what's up?

am i right?

1958 cadillac coupe de ville

had this posted on flickr and instagram for a few days, before someone commented that i'd tagged it as a fifty-nine instead of a fifty-eight. i really do appreciate the corrections. makes it easier to search for what you're looking for, when it is correctly identified, especially when you want to see a picture of your own car.

i like the color of the car with the color of those flowery trees back there. i'd drive this, even if it is purple.


hoping to work from home tomorrow. only a few people in the office. was supposed to rain, but i think they've changed their minds and it will rain friday and saturday, but still. traffic will suck in the afternoon, because it just does.

didn't make it

1957 cadillac

thought about going to a show today. really i did. went so far as to get my cameras out, format cards, and clean the sensors.

was literally ready to walk out the back door, when the front doorbell rang. better half's nephew, wife, and year old kid had arrived from northern california. so, nixed that plan. it was already after one anyway, and hot.

i think they plan on going to disneyland tomorrow, so maybe i can get out to the show at legg lake for a while in the morning.

better half took himself to the doctor this morning. they gave him some kind of antibiotic, so he sick for reals. he still managed to walk uptown for breakfast when he got back. ran into a couple of people asking if i was going to the show today, but he had to tell them he had no idea, since i hadn't mentioned anything to him.

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saw this beauty at the sultans' show earlier this month. love those bullet tail lights, though from what i've read, didn't show up until nineteen fifty-nine models.

no style

1954 chevy

this is a telling of a chick problem, so dudes should probably tell themselves, who gives a shit, and move on. enjoy the picture, and get on with your day.

shiny car, sitting on the ground. maybe it'll lay an egg. i'm in a mood.


one of those rare weekends, where there were no shows on my calendar, no work to be at the office for, no shopping to do, and a crap load of pictures waiting to be seen. so i had set up an appointment to lop my hair off, or probably just nip the ends, and color it to a deep red, sort of like the color of this car.

i had only found a new hair stylist after a year of not going, and the previous one ghosted from the profession. true, i don't go very often, but this last one had already switched salons, and kept me updated, so i thought i'd found a good one. even if i had to drive out to brea.

when i called thursday for an appointment today, i thought the phone breaking up was the only issue in understanding what i needed done. set it for noon, so i could sleep in. also because they're in a freakin' small parking lot with a damn coffee drive-thru, so early morning means no parking.

i went a bit early, so i could grab some lunch on the way. not enough time, so i stopped at a subway. bad idea. got there just before a pack of soccer kids showed up. looked like there had already been a food fight there before i arrived. all the tables were fairly dirty, with drips of mustard, mayo, or crinkles of lettuce on the table or seat.

i suppose i should have been more paranoid about the bins of meats looking a little too "sweaty," and cheese looking a little too dali, but i went ahead and ordered. found a relatively clean corner of a four-person table, and took a few bites of the sandwich. they'd overloaded on the mustard, and it squirted out the other end. it hit the table, and not my clothes, so whatevs. realized i wasn't that hungry, at least for a subway sandwich, and randomly wondered why i hadn't just searched for a jersey mike's. i threw the food away, and headed to my appointment.

found a decent parking space in the front corner, the caffeine rush over at the coffee shop. 

entering the salon, the young nymphette at the front desk greeted me and asked how she could help me. "i have an appointment with fiona*." she looked at me blankly, like "wha?" i wondered if her head would whistle if you blew in her ear.

she said, "fiona* was no longer with the salon. what was my phone number, it wasn't in the computer, or they would have called to let me know..." "how long has she been gone," i asked. another stylist came over to see what was going on, and said, "about a week, week and a half, but they had another stylist that could help me."

i asked why, since i had only booked the appointment two days before, the bimbette answering the phone didn't mention it, and also that i had given her my number at the time, so i called b.s. on not having the number in the system.

anyway, they had scheduled me with someone for a haircut. i met her assistant, who seated me in the chair, and brought over the straightjacket, i mean the black gown to keep the mess off your clothes. then the stylist is there, with some high falutin' name that no one can pronounce, and profusely apologizing for the whole mix up, but trying to give me confidence that everyone in the salon were artists.

