on the way home

i won't bore you with vacation pics. good to be home. not looking forward to monday. i've enjoyed a week of sleeping in and not looking forward to waking up at 4 am again.

i did find a car show on our trip, but it kinda sucked donkey balls, so i don't feel like posting any pics yet. there were a few cars to salvage the show, i would otherwise not bother with. there was another show i thought about going to, but it got rained out in the middle of the week, and then on the way home, i decided not to stop at another between there and here. 

ahh, but we did stop briefly at the garden grove elks lodge show, for a shot of the latin gents chevy goodness. parking was hard to come by, as there was another event going on at the lodge. always warmly welcomed by ernie and his wife, we set about taking some shots.

it is difficult to choose which of their cars to show. my better half seemed to really like this one. hard to argue with that. the paint job is great, with a shine to die for. 

true, there were other cars at the show. but i do like to start with my favs.

ernie said he's now not only running their monthly show, but will be in charge of the annual show next august, so there's that to look forward to on the calendar. and we did enjoy the musical selection he was spinning for this show too.

on my own today

got the weekend off from the dog, to give my lame foot a break from all the walking, er, being pulled around by the dog. my better half is back at home with a fever, so i pretty much just stayed here in my condo alone. enjoying the quiet.

slept in late, then went to a car show at the garden grove elks club, which i hadn't been to in a couple of years. ernie told me he'd been asked to run it, and he mentioned it to me, so since i had the time, thought i'd check it out.

wasn't as busy as i remembered it being, but there was still some stuff to shoot. a bunch of latin gents were there, so their cars are always worth shooting. spent about an hour there, before i overheated. of course, as i packed up and got in the car, another nice car drove in. briefly had an inner arguement about getting the stuff back out to shoot it or just waiting for some other time. ya, i left. it was another latin gents car, so i'll see it again.

spent the rest of the day cleaning, doing laundry and made some cookies. stuff that is more difficult to get done with the dog around. hoping to go to the fair tomorrow to see my pictures hanging on the wall. trying to talk my bro into going, otherwise, i'll just go by myself, early before it gets too hot. then back to pick up the puppy.

feeling super

i'd hoped for a more interesting sunset when i stopped at the elks' lodge last week. had also hoped for more cars like the previous time. lot was only half full by the time i got there, even with friday traffic, so i didn't stay very long. of course, about the time i was done and heading to my car, the viejitos began to arrive. that's ok, i'd shot the couple that drove in here previously, and didn't feel like walking back to shoot them this night.

as usual, a lot of cars had their hoods up, so natural selection was already thinning the herd for me...

thought this buick was kinda nice, with its xmas color paint scheme. really good condition too. big chrome bumpers do tend to catch my reflection, which isn't my favorite part of shooting cars, but i hope my pictures reflect well on me...

miss the light? uhh, no.

i went to a couple of shows on friday, which i have not been to in at least a year. because frankly, they were sucking donkey balls. i'll give a show a couple of trys before i decide it ain't worth the drive for either the number or variety of cars, or else just the people and/or vibe. and with the price of gas spiking thirty cents in a day, i guess i should get more picky.

on fridays, there are at least three shows i used to hit up when i got started. and all are basically on my way home, so it worked out. the one in garden grove used to be pretty huge for a main street show, until the local businesses, the show organizers and cops squeezed out the bad boys, and then pissed off a lot of the car owners.

that was the first one i stopped at. not much has changed in a year. pretty much the same diehards there. not as many cars as before. the latin gents were there, and i did take time to shoot their cars, because they're pretty sweet. i'll post some of them eventually.

then, for whatever reason, i decided to give the elks club in buena park another shot. i'd been there a couple of times a year ago. where i found quite a few of the deserters from garden grove. i also shared the story, here somewhere, of my parking in one of the grand poobah's spaces, getting told to move it, and how that wasn't very welcoming at the time. that, and the fact that there warnt much there.

forward to yesterday: the lot was packed, lots of hoods down, no one really bothered me, and surprise, surprise, several of the viejitos were parked out in the back along the wall. mind you, i had just spent the previous sunday at their show in fullerton, but i'm always happy to see the cars in new locations, at a different time of day.

ok, it's getting late, almost midnight, so i gotta wrap this up.

i took a bunch of shots of their cars, then went off to take others up by the entrance. as it was getting later, and closer to raffle time, everyone gathers in the middle of the lot. so i went back over to the best cars, as the sun was starting to go down. it was awesome, because, no one was around to get in the shots, and i could pretty much do what i wanted.

there was one old guy (it's an elks lodge after all) who walked slowly by, who remarked on how i was losing the light. i told him, i certainly wasn't, and i was going to be getting my best shots right about now. wonder if he'll see them when i post them.

