Throwback Thursday: Colorado Street Bridge

    Scanned from photo from trip in 1994. The bridge over Arroyo Seco in Pasadena. Famous for jumpers, probably close to 200 people have committed suicide here since it was built in 1913.

On This Day in History: Halloween

   In 1913, the Lincoln Highway is dedicated as the first coast to coast highway for cars in the United States. It ran from New York City to San Francisco. At first the route simply took over existing historic routes, including where I took this photo, the Chambersburg Pike in Pennsylvania. The route was eventually replaced in most areas by Interstate 80 starting in the 1950s.

Throwback Thursday: Scans from Los Angeles

  Today's "throwback" is going to focus on photos I took on vacations around Los Angeles and California back in 1987 and 1994. I didn't take as many photos back then because, well I couldn't afford the film in the age before digital. I didn't know what would come out, you couldn't just "delete" photos you didn't like, and there were times that rolls of film didn't get developed(due to lack of money) and/or just got lost.

Throwback Thursday: Classic Cars Need Some ID!

 Well they weren't classic at the time!

I have no idea what these two cars are, but the writing my mom put on the back says "Barstow Motel 1969". That's me on the bouncy horse.

Me hanging out of my dad's car, "Somewhere in Nevada 1969", perhaps a Gran Torino?

Station Wagon, this one might even be before I was born taken by my mom in the early 60s(maybe even late 50s?), possibly out in the desert near Barstow, California.

  I know these aren't technically "mine" since I didn't take them, but I am IN two of them, and they were all taken by my mom or dad. And I've been wanting to post them for so long in hopes of getting an identification on the cars!

Los Angeles

I've recently become re-obsessed with Los Angeles/Hollywood and the area. I spent a month reading this thread on the skycraperpage website and everything in it about Los Angeles' history fascinates me. And makes me quite sad that I never paid more attention the times I was there.

 From the roughly the summer of 1967 through 1980, I spent nearly every summer-at least a week or two-in the Los Angeles area visiting family. Of course I don't remember most of those trips, as I was quite small during many of them. We went on quick trips a few more times from 81-83. We spent a week there in February 1986, and another week in October of 1994. I'd love to go back now, with different eyes(through a history buff/photographer's eyes), but I just can't afford a trip like that. I barely get trips up to Nashville these days(20 miles away).

 Anyway, here a few of my favorite scanned photos from those last two trips. They were taken from the perspective of "hey let's get a quick shot of that to remember it by" rather than stopping to take a more artistic view of the place. And many were taken straight from the vehicle we were traveling about in.


Graumann's Chinese Theater, Hollywood


Pan Pacific Auditorium, off Fairfax, 1986, abandoned-would burn down soon after


Hollywood Forever Cemetery, backside of Paramount Studios


Colorado Street Bridge, Pasadena


Tail o'the Pup hot dog stand, now gone


Original clock tower at Farmers Market on Fairfax at 3rd


Dinosaur near Palm Springs-most famously seen in PeeWee's Big Adventure