This is my dad, with the rifle, in Virgilia CA on the Feather River during the depression. It probably wasn't deer season. He was staying with his uncle after riding a freight train from Texas to Sacramento. That's Uncle Tom's Chrysler ,I think. The other guy is Wagoner Uncle Tom's mining partner.
Hello, When our dad used to take photos as directed by our mom, (since both brothers were technically dressed up) he had to bring out the hardshell brown case with his Graflex Bellows Press Camera. If it involved the one or both of the brothers, it was almost an act of God to have us stand still anywhere. So, it took a long time to open the case, get the camera out, pull out the bellows/lens, load the film cartridge in the back and set up the tall chrome flash unit that acted as a secure handle. similar set up Even after that, if one forgot to pull out the thin tab stuck in the loaded film cartridge, then everything came out black. No through the lens focusing, it was estimating distance, light and composition through a little glass lens on top. As the focusing was arranged in steps, the large camera was not a family point and shoot. It took time and patience to set up the dials, look through the small hole in the rangefinder and hope it is in focus. The large screen was good until the film cartridge was put in place. Now, it was adjust the distance, lens and get ready to shoot with the supplied wire push button cord. Jnaki Our dad had it wired as he used it for all of his photos. All of them were posed or he waited for the right moment at a birthday party or location shooting. But, he always gave us something to hold, so he would not forget where all of the parts were that he needed for the session. Note: I am holding the light meter and my brother was holding the film cartridge for the next several shots. It was a time and place for photos, pre planned or just wait for the moment. With a Brownie Camera of the same time period, it was point and shoot anywhere, anytime. But, we never were able to use a Brownie at the time... YRMV
Hello, When times were tough, my wife was a genius for money matters. Our payment for the house was over half of our monthly income to boot! But, we knew in the long run, the appreciation of a nice single family home would increase in value over the time, we would live in the south coastal area. But, the important thing was a nice place for our son to grow up and learn. Part of our philosophy was to do things for the family, together. Camping at the beach was a no-brainer, as we all liked living near the beach and the activities it provided us. So, outdoor activities were part of our savings and family adventures. The cost, minimal, as it was a plan for the reserved, mountain campsite and food. We usually caught plenty of trout, so that saved us lunch and dinners for a while. We did not have a tent of our own, so we borrowed the 50s style, all canvas, triangle peak tent from my wife’s family garage. We had our own refrigeration in the classic Coleman Cooler. When our days in the quiet forest were a daily thing and perhaps the afternoon winds made us not go fishing on the large lake, we took strolls in the surrounding forests. Jnaki As my son had gone through my magazines, he was accustomed to the Surf language. So, when he saw a log across across a trickling stream, he jumped up, ran across to a certain spot and called out… “in the tube!” Yikes… a perfect stance for in the tube riding… And... a "goofy foot" to boot! There was plenty of room in the El Camino for three and the back bed was perfect for tons of camping storage. YRMV
First pic probably about 65 ish. L-R My Dad, Cousin, Great Aunt, Great Uncle, Grandma, Uncle & a few inlaws doing some fishing in the stock tanks at Grandmas farm. Unfortunately my Uncle is the only one from the pic thats still alive. Fortunately He still has the truck (sitting in the same spot) and the farm. If you look close in the second pic you can see the stock tank in the back. PS: sorry for the shit quality, its a digital pic of an old snapshot.
Dad and a couple of my uncles, before the war. Country way of making a little extra money, he hunted from horseback, but the dogs did most of the work.
My Grandfather in the International flatbed truck, my uncle Dick in the uniform, and my dad next to his Packard clipper
Raised by our Mom, Dolores, here are a couple shots of the family, taken in the mid 50's. I am the youngest. .
