Hey Fella's, there seems to be no shortage, on this here message board, of folks that appreciate all forms of art. I stumbled across this website of Troy Paiva awhile back, but decided it was time to bring some of these pictures to the HAMB. There are images for almost everyone, ie..cars, airplanes, neon junkyard, roadside buildings, and the Van Allen belt. Hope this promotion is OK with the front office. www.lostamerica.com Opinions, comments?? JT [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Excerpted from Chapter 1 in the "Lost America" book[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Lost America[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif],[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] the desert west. Misunderstood, Misused. Desolation, isolation, failed hopes and dreams.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The second half of the twentieth century saw a tremendous expansion into the American deserts, especially right after World War II. For myriad reasons, an enormous amount of this expansion had failed by century's end. What this left was an entire abandoned subculture based on the drive-in concept and the remnants of thousands of vehicles of every type imaginable. The West is littered with vacant Miracle Miles, the modern equivalent to Old West ghost towns. American wealth and postwar optimism is rusting and decaying by the side of the road in every state between Mexico and Canada. A huge part of the American Dream, just left for dead[/FONT]
I bought the Lost America book a few years ago and it is awesome! Troy Paiva is one of the biggest secrets out there. The eerie-ness (is that a word?) of alot of his images is incredible. I especially enjoyed the chapter about the Salton Sea. If you like pictures of old gas stations, drive-ins, abandoned cars, airplanes, the desert, etc. you'll dig his book. E
I looked at the pictures of the Texas trip. I was raised in the area and knew where most of it was. All of the "Penwell " pictures was taken at a friend of mines old gas station and beer joint"The Joker". It was a hot spot during the oil boom of the 70's. Long gone now. There used to be 3 ******s for every welder there on saturday night. You know who ended up with all the money.TP
This is a real testimony to the fact that communities, large and small, can whither up and blow away. My own state may be no exception 20 years from now. Most small towns in Iowa are experiencing death rates at 2-3X the local birth rate. Some politicians get it but most of them will be dead by then and really don't care.
Man', that must've been ONE happy welder!! Was he a mig welder or "stick" welder?? Glad you enjoyed the thread. Truly small world we live in and the internet has helped it imensly. JT
Yowza! Thanks for the link. Kind of like a train wreck for me. On one hand I'm drawn to the subject matter and artistic presentation. On the other hand I get a empty feeling that so much of the America I remember is truly being lost forever. Much like many of the old race tracks and drag strips I used to frequent.
Yeah, I saw the other link with photos from the wrecking yard too. Funny, I thought it would be cool if Troy did some of the Salton Sea, well, there they are. He beat me to it by, oh, 10 years or so...ha Nice, nice work!
Troy is a friend of mine, and has been doing these amazing images for probably ten years. It's neat to see him getting some enthusiastic recognition.
Hey thanks for all the good words you guys! 50Fraud, thanks for pointng this thread out to me. You're aces. I've been doing a ton of new work in junkyards, both abandoned and functioning. My new work is ending up on the flickr.com site because I hit my bandwidth ceiling at the lostamerica.com site a year ago. Come have a look at the new automotive work, you'll love it. Antelope Valley Auto Wrecking. Unnamed abandoned yard, Hodge, CA I have a pile of new work shot in another high desert yard just last week. I'll be posting it to the flickr site this coming week. Watch that space. Thanks again you guys!
great pics, there's some abandoned base housing down here that i took some pics of.....it's small but eerie hmmmmm abandoned huh???? i wonder how one would get parts from there.....
Hey Troy, (F.N.G.) welcome to the HAMB. Talent like yours, will do nothing but help bring this message board to the next level. My question is, after discovering all this cool ****, what's in you garage??? JT P.S. sent you an e-mail regaurding some haunting pics on NPR website, about abondoned Ellis Island Hospital. Kinda O.T. for this site but none the less worth a peak. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6600709&sc=emaf&sc=emaf
Troy, your art is marvelous, and takes me back a long way. I lived through, and had a hand in that growth and subsequent demise of the desert life. I still live in the desert, today, but in the middle of Las Vegas, one would never know it. My roots are in the greater Mojave; the *****go Basin, Victor Valley, and Antelope Valley, and all points east. To quote one of my youngest granddaughters favorite characters, Swiper The Fox: "Oh, Maaaan!" That stuff is a compendium of my life; I feel like I think Amboy or Es*** would feel if they had real feelings. I got choked up looking at it. Thank you for recording it for posterity.
Troy, I love it - sad and compelling at the same time. Without hijacking the thread, what kinda music would you put with these images?
Jakespeed: I have a big collection of highway and petrolania signs in my garage. And black velvet painting ******ed from an abandoned *****house. Aw heck, I'll admit I have a new Honda in my garage! LOL. I have neither the skills or the cash to have a cool old car in my garage. Doesn't mean that I don't have a specific sensitivity to old iron. Hanging out in a junkyard, alone in the middle of the night is like going to church for me. 1oldtimer: I think abandoned wrecking yards are fair game. One of the neighbors may put some buckshot in your **** if they see you making a mess tho . . . Chebby belair: Music- Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree. Spooky and dark. Thanks youz guys!
How did you end up taking pics in wisconsin? that drive in is just down the road from me. You have any pics of old bars or cafes in the southwest?
The owner of that 66 Stingray hired me to shoot his car. Flew me out, put me up, gave me a car to drive for 4 days. And he paid me. It was a great experience. Yes, I have tons of southwest bar and cafe images. Here's one from Salome, AZ:
Speaking of towns being lost . . . anyone catch the news story on the state of Georgia removing little towns from it's highway maps to save ink? A sign of the times? Blech . . . I grew up in a small town and sometimes I miss the feel of a little place. Working on getting back to one myself now. ;-) BTW: Back on topic . . . VERY COOL PHOTOS! I love neat stuff like that. (Eureka Springs, AR - Palace Hotel and Bath House - May 2003)
your pictures are...erie, awesome, and sad. if you get a chance post over on the weekly artshow, your work will be greatly appreciated!
The Jalopy Journal