so, i started to tell her that i usually have fiona* color my hair red, and then i just wanted the ends cut. i never decide to chop it short or keep it long until i'm actually in the chair. depends entirely on my mood at the time. apparently, my subconscious wants to keep it. still curious how long it will get.

my mom has a picture my brother took of me when i was maybe a freshman in college, and he was taking a class in high school. i'm looking over my shoulder, so cliche. it shows how long my hair was then. i'm still about four or five inches short of that now. i digress.

the unpronouncably named stylist, flustered, says they had only booked enough time for a haircut, and they were all busy. almost thought she was going to offer up another stylist for the color, but no, they were all busy. she offered to just do the haircut, and book a color at another time.

reiterating that i don't usually have free time to do this, much less the fact i hate dealing with hair stylists in the first place. i said i preferred to get both done at the same time, and i only wanted a trim, not a cut. asked if she wanted to reschedule several times, and i don't know if she wasn't hearing me or just not paying attention, but i managed to just leave with nothing to show for it, but a bad lunch and a quarter tank of gas less.

so i'm just pissed, but not pissed. my hair is as untamed as it would have been, just not red, which was what i wanted more than the trim. and i need to find another stylist, so it may be a while.

and then my stomach started to rumble in an unwelcome sort of way, so i quickly sped directly home to deal with the aftermath of that sandwich. it all comes out in the end.

*names have been changed to protect the innocent.

best intentions

1951 chevy truck

this is a very bright orange truck. brighter than a del taco sign. whack you in the face with a wet squirrel to wake you up bright. i think my head would explode looking at that color every day bright.

fortunately, the overcast dulled it down a bit. my head didn't explode, and my eyes didn't bleed.

clean and shiny, it's a perfectly fine chevy truck. that color tho...


i had intentions this weekend. intended to go to the front street show in norwalk, which is not too far away, and to which i've never been. X.

failing that, intended to go to the latin gents show in cypress. X.

intended to be at the pomona swap meet gates at five this morning. X.

my better half says sometimes you gotta listen to your body, and my body said, umm, no. not today.

yesterday, woke up late, felt yech all day, slightly off, moreso than normal. i was exhausted by about four in the afternoon, and lay down for a quick snooze. quick snooze lasted about four hours.

better half wanted to go to pomona this morning too, but his one caveat was that we wouldn't set the alarm. he's being overly protective, but i let him without fuss this time. if i was up, we'd go. shouldn't be difficult, since we get up so damn early on workdays, right? neither of us woke up until almost eight this morning, so, not going to make it. supposed to be over one-hundred out there today.

so, didn't shoot a thing this weekend. haven't looked at my pictures for most of the week. better half has stuff he has to get done around the house. his niece and family visiting for the weekend, a belated birthday suprise for gramma. gramma's worn out, and still sleeping at ten in the morning; they took their one-year old to disneyland for a few hours, so its quiet now.

i'll get a few pictures spit shined today, ready to post for the week. not going to be fun this week at all. work and other stuff.

road trip coming up that i gotta plan out, going to washington state to visit my daughter, taking a truck full of her crap to her, again. really hoping the rental place doesn't give me a big ass diesel truck instead of the smaller one i've reserved. i got the strangest looks from people when they saw me driving a big moving truck last time i rented one to move stuff from my home to storage unit and to whittier. it's kinda scary, but you just gotta step on the gas, and not think about it.

also our anniversary trip coming up quick...we used have that planned out six months ahead, now its been getting booked a few weeks before for the last couple of years. never seems to be enough time to think about where to go, yet i seem to have plenty of time to waste, mostly sitting on freeways, to and from work thinking random thoughts about what to write about here, only to forget because i couldn't write them down while driving, and siri is a bitch and won't wake up to take note.

one of those days

1952 chevy deluxe

sleeping in sounded real good this morning. really thought about it. for five minutes. then got up and got ready to head over to signal hill.