1947 Main-Line Silver Lark 16 foot total/14 foot box. Only produced for 2 years from 1947-1949. Hello, When I found this photo of my wife at age two, it became a family conversation point. Her knowledge of OKC and then the final Buena Park home until we met in college/married and moved to our own apartment, history remained a mystery. Yes, they had a “traveling” motorcade from OKC to So Cal and back again many times while growing up. Back then, it was common for folks to chase the contracted work in the aerospace community. So, OKC for several years as relatives lived there. But, then the long slog to So Cal where the jobs were popping up like popcorn on the cooker. The trailer history from OKC was also odd, as it was manufactured in So Cal. Ha! The SILVER LARK model was built in South Central Los Angeles,but ended up in OKC in 1947. The company logo is shown in a “blow up” enlargement. A Silver Lark model. Jnaki The odd coincidence it that I also grew up in a trailer about the same size in Long Beach. Our first residence was a several block long/square/enclosed trailer park off of PCH and the Los Angeles River location from 1946 to 48. We were small and the trailer park also housed some friend’s families and some relatives, too. Our So Cal families all grew up in this trailer park, before our we saved up enough to buy a real house in the Westside of Long Beach. The park was originally made by the U.S. Government for the local aircraft industry homes for the workers to live nearby the workplaces. Note: When I was a teenager, I actually worked in a trailer company across PCH in the Westside of Long Beach. It was the factory grounds of the Kit Trailer company. The trailers looked just like the Main-Line Silver Lark models. The distance to the job was not worth it to start the Flathead 40 Ford Sedan Delivery, so my old 10 speed bike did the job of getting me there and back. I started in the cabinet division and if you bought a Kit Trailer in 1962, I probably made the doors and attached the hinges to the frames. My starting salary was $1.32 per hour. Back then, I had no idea if that was low or high for a kid. But, I worked there for several weeks and quit, due to unnecessary actions from the supervisor and an injury from the job. Across the street from our neighborhood leading to the Kit Trailer company, were several well known speed shops and two manufacturers during this time. Speed Engineering, a Tom McEwen/Ronnie LeGrand custom shop, Clay Smith Cams and Venolia Pistons to name a few. Three blocks West was Mickey Thompson's myriad of shops. Joe Mailliard had already moved to the Central Long Beach location, near our high school by then. in later years, same buildings, same location, a different company:
Motorcycle-trike trick riding near danger? Perhaps a lifetime entertainer? Even with his favorite protective helmet, the trike still needed a skid plate for controlled wheelies. Hello, Even as a little kid, our son did exciting, heart stopping for adults, (his mom and pop) in every activity he chose. When it was this activity, I had to take a photo first, then hope he did not fall forward…yikes. As he became a terror around the house on his low scale trike, he tried things outside with the same trike. It was a good thing I put on the custom skid plate to prevent front wheel lifting and falling back on his head. There were many times he could go fast on the sidewalk surrounding our house and the toy design did no take into account really active kids. We both saw him lift up the front wheel inside the house and immediately, fall back on the padded carpet. So, with some design measurements, I made a skid plate to allow him a little wheelie, but not enough to fall back on his head. Shades of drag racing wheelie bars earlier in its history. First oak scooter with a custom rear skid, turning 5th wheel… Later on, before he moved on to my custom “sidewalk scooter” business, I made him a similar skid plate for his first skateboard. But, that looked too awful and worked, but kept scraping the concrete sidewalk as he turned to move. So, I used a real skateboard wheel to use as a skid plate, turning point item for his advanced scooting. Also, as he lifted the “T” handlebars, the wheel with a bearing inside allowed him to spin around if necessary using the scooter or make a sharp turn using the wheel to rotate. My own adult size scooter with the 5th wheel technology. YRMV
My papaw in Jellico, TN working on a Hudson. He owned a garage, body shop and wrecker service his whole working life. On top of that he was also a pastor.
Hello, Our son moved to his own tones and inquisitive mind. My wife always said that “… he could make friends with a wall and if he concentrated enough, he would get an answer!!!” He was a fun kid, but very intense in what he got involved in, at the moment of his toddler years. His collection of little toy Matchbox, Corgi, Hot Wheels cars, trucks was accentuated with larger Tonka Toys for his outdoor sandbox play. His grandparents were the ones to give him his larger construction truck collection, as it was even out of reach for a couple of struggling parents. But, we saved up enough to build a smooth cedar backyard climber for his explorations, private lunch spot, a steering wheel to pretend it was a submarine, race car or battleship, along with a trap door to lead to his underneath privacy spot. He took to reading as fast as possible and could spend hours sitting in front of his row of books on the bookcase shelf, happily reading quietly. It was usually his series of toy car books, dinosaurs and his favorite set of books one Summer: Jnaki Since he was an avid reader of all topics, we thought his collection of toy cars, trucks and boats would eventually play a big part of his family life in later years. He had the first sidewalk scooter I made for him. Later on, I taught him to drive a stick shift car and he got really good shifting and starts, including the dreaded “hill starts.” As a young parent, he became a knowledgeable “tech person,” and a had a wonderful granddaughter that was the delight of our second round of “in loco parentis…” YRMV Thanks for the great memories and Happy Father’s Day.