thinking i should have stayed a bit later, but this will do. and i came thisclose to going to ruby's as well, but i had to eat, and figured they'd be about done when i got there. so now i probably won't make it there until their last show of the season at the end of this month.

this car was/is for sale. i know how to get hold of him, if you're interested.

one little indian boy

i saw this hot rod several times at the pep boys show before they put an end to it. it was always parked too close to other cars and often the owners were all sitting around in front of it, so i never really got a shot i liked of it. i did get an ok shot of the hood ornament once.

found it this time over at the buena park elks lodge. i think the show only started a few weeks ago. i'd never been there, so i pulled into the lot and parked near the entrance in an unmarked spot. there were the typical reserved spots at an elks lodge, like one for "knights" and such.

i got out of my car, opened the trunk and started getting my camera set up. loading batteries and cards, cleaning the lenses. finally pulled my bag and tripod out, closed the trunk and was ready to go.

then from across the lot, one of the grand poobahs asked, "are you an elk?" took all that i had not to come back with a "do i look like an elk?" type answer. i told him no, and then he advised that the parking lot was for elks only, i'd have to move to the street. would help if they'd put up a sign at the driveway. way to roll out the welcome mat, oh holy moly one. might as well have told me to piss off.

so, i heaved all my gear back into my trunk and moved the car. almost considered giving this show the finger, but figured i'd already wasted time and gas finding it, so i might as well take a quick turn around the lot. fortunately, i got there early enough, there was plenty of space right across the street. unfortunately, i got there early enough, there wasn't much to see. kinda disappointing. several cars that used to go to the garden grove main street show, a couple i see at cypress, and only a few i've never seen. one guy i spoke to did say they usually get about 60 or 70 cars. i've heard that before, and i'll believe it when i see it.

i didn't stay long, as i was heading to ruby's halloween show right after.

wtf is an elk anyway, and why would anyone want to be one? do they wear the big hats with horns like fred flinstone and barney rubble? secret handshakes? what's with the silly names for the exulted leaders? guess i'm not old enough to want to be part of that club anyway. i'll stop now before i get into trouble.

mine's bigger

there's just gotta be something about a guy with a big engine. don't think i've ever seen one so errr...tall. i can't believe he drove this to the show...how could he see where he's turning? kinda freudian. probably plays guitar too. i joke when i say that black drive belt is for the squirrel to run on, but that's the way my mind wanders, probably needs at least two of 'em. anyway, i ramble...

i had a busy weekend; one day in riverside, next day in ventura. found this 1934 ford hot rod thing at the corona elks lodge annual show (i can't recall the exact name). not overly huge, but one of the 'elks' did stop by to tell me that their first show only had about 8 cars. this one had filled their lot...about 20–30 maybe, i didn't really count. had never been there before. i'm not sure what people thought of me, no one really bothered to ask. not even the usual question: you with a magazine? that's fine, i get more pictures in a shorter time that way, and that's better on a hot day, like this one.

they had an interesting barbeque made out of or made to look like the front end of a 56/57 chevy. i didn't partake, as i'd already eaten. only stayed for about fifteen minutes, then a short stop in whittier.

and i've just realized that i've now posted over 100 cars here. yippee.

rolling amethyst

i finally got the front of this car.

first saw it at pal joey's show at the santa elks club in march. i shot the back end while my husband did the other side – kind of like a car sandwich. he still wasn't satisfied with his shots, so i continued on to other cars. by the time i came back around for my shot, the owner was in the car and driving away.

and that always has been the case ever since, until last weekend at original mike's. i got there early. the owner was polishing and polishing this 1940 ford coupe. he was still polishing it when i took this shot, but you can't see him from this angle. he stopped long enough to take my card that had the back end shot on it and pocket it.

anyway, its a nice, shiny car. keep polishing...

duke's baby

i've seen this 1950 oldsmobile 88 fastback at several shows now. this was last year at the ruby's in whittier show. the owner (i'm pretty sure his name is duke for some reason) spoke to me briefly at the geezers show at the garden grove elk's club back in march. said he was the original owner, and had bought it brand new back in the day. it looks like it drove off the line today, if you ever get to see it in person. just remarkable condition.

it's funny looking through these images from last year—maybe the second car show i'd ever been to with the camera—to see so many of the cars that i've gotten to be very familiar with in the last couple of months. actually, i think some of those shots that day are better than what i've been getting lately, since it was september, the sun was setting earlier, and there were really cool clouds blowing across the sky that night. i do remember it being so very warm that night, and packing up early.