smeared sunscreen all over my face and arms, expecting the blazing sun that just seeks out my pasty white skin, or rather already sun-damaged skin. sunscreen makes me look more ghostly, or ghastly, especially later when i start to sweat it off.

stuck my phone in my back pocket, grabbed my camera bag, and a bottle of water. brought my pinstriped hat too, just in case. parked all the gear by the back door.

thought i'd take one more pit stop before heading out, since i never know what facilities will be available at the shows. so i go to drop trou and hear a plop...i hadn't even sat down yet...shit shit shit...the phone...in the back pocket. totally forgot about it. fortunately, i hadn't done anything yet, and blocked the fact that i was reaching into the toilet, and went after the phone. ewwww.

so, a couple of seconds in the drink, and the phone still worked. or at least i thought it did. actually, everything except the sound, that is. negates the whole point of a phone.

siri never liked me anyway. but the bitch wouldn't read me the directions anymore, so i had to write the directions down and/or keep peeking at the screen.

and i was going to stop for a donut on the way, but i left so early, the shop i would have stopped at wasn't even open.

apart from those little tragedies, the rest of the morning was perfect. got my favorite parking spot for this show, was there before the sun came up, and it stayed overcast and cool until i left at ten. seriously, the sun started coming out as i drove away.

the sultans are all very friendly and organized. and for a change, one of my better half's fans chatted with me several times, not quite gushing, but extremely pleased, about a print he had been gifted a few years ago. it is a very nice shot of the guy's car. i was there the night he shot it. but my better half wasn't there, had stuff he needed to get done, and perhaps get called in to work, so i've passed his regards and happiness on to my better half.

it's a good show, a good variety of cars, plenty of chevys. it's good to see some different cars once in a while.

oh, and their, ahem, facilties, were the taj mahal of porta potties, really a portable building. oh so refreshingly cold from the air conditioning. it was warm outside, and to open that door to the frigid air, was divine. and three separate stalls inside, and sinks with the automatic faucets...so fancy.

hoping my phone will dry out by morning, or i'll be making a stop at the apple store tomorrow.


this car belongs to one of the sultans. when i got there so early, member cars were the only cars there. and this one was clean. and beautiful. i wouldn't mind a car like this. my hair is an unruly mess anyways, so a convertible would be nice.


happy eighty-ninth birthday to my mother-in-law. let's have cake!

end of the road

back to reality. technically, i'm still on vacation until monday. should be a shock to the system, after being out of the office for two weeks. and the other designers will be off, leaving me there to fend for myself...back into the frying pan, as if i'd never left. really hate taking time off, just because it sucks so bad going back.


figured this was a fitting car to post, being as it has the story of a roadtrip, down route sixty-six down both sides. this is really a lot to look at on one car, but very skillfully and playfully done.

if you squint your eyes and see past the paint, the car is really in good condition.

my favorite part is the shark faces painted on the front bullets.

p.s. — merry xmas, or whatever you may or may not celebrate on tomorrow's over commercialized holiday.

bloody mary

see this car often, and it's owner, howard gribble, too. he's locally famous in southern california and the lowrider community. i follow him on flickr. and though all this is true, i've never been officially introduced. i have often walked past him, and never say a thing. perhaps we're both just shy, at least i am. only on rare occasions do i break out of that shell and go over and say hello.

jae bueno was one i said a tentative hello to, and he was the nicest guy in the world. apparently, he spoke to my better half, frequently, usually while they watched me fiddling around with my camera. he was delightful and gracious, and i was socially akward, as usual.

on this morning, in san pedro, in the dim morning light, before many people had come into the park, i saw howard coming around the bend in back of the lighthouse. he never looks happy, looks sort of pissed. i'm guessing that must be what i look like, at least according to my better half.

anyway, i did not divert my path, and walked toward him, as i was going round to the front of the lighthouse, and quietly said hello. and unless i imagined it, i heard a gruff "hi" from him. and that was it.

celebrate those little personal triumphs. sure it wasn't much, but it's hard for me to get out of my shell, or my head. it does get easier each time, whether you can hear me or not.

btw, the rearview of the car was from the sultan's signal hill show. just saying, i see it a lot, different places. nuff said.

