 years old (insert your age) in our minds. Remember when 60 was old? Not anymore . . .
Teardowns, sounds like the northwest suburb of Detroit that I grew up in. They actually did a survey of all classic buildings in the city. Anything classic was build before 1950! That was in the early 1990's, more has been torn down, shopping centered since. They used to have a good car show/ theme festival in the 80's and 90's. But the "bigger and better" mentality reared it's head, along with a couple years bad run of weather (late July), and bye bye it went. I used to be involved with it on a year round basis until others and myself saw what was happening and declined to participate further. The majority won, the event lost. The car show in it's heyday had in excess of 600 participants and a cruise for the culmination.50's & 60's acts, a family event. The last year I went by there, probably '02 they struggled to get under a hundred cars to show. One of my friends, even though he disagreed with how it was run, still tried to make a go of it. My hat's off to him, he is a better man than I am. I'm not anti-progress, but once in a while somebody has to look back and say huh? I'm now living in a community with a mix of old and new, they can coexist.
A whistle buff is a train fan or hobbyist. Kind of, I guess, we are "hot rod buffs". The term "buff" came from a newspaper article in the late 1800's. when the writer of the article was reporting on a fire that destroyed a building. He stated that hundreds of people ran to the location while the fire was ongoing and he wrote that "they ran like a herd of buffalo to go to witness the carnage"...thus the term "buff" was invented. So a "whistle buff" is anyone (like me) that will stalk, chase or drool over a steam locomotive. Al was such a train buff that he even had had photos of trains on the ceiling of his house. He had completely run out of room on his walls. He was one of the "official" photographers of the "Freedom Train" that traversed the Nation in 1976 during America's Bicentennial. The train was a re-painted red, white and blue Southern Pacific "Daylight", #4449, and was a hit wherever it went. It was returned to it's true colors after the trip, which is black and orange. here it is in orange. I shot this in 1989 when it was charging up the grade in the Cajon Pass, several miles north of San Bernardino, California
notice in Ed's photo, above, that the motel was given the OK by "Duncan Hines" when they had motel services....
The coroner arrives to remove the body of John Belushi.at the Chateau Marmont, 8221 Sunset Boulevard, 1982, 33 years old what a loss....I think I'll watch Animal House tonight...it's been years since I've seen it. Timeless. "They took the bar. The whole fucking bar!"
You want a big bowl of terrific chili and a couple of ice frosted mugs of beer? Right here, boys and girls, right on the "Sunset Strip" at "Carney's"....
After WWII the G.I.'s needed housing and these developments were designed specifically for them. First one was called "Levitstown" and sprang up in many urban areas of the U.S.. The one development of outside Milwaukee Wisconsin is Greendale and all were similar in design to the original "Levitstown" however Ours had full basements but some early versions were built with minuscule crawl spaces. Sears designed mail order homes for these low cost developments and were hoping to get the exclusive contract for them based upon their past history of offering "Mail Order Homes". Interesting history right there...!
2 streets over, the painters, carpet installers and wallpaper hangers are furiously trying to finish lots 112-183 D, because move-in day is only 4 days away! Love the boys playing on the side of the bottom van.
Learn something every day. Straying o/t, but here's one for you Doug. Locomotive train billowing steam, showing Mount Shasta in the background<WBR>, Siskiyou County, ca.1900
I worked at the Marmont as an off duty job doing security midnight to 6 in the morning on week ends. Many, many interesting things there. I left 1 month before he died.
aaaahhhh.........the Los Angeles T-Birds women's roller derby team. Channel 5, Dick Lane..."Whoa Nellie" damn goot educational TV!!! I think one of the chicks was Terry Lynch is my memory is intact
Bronson Caves in Bronson Canyon a part of Griffith Park. Caves were/are used in many movies, Bat Cave being most known. Not natural caves it was a quarry at one time.
Bronson Quarry before the caves were made. Rock from here was used for track beds for street cars and railroad. Caves were a great party place, got drunk many times there
The Jalopy Journal