My wife’s mom as an elementary school kid with her mom and an old Ford coupe. Taken in central OKC in the early 1930s. Hello, It pays to clean out old boxes full of “stuff.” My wife is a stickler for organization and no box goes unturned or in this case overturned for disposal. It was full of her mom’s old photos and memorabilia. So, we kept some old photos and gave away the physical items to her sister for her memorabilia box or boxes. We only have a box full of our own family history and those older memories are stored on flash drives or albums in specific order, which in turn, I scanned into external hard drives for safe keeping. We live in a fire prone area and we have always been cautious since our son told us to grab almost 15 family photo albums when our granddaughter was little. Sure… grab the granddaughter and then 15+ photo albums? I am not Plastic Man and we would take the most important, first… our granddaughter, whether we are in her house or our smaller house. Priority is necessary. Since then, the physical stuff has gone on long term vacation elsewhere in the expanded families’ files. We now have the important stuff digitally saved, in organized family folders that will last as long as the hard drives are not corrupt. Some folks do not trust off site “cloud” photo storage places… remember “Photobucket” outlaws? So, external hard drives are the safe method of storage. But, in the latest times, big companies like Apple and Google along with several other places have set up “cloud” storage for all of your stuff, some for free and some, a pay monthly fee…YRMV Jnaki So, the photo shows, in this generation descriptions, the mother+ grandmother (for my wife) and great grandmother + great, great grandmother (for our granddaughter) somewhere in OKC a long time ago. We have found old Ford Roadster photos with the great-great grandfather, but this is the first time for an old Ford Coupe or sedan in any family photos. That is a surprise… in Norman, Oklahoma
Hello, This is one of the earliest photos in California for my wife as a little girl. Their family moved to a hot region in the inland area northwest of Los Angeles. It was the San Fernando Valley. At the time, it was a booming area and houses shot up like wild mushrooms. The 1947 Buick convertible with my wife as a young girl and her mom driving… a top down experience in hot Pacoima, CA The photo was taken sometimes between move in in 1951 to move out to Manhattan Beach down on the So Cal coastline, in 1954. Then, the convertible was sold and the whole family moved back to OKC IN A 55 Chevy two door sedan, until one last “out West,” road trip ending up in Buena Park in early 1956. Here is a recently found photo of the front of the Pacoima house during one family photo extras box clean up day. The house in Pacoima was in a brand new tract, nearest the Aerospace Industry located a few miles away, in the San Fernando Valley region. That was home from 1951 to 1954 somewhere on Obeck street back then. Jnaki So, for historic values, my wife was a very early “Valley Girl” in those kid days of living in hot San Fernando Valley. But, where the jobs were, was the reason for moving there in the first place. Then 3 years later, the contract expired, the job finished and the family moved closer to another Aerospace Industry area near the LAX airport. The housing was located just a short hop into Manhattan Beach. Now, from a early “valley girl” to a local So Cal “beach girl” in one simple family move… Such was life in early So Cal for the families of those associated with the Aerospace Industry. By 1955, the contract was finished and again, the family bought a new 55 Chevy sedan and moved back to OKC for another job, not associated with the Aerospace Industry. Finally, after a year, in 1956, one last road trip back West to burgeoning Orange County. It was a fairly new house in another tract, near the famous Knott’s Berry Farm, selling actual berries and a chicken/steak dinner buildings. No such thing as an amusement ride or park, other than a real old “ghost town.” YRMV So, the girl from OKC came West… “Go West, young woman…” paraphrased a famous movie line… and became a real So Cal local. Yes! A great part of the mystique of a coastal lifestyle led to various road trips included in the long term stay… rhymes with "to this day..." Ha!
Hello, The most recent discovery was that in 1949, while in OKC, my wife’s family had an old Chevy sedan. We did not find other photos, except for a Plymouth sedan, a 50s Chevy sedan and a 37-38 coupe. But, that one behind the two sisters is not familiar or do the sister’s know about that time slot in the family history. It looks to be age three for the older one and 1.5 for the younger sister. They ended up 5 feet 8 for my wife and 5 feet 3 for her sister. Of course, we are all shorter as we have aged and gotten shorter. Ha! I used to be almost 6 feet 1 inch, but now, barely topping a whopping, 5 feet 11 inches+, on a good stand up straight day. Old spinal column pads wear out with 80 years of activity of all kinds and shapes. To this day, the sisters still talk to each other and go shopping/lunch together. They both have been through a lot. YRMV Jnaki It is typical of a parent to stick their kids in front of a car and take photos. It ran in our family of 4 also. 1947, posed in front of a 1941 Buick Fastback sedan. Suspenders on shorts and all… Still wearing shorts, T-shirt, and sandals after all of these years... pure comfort. But, haven't worn socks with sandals since those oddball days of high school, when we all wanted to be different with white socks, Levis and a white t-shirt. (in between the drag racing days of Levi's, Desert Boots and a white t-shirt) Some, look that was... Ha!
The Jalopy Journal
