It's Girly Time

Ali and Lynne.

 It's not very often that I have the chance to get together with my girlfriends. Most of my time is spent at home with our three male dogs, one male cat, my husband and son. The other girl in the house besides me is my 16 year old kitty (Lucy) who sleeps in my closet most of the time. Needless to say, I LOVE spending time with my girlfriends. It brings me back to myself and reminds me how much I LOVE being a girl.

This time we got together for the day and did a little vintage shopping at one of our favorite places, Ahab Bowen Vintage, in Dallas. Having first discovered this place in the 80's, I was sweetly surprised that it is still the same - no, it's better! Reasonably priced, clean, and fun: that's how I would describe their collection of vintage clothing, shoes and accessories. My favorite room is in the back - the men's section. Hats, coats, suits, ties and shoes! I never walk away without a treasure or two.  This time I walked in with some treasures:  Lynne, Ali and Nikki.  Love love LOVE those girls!!

Every girl needs something sparkley.



I want them aaallll!



One fantastic pair after another!



Different discounts for different tag colors = FUN!

 

The perfect hat for Ali.



Hello!

I'm so happy they are still around!

Sweet Rosie

Last week I needed to take a trip to Dallas to deliver a couple of my prints, and I had some time to tool around my hometown, alone, with my camera.  The first place I stopped off was the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority garage.  Before I actually got into the garage, I ran into this sweet little lady.

This is Rosie. She's 100 years old!

The moment I stepped into this streetcar, I could feel a sense of her, like I
feel when meeting a person for the first time.

I don't know what this does, but it's pretty, isn't it?

All rides are free, but please make a donation so Rosie can stay as beatiful as she is now.

Later, when I finally made it into the garage, I found out that Rosie may love her passengers, but she is a cantakerous old woman.  The head mechanic told me that she has a reputation among the streetcar mechanics of MATA.  "She'll hurt you if you let her," he told me.  I'd be a little fiesty, too, if I were 100 years old!

Find out a little about Rosie's history, here.  And here's a little movie I found of the streetcars that were in operation around Fair Park in Dallas in the 1950's, before the took them all off the road and replaced them with busses.  Legend has it that the day after they took them off the road, a huge blizzard hit Dallas.  Not a single bus could make it out.  That would not have been a problem for these lovely streetcars.  I'm so glad we have them back.



Love at First Sight

1939 Pontiac Coupe

Have you ever fallen in love with an inanimate object?  I can honestly say I have in the past - an old windup clock, a gauzy vintage dress from the 1920's, an antique armoire.  Usually, I fall in love with things I can just barely afford or can somehow scrape cash together to take it home with me.  But this time was different.  This is a 1939 Pontiac Coupe that I spotted at the Good Guys Lone Star Nationals at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth last weekend.   I'd never been to a car show like this one!  There were muscle cars, beautiful old cars from the fifties, bigger than you could ever imagine station wagons, an old school bus and my new favorite - the rat rods.  I swear, by the time I left that place at the end of the day I had a "happy headache".  And I had an ache in my heart because I had to walk away from this beauty.



Love the cracks in the steering wheel.



Isn't this hood ornament perfection?



You can see the famed Silver Streak in this shot.



Love the simplicity in the design here.

The sign on the car read:

1939 Pontiac Coupe

Barn Find, Always Garaged

6 Cylinder

Original Motor, Doesn't Run

$6,500.00

Donald Greer

(817) 228-1411

Gosh, if I just had a spare $6,500 stashed somewhere.....  And a friend who is a mechanic....  And the extra cash it would take to get it to run....   Yeah, that would be awesome!  I can see myself driving this lovely machine.