baggage

i've been busy all day. walked uptown for an hour or so at lunch...shopping for a graduation gift. really difficult when you don't know what someone likes or needs, or what is appropriate for the occasion. me, i like toys—monsters, aliens, weird stuff. don't think that would work for this girl.

still need to pack my bag for the trip. haven't decided when to leave. so i've been sitting here playing with my pictures. was trying to find a specific car, a black bel air. looked through the last few years of pictures. i think i have it, but no doubt i've labeled it wrong. probably on a hard drive i don't have here, a backup drive at a different location. oh well. this merc will have to do.

chopped and differently stylized flames than i usually see on cars. it was sitting at the edge of the park, stopping traffic. even got a crazy guy from a passing bus to get out before his real stop, to come over and make loud exclamations. i think the general thinking was that he might have been on something, but maybe he's just overly enthusiastic.

kudos to the pinstriper/airbrusher. somebody named vandemon, at least that's how they signed the back end.

and check out al the louvres. that looks difficult to do, without effing it up. also had hubcaps with cadillac emblems on it, and a desoto grille. guy sitting next to it, who seemed to know the owner, said just because they were cool.

glory days

i was shooting the woodie next to this impala, early in the day. the impala's owner was still polishing the car, so, when i turned to consider his car, i just walked by, and said i'd come back when he was done.

spent another hour or so, walking around the now crowded park, and had circled back toward the side closest to where i parked my car. i think i was shooting the back end of a '59 buick, when the guy found me, and smiling, said, "i'm done with the car."

i said i would, so i did soon enough. took a few angles; liked this one best. some other guy walked up and got in the passenger side...i hope he was friends with the owner.

another guy came over to ask if i'd shot his car, and pointed out into the fray, talking loudly, but i couldn't quite make out for sure which car he meant. the impala was parked near the stage, and the band was playing loudly. i didn't give him a card, so how would he see the picture anyway? i probably shot it, if the hood was down, and i liked the location. i think it was a packard he was talking about...i shot one...not sure if it was his.

sat down in the shade right in front of the group for a bit to watch old guys rocking. i think they said they were there every year. they played ok; and i took a few shots from where i sat. maybe i'll add a couple of them here.

time to get back to the office...

special

life is speeding up lately. yes, i know i missed the gatos show yesterday. rare day that my better half could get a few hours out of the house, and he wanted to go to the fair to see my pictures hanging on the wall. matter of priorities sometimes.

we had fun, almost like a date. spent a lot of time talking about nothing and everything. walked through the buildings of schlocky stuff for sale, looked at the crafts, watched the mariachi and pacific islanders dance shows. weather was mostly good, so we stayed later than we had intended. his mom was fine—he called her twice—and told him to stop worrying and enjoy the time out.

next, going to speed through the week at work, even when a work week feels like it drags on forever. next weekend, a college graduation to attend, followed by a drive out to vegas. whittier car show coming up when i get back, then something else i can't even remember right now, then pick up the pictures from the fair... blah blah blah. stop thinking about things, and just do them. life happens. just one big check list...

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went to the sultans show this morning. perfect weather for pictures, got my favorite parking space, very close by. got there about six-thirty, and there were some cars, stuff rolling in. watched yet another ballet of parking the cars. it's a sort of choreography between the club members on what cars should go where. some are more organized, with walkie talkies, others just yell across the field, over the revving engines.

park isn't huge, so these guys just yell. but they do pack them in well. the park was filled, except for fire lanes. i made the outer circuit to start with, to stay out of the way of the moving cars, and to keep them out of my shots.

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starting with this car. belongs to a retired gentleman, who i think said he'd owned it for thirty-eight years. i've seen it around before, shot it before, but had never talked to the owner. i liked the paint combination, and the back windows are kind of different. the hood had been up, so i had decided to just shoot the back end. he offered to close the hood, so i offered to take a picture or two. so here's a few shots for him.

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briefly considered going to mariachi plaza, and decided i didn't have the energy. looking forward to seeing everyone else's pictures of all the cars i wished i'd been there to shoot.