Posts Tagged ‘California’
Bret Harte’s Cabin …
My father made this photo on one of his trips out west to visit his sister in the 1940’s and 50’s. I Googled “Bret Harte” a while back and I think I remember it saying that he was a writer out in California. Here is a link to his Wikipedia site and I was correct about him being a writer. I have seen this old photo for fifty years and never really thought much about it, but I scanned the print and decided to post it just because I had it ready. The only significance to me is that this is my 400th post on this blog. I would guess that I have over 600 photos posted and it could be more since many posts have more than two images and a few have over ten. When I started I had only planned to put up one image per post, then I started finding more and more images that were related. In an effort to streamline my posts, I just thought that it would be easier to include all of the images that were related. My only real goal out of this blog was to just share all of these images that I came across as I sorted through the thousands that I had of my father’s. At some point in time in the future, I am going to try and put together a book of a lot of these image and see what type of response I get. But that is for another time … Thanks for looking and if anyone has been to see Bret Harte’s cabin, let us hear from you. For all I know it might have fallen down or it might have gotten burned up in all of the fires that they are having all over the state of California. And if anyone has read any of Mr. Harte’s books, let us know what you think. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Out West Again …
I believe that the above image was taken somewhere in Colorado, but where I have no idea. It was taken in the late 1950’s … I cannot make out the writing on the bottom of the sign so there might be a clue written on it. The town looks remote and isolated. You see no signs for gas and this was obviously a time before convenience stores. Isn’t hard to remember a time when there were no Tom Thumbs or Seven-Elevens or Quik Marts? The kids today sure cannot! This little town does not look to even have a strip mall … now that is hard to believe!! I believe that the idea for strip malls was hatched in Florida. I might need a fact check on my last statement, however with all of the strip malls we have in Florida and so many of them look to have been built in the early 1960’s, I am pretty sure that I am correct. Now, moving on to California …
The drive along the Pacific Ocean looks like this now – for the most part – as it did back in the 1950’s. The only difference is that the road has been repaved and maybe these turn a rounds have been surfaced … how about that old Buick. Could you imagine driving across the United States in a car that was not air conditioned? No, I did not think so. We have all gotten soft and spoiled. Ok, ok , I am not talking about everyone … I am sure that there are a handful of you out there that could, especially you motorcycle riders. I can remember on some of these trips out west when we would wait until the sun went down to drive across the desert for fear of the car over-heating. I used to sit in the back with the window down staring out at the stars for hours. Then I would spot a little disk with a lighted dome on top flying across the sky and think that Eastern has sure come up with weird new planes… Thanks for looking and if you have any comments or questions, I want to hear them.
Douglas Fairbanks ….
Here lies the resting place of one of America’s most famous swashbucklers … Douglas Fairbanks. The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood and too many more to mention. This is a link to his Wikipedia site and you can read all about him here. He died in 1939, so no telling how much this cost back then, but I am impressed and I have never been here! I ran across more negatives from his trips out west and will be posting more in the near future. If you want to share your Douglas Fairbanks memories, please feel free. I love a good Fairbanks story as well as the next person … Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Marineland of the Pacific …
I ran across these transparencies years ago and I always thought that they were made down at the Gulfarium at Fort Walton Beach Florida. But after I started looking at them more closely, I saw ” Marineland ” written on one of the life-saving rings around the pool. After two and two together, I came to the brilliant conclusion that this must be Marine of the Sea or the Pacific. I personally do not remember any of this and my father never mentioned going, but that does not mean anything. Here are some more images …
The first image just shows the crowd and pool mainly. The other three you can see tricks with the porpoises or dolphins, I am not sure which. I have some more images of Marineland that I might clean-up and post later. If anyone wants to share their memories of Marineland from the 1950’s, please be my guest. To think that Seaworld and all of the other parks started from something like this is pretty amazing to me. Now, if all you saw was a dolphin eating fish out of someone’s mouth, you would be very disappointed. Thanks for looking and please check back … I have been busy trying create an inventory of images worked up and ready to post. So I have half a dozen or so posts ready to go, I just have to get around to posting them. Thanks again for looking … Frank
One more thing, I just created a post over on my blog that I would like you to see. You can click on it here . If you find that you have the time and would like to see some interesting photography, just click on the link and it will take you to my personal photo blog. I have included a link there that will take you to the images. Once you find one of my images ( you should not have to go more than a few pages back since today is 18 April. After this date I do not know ). Once you find one of my images, click on it and the same image will open up only larger. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will find the other images that I have upload. I have all of this written and more on my blog if you are interested. I do not know if it does any good or not in getting selected by Getty, but as usual, I will take all the help that I can get. As always, I appreciate all of the views and the comments … Frank
Disneyland …
This is ” Matterhorn Mountain ” in Disneyland and this photo was taken sometime around 1962 or so. Disneyland in California is the only park that has this ride. According to the Disneyland web site, it started out as a hill, but Walt Disney turned it into a 147 foot tall mountain thrill ride, after seeing the original Matterhorn while making a movie there in 1957. The site says that this ride contains the first tubular steel roller coaster ride in the world. There are photos of the mountain on the web site and it still looks today as it did when this photo was made. I have been scanning a good number of negatives and slides that I have run across cleaning up recently, so I will have a lot to post in the next few months. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
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