Here's a little history about Pontiac from Edmund's:

Pontiac originated as the Oakland Car Company of Pontiac, Michigan, in 1907; it was founded by Edward Murphy. Acquired by General Motors in 1909, Oakland introduced the first Pontiac vehicle in 1926. Dubbed the "Chief of the Sixes," the car was powered by a six-cylinder engine and made its debut at that year's New York auto show. It was so successful that the Oakland name was phased out in favor of Pontiac, the name of an 18th-century chief of the Ottawa Indians. Throughout the 1930s and '40s Pontiac made coupes, sedans and wagons in the low-to-mid price ranges. A unique styling cue of Pontiac cars from the mid-'30s to the mid-'50s was known as "Silver Streak," a set of art-deco-inspired chrome "speed lines" that ran up over the length of the hood to the base of the windshield.

Well, a girl can dream, right?  I mean, that's where it all begins in a dream.

Things I Love Thursday

This week I thought I would share some vintage snaps I found at the Cattle Barn Flea Market in Fort Worth last weekend.  Because I do love me some vintage snaps.

I give up.  Who?

Isn't he sweet?  What a cool harness, too.

Cracks me up on so many levels!

Magic.

I first saw the photo with the bird a few months ago and came across it again so I couldn't resist it this time.  It's now one of my favorites.

Speaking of vintage snaps, I was contacted today by The National Building Museum for permission to use two of my father's snapshots from the 1939 World's Fair in New York City for and exhibition entitled "Designing Tomorrow: America’s World’s Fairs of the 1930s" which runs from October 2, 2010 through July 10, 2011.  He would have LOVED that!  Go here to get more info the exhibit.  To see the photos, go here and here.

Until tomorrow.....

Vintage Car Viewfinder Love

Hello!  I'm baaaaacckkk!  It was a very relaxing no-tech break.  While I was gone, I went to California (didja get the hint?), school started up again and I'm just about finished with the book I'm designing with my husband and his friend.  More about all of that later.

But, first I wanted to ask you a question:  What do you get when you cross a vintage Argus 75 with a classic car show?   Tadaaaaa:

Fin

Headlight

Whitewall

These are available for purchase in my Etsy shop.  Stay tuned for vacation photos......

Goin' Junkin'

So this past Sunday was supposed to be one of the hottest days here, thus far (103!).  What do we decide to do? Go to the Flea Market at the Cattle Barn in Fort Worth, of course!  There's no air conditioning!  That's how much my husband, son and I LOVE goin' junkin', as my mother used to call it.

Still, we were not prepared for just how HOT it was inside - even though they did have giant fans blowing.  We only stayed 30 minutes and I didn't buy anything this time.  I just wondered around with my camera so I could share this with you.  I usually give my son $5 and he goes wild!  On this day he managed to buy two action figures.  He even haggled someone down from $3 to $2!!  That's my boy.

It was a little skimpy.  Who could blame anyone for not showing up. 

Vintage jars.

I just know there's something in here I need.  Oh Yeah!  Fake chicken leg!!

Vintage 1930's cast iron toy car.

Violin.

All original vintage 1930's car with matching trailer.  LOVE!!  If I had the $600.00 cash in my pocket, I would have walked out with this thing.  I really SHOULD carry more cash!

She's looking over at my favorite room.  The room with the only air conditioner FULL of vintage snapshots.  I've posted many of my finds here.

8 mm Shenanegans

A couple weeks ago I happened upon an Estate Sale.  I wandered around the house and found nothing until I reached the cabinet below the bookshelves in the den.  And what did I find?  An 8 mm camera!  It's very cool looking so I decided to take it home with me.  I was just about to leave when a big metal box caught my eye (I kind of like old metal boxes because there's always something good inside - even if it's just "junk").  It was SO heavy.  So I opened it and BOOM a projector.  Beside it were three cans of film.  Beside that Quick Splice moving makers kit!  And beside THAT, an old coffee can full of, my guess, unused film.   And what did I find in the coat closet?  A SCREEN!  It was all priced WAY cheap, so I loaded up my arms and schlepped the whole thing to the cashier to be told my grand total was 40 bucks. Yay!

As soon as I got home I plugged in the projector and watched two of the reels.  They're from the late fifties, early sixties and most of the shots are of a couple and their little dog.  I got out my camera and shot a few pics of the film.  I love the quality of the film and the vintage look SO much.  The image above is cropped and I've added several layers to the image in Photoshop.  Below is just a pic without any fiddling with.

