Posts Tagged ‘Out West’
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.
Out West With The Hardy Family …
I have posted some of these type images earlier, so when I ran across this one I thought that I would throw it up. The next image is one with my mother, me and a friend who’s family traveled out to Denver with us. I am the littlest ” paleface ” in the photo. I wish that I could say that I remember this event in my life and have something to share with you, but I was too young. Here we are …
I am not really sure where these were taken, but I would guess New Mexico. Thanks for looking and I have been busy with other things this month and have neglected my blogs. But I have been working on posts for this blog and my photography blog, so do not dessert me. Thanks for looking and please check back. If anyone has a clue where these photos were taken, please let us hear from you …
Indian Dance …
Here is one more of the Indian dancers that I had posted sometime earlier. I ran across these negatives in a jewelery box of my mother’s and what they were doing in there I have no clue. I like the out of focus / movement that this image has … I just wish I knew something about the Indians – tribe, location, etc… – maybe someone will see something that they recognize and share it with us. I have been scanning these full-framed and have not bothered cropping it out, so I hope that does not bother or confuse you. Thanks for looking and please check back …Frank
Old Faithful …
Here is Old Faithful Geyser out in Yellowstone National Park. This was taken around 1957 and I am pretty sure that it looks the same today as it did 68 years ago when this image was taken. Here is a link to the Wikipedia site and it also shows some current images of the geyser and they look just like this. I would have imagined that the Park Service would have put some benches or seats somewhere around the area, but apparently they have not. I guess there is only so much you can do with a hole in the ground … sort of like Carlsbad Caverns. Just another hole in the ground, seen one your seen them all. The high light to me at Carlsbad is when all of the bats come screaming out of the opening … if you are not fore-warned, the noise that they make flying out is terrifying … imagine an Alfred Hitchcock movie, but real!! I have some other posts ready and one is long with a lot of photos – the fire on 12th Avenue back in 1975 when the block burnt down. That is all for now … thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
1940’s Street Scene …
I did not know what to call this photo since I did not know where this street scene is located. The thing that attracted me was all of the old cars on the street … it looks like a movie set to me. I do not know the date, but I would guess that it might be in the 1940’s just from looking at the cars . It could be some street out in California because of the palm trees lining the road. If anyone has any idea where this could be, let us hear from you … Thanks for looking … Frank
Yogi Begging For Food …
Yes, ladies and gentlemen … that is a bear ( it could be Yogi or maybe BooBoo ) stopping this car and is begging for food. This was back in the 1940’s when bears were nice and friendly and you were not scared of a bear ripping your arm out it’s socket or attacking you for no apparent reason. Why, I bet this bear would even let you rub his head and the worst thing that could happen would be him slobbering on you or giving you a big old bear kiss. I long for the good old days … how about you? I imagine that this was out in Yellowstone National Park or maybe Yosemite Park. Let me hear you bear stories … I know that some of you out there have had to run across a friendly bear or two in your travels. Thanks for looking and that is all for now … Frank
Another Re-Worked Photo From The Past …
One more old Kodachrome image that I had scanned and put an over-lay texture over the image to give it more of an aged effect. I also like the texture that is created on the image, but some of this is lost when I re-size and reduce an image for the web. I wrote a post on my blog earlier today reminding my few readers that I also have this blog and to come over and check out the work that I have posted. I get ten times as many viewers on this blog as I do on my personal blog, but I just wanted to make my viewers aware of all that I have posted on this site. I have several things that I am working on for this site and one is adding a textured over-lay to some of the images that I thought might benefit from it. The other I will share with you later when I get some images completed.
The next two things are a couple of web sites that I recently just ran across … the first shows you a list of old images and the background is Google Maps and you over-lay the image over it. Here is a link to the site. Type in ” Pensacola Florida ” and go to downtown Pensacola, find the corner of Palafox and Main Street where the new Artisan Apartment building is being built and find the old photo of Pensacola Restaurant Supply and lay it over the corner to see what it looked like back in the 1970’s … pretty neat effect if you ask me. There is a list of of old buildings that you can do this to. I uploaded one of my old Sacred Heart Hospital image with the nuns out front, but it said that there was no Google street-level view for the block between DeSoto and Brainerd Streets, which I knew was wrong. Maybe I did something wrong, but go check it out. The other site is The Florida Past project and a link is here. I have not gone all through it but what little I did see was interesting. Contact me with any comments or questions and let me hear from you … Thanks for looking … Frank
PS – I title all of my images, for what it is worth, and the one above is ” Road To No Where ” or maybe it is ” Lonesome Road To No Where ” or it could be ” On The Road With The Drifting Cowboys “. Take your pick … not a car or a person in site. How many of you can remember that canvas water bag that traveler’s used to hang off of their radiator for when your car over-heated in the desert? And how about driving across the desert at night since it was too hot during the day? I can remember sitting in the back seat of this old Buick by myself with the window rolled down, staring out the window looking out at the stars when all of a sudden a UFO comes flying by … I can see them like it was yesterday … at least I thought it was a UFO and I was too young back then to even know what a UFO was back then. More on that later … Thanks for stopping by …
Out West on The Reservation …
No clue where out West or what reservation that these Indians are on. I am not sure of the year either, but I know that it is around 1958 or so. I have several other negatives from this trip that I will find and see if they might give me a clue. I have scanned a lot of negatives and transparencies recently, so that I have a good number of images to work up for this blog and for my personal blog. Thanks again for looking and please check back … Frank
Old Motel Room …
I know nothing about this motel room … have no clue where it was located or when it was taken or for what reason the photo was taken. If I had to guess, I would say the early 1950’s, maybe out west somewhere …. other than that, no clue. I think when I look at an image like this, the first thing that jumps out at me is the window unit … I bet a lot of motels did not have window units back in the early 1950’s and then look at the furniture and also how small the room looks to be. Occasionally I might think about a story to go along with these images and doing something about tying a few of them together somehow, but as you can tell from this blog I am not a writer, so I file that back in the vault somewhere. Thanks for looking and if you have comments, please let me hear them … Frank
Out West … Again …
I have been going through old 120 film strips that my father shot out west somewhere. I do not have a clue where they were made ( as usual ) , but they are still interesting to me. These were made way before the interstate system was started and you took two lane roads through small towns, deserts, whatever. Back then you used to see and experience America, however it was slower. Now, everyone is in a hurry to get to their destination and all of these places are just areas on a map.
Here is a ferry somewhere out West … who knows, this could be the Mississippi River, but I sort of doubt it.
Two lane black-top was all you had for the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s until the interstate was built. No wonder it would take you almost two weeks to get across America from Jacksonville to Los Angeles. That is all I have for these images. Let me hear what you think … thanks for looking, Frank
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
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