I can't wait to go through all of the films and make something.  Even if I just use these as layers for other things, I'm still SO excited about it.  All this inspiration and excitement for a mere 40 bucks!

Vintage Car Emblem Collages

They're finished and listed for sale in my shop!  I had them printed today at 12" x 12" each.  SO cool!  When You put all four together, they're really something!  Here they are.  Just click on the title to go to the listing:

The LTD

The Cougar

The Riviera

The Futura

I still can't believe I had all these!  Have a wonderful weekend! 

Vintage Airplane Love

Today I stumbled upon some photos I had taken back in March of last year at a wonderful place that my husband told me about. I remember that day because my son was beyond excited to see all the old planes, helecopters and boats outside. And of course, his mommy was excited about all the beautiful vintage cars stored inside the museum (no, I didn't get any good photos due to the - ehem - "bad lighting".

Well, imagine how disappointed I was to learn that the The Pate Museum of Transportation has been closed and dismantled. For some unknown reason, after the owner passed away, his heirs were not interested in keeping the museum open. I'm just glad I got to take my son atleast once. I wonder what happened to all those old cars......

To learn more about the closing of the Pate Museum of Transportation, go here.

New Toy

This weekend I found a cute little addition to my little camera collection. I found this Argus Autronic I with a flash, light meter and instruction book for 20 bucks at an estate sale. The shutter seems to work well and the lens looks nice. It may or may not have been a good deal, but I don't care. I plan on buying film for it and will share what happens with you. Isn't that light meter cool? I just want to carry it around in my pocket and fiddle with it. So cool.

By the way, this is the same kind of camera that Phillip Willis used to take photos of John F. Kennedy in Dallas when he was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Phillip Willis, in case you didn't know, swore to his death that the shots that killed President Kennedy did NOT come from the Texas School Book Depository. For some interesting facts on Phillip Willis and his place in history, go here and here.

For a good laugh, there's a photo of me as an extra in Oliver Stone's "JFK" here, where I spent lots of time standing by the Texas School Book Depository talking to many conspiracy theorists.

For the record, my birthday happens to be on November 22nd so I get to hear about the assassination every year. It's like me and this little Argus were meant to be together.

More Vintage Horse Love

Another vintage Breyer model horse I found at the Cattle Barns Flea Market in Fort Worth. Isn't he beautiful? Of course, right after I took this photo, I dropped him off a balcony and broke off one of his back legs. HA!

If you happen to go to the Cattle Barns, stop by Valerie Arnett's booth. She's at the south end of the building. In her booth you'll find vintage clothes, photographs, books and tons of jewelry. If you can't get there, check out her website. She has some pretty cool stuff listed and she also holds Estate Sales. Fun!

Vintage Horse Love

As a child, I had favorite book that will forever be etched in my memory: Album of Horses by Marguerite Henry. It was filled with winsome paintings by the illustrator, Wesley Dennis. I spent hours poring over that book and even more hours on the floor in the sanctuary of my bedroom with typing paper and a No. 2 pencil attempting to draw each horse featured in the book. I loved that book.

So when I found a few vintage Breyer horses at a flea market a couple of weeks ago, I knew just what I wanted to do with them: PLAY. And that's what I've been doing.

This is the beginning of a series of photographs inspired by my favorite book, Album of Horses. Stay tuned for more. If you'd like to see more of this horse, please check out my Flickr. I've named her Honey.

Vintage Photography Book Find

Lookie what I found!! Published in 1972, packed with beautiful photographs from that time AND a special section devoted to One-Step Photography. Specifically, my love: the Polaroid SX 70.

Below is a statement by a wonderful man, Edwin H. Land, that I just had to share. (Click on it to see it larger so you can read it, silly!)

And here are the diagrams from the book that illustrate exactly how this wonderful camera works. (Click on the diagram to view larger.)

Brilliant, huh?!