what's up?

under the bridge

1959 chevrolet impala

one of the joys of arriving way too early to a show, is the line-up or staging area for the cars. when there are no reserved spots involved, or they are there to claim areas for their club members, being first in line has its advantages.

there are always cars in the street that leads to the entrance onto the grass at chicano park. they let vendors in way earlier than anyone else. so cars are parked, and owners are out socializing or sleeping in the car. often kids are bouncing around inside the car, parents keeping an eye on them from nearby.

i think there were some young girls in this one, but i'm low enough you can't see them, unless they were right in or hanging out of the windows.

my better half spoke to the owner, said i'd be more likely to post a picture of it in this decade than he would, though i think he has actually posted a couple of shots in the last couple of months. quite the increase of one a year for the last few. he's been a bit busy taking care of his mom, but she's been a lot healthier, so he has relaxed a bit more. he's been going to more shows with me, experimenting with his various lenses and camera setups. more fun than just being my bag boy, i hope.

may day, may day

posting this truck for the owner, who came over and talked with me. seeing the plaque on the truck, i asked if he ever goes to the show at san fernando high school. he said his club hosts it, so yeah, i guess he does.

he drove a long way to be in this show. i think it was worth it. so many great cars. perfect day; only reason we left was that so many people arrived to see the cars, they were just getting in the shots, and we were afraid they'd trip on the tripod legs or knock the camera over.

i guess we could have just walked around and shot hand-held with the macro lens, just hunting down hood ornaments. i took sixty-three gigabytes of pictures, so, i have enough to keep me happy for a while. better half had already packed up his bag, and though he said he was happy to follow me around with the bags, i decided we should just go.

fetal

1951 chevy truck

found this truck tucked up under one of the supports leading to the bridge to coronado, at least i think it is. had just finished taking a picture of a fifty-nine impala, turned, and decided to take this one too. just liked where it was, and the surrounding mural and lines of the overpass.

posting only because when i was done, the owner thanked me and that was all. maybe he already knew who i was, maybe not. and i've forgotten what club it was with, so i can't even give a shout out to them either.

hopefully someone will mention the picture is up here to him...they always seem to find them online eventually.

so many more pictures from that day, i am having a difficult time deciding which to post. better half shakes his head, saying something to the effect of it being a tough position to be in.

might as well begin with the few for those people that spoke to me, as usual. then fret that another show is coming right up, and there will be a whole bunch more to sift through. oh well.

overcast here, typing at lunch, in the corner of a little café, quietly trying to become invisible. i hope it rains. i'm just in a mood for it... i want to splash barefoot in puddles like i used to, squish mud between my toes; i want to hide under the covers, and listen to it pattering on the roof.

training

chevy

on the train, heading home from a weekend in san diego. chicano park was awesome this year. i took so many pictures.

even went to a baseball game.

there's a guy from klique riverside on the train too. wearing his shirt, representin'.

someone from klique sd sold my kid a car a few weeks ago. coincidence. that guy showed my kid other cars he was working on, but my kid isn't familiar with the classic cars, so he just mentioned that his mom would be all about it. i had to smile, and agree that their cars are pretty nice.

but i'm not home yet, so those. shots will have to wait. summer coming up, shows to go to, and i fall behind on posting stuff i promised to post. so when i get home, i can be good, and get back to those from the last show, or should i give in to the fun of a new batch of pictures to play with?

and only have this one ready for now. from legg lake, quick pic before the rain started and we bailed. better half got a better shot of the car, if i remember right. it was the first car he shot when we got there.

rocking the 'patina.' shooting the hood from this angle, usually because the surrounding cars have their hoods up, and/or the background is distracting. in this case, it was because the aged crustiness of this car is just so fun to look at.

another hour to go, then let the downloading begin. :)

not a rainy day

1939 chevy master deluxe

at my mom's tonight, after a long day. was so tired when i got here, took a three hour nap, and only woke up because the obnoxious house phone rang.

this picture has just been sitting here, waiting in post purgatory; might as well put it up. definitely, not another dramatic sky...

from the new year's day show at the dam, just another fine master deluxe, under a blue, california sky.

probably going to miss pomona this weekend. other plans keeping us busy.

pretty maids...

veteranos car club

another from yesterday. i suspect this isn't all of the club, but my better half talked to the owner of the pontiac, who said the other members had him check the weather outside, being that he lived close to the area, and after reporting that it was half dry and half wet, they decided to just sleep in.

apparently, some other car owner he knows called him very early wondering where he was, being that he was at the show, there was no rain, and plenty of parking.

this parking lot should have been packed, but because of the clouds, it wasn't. seems it was not a problem getting there late, and still possible to park with the group.

so i shot them, without too many people walking through the shot. this one from one point, on my tripod. thinking i should have moved myself a bit vs the pivoting the ball head on the tripod, to avoid this distortion.

but i still kinda like it.

good thing this was a group shot, or i wouldn't have shot that one with the hood up. :) it ruins the shot. :)

spur of the moment

1958 chevy impala

it was going to rain today, so slept in. thought i'd just be sitting around the house today.

when it still wasn't raining at eight-thirty, asked my better half if he wanted to just drive over to legg lake, to see if any cars were there for the boulevardos show. thought it was close enough to home, if there was nothing or if it started raining, we could just go to the mall, or turn around.

better half said they wouldn't be there, since they were going to cruise in from los angeles. he kinda wanted to drive out there and watch, but mostly he just wanted to hang out with me, and i wanted to take pictures.

drove past the lake, and saw no show cars there. got on the freeway, and i said, what the hell, let's just drive out to chino and see if anyone showed up for that show. flyers said rain or shine. we were already half way there anyway.

racing the clouds, and it was slightly sprinkling, we went anyway. even thought about just driving out to cucamonga, checking into a hotel, buying a change of clothes, and kicking back in a jacuzzi. well, they didn't have any of those rooms available, so we skipped that idea. better half was on call for work anyway.

took a different route to the chino show than i usually take, and ended up at the end of the town, near the railroad tracks.

figured, we could just make a quick walk through, if the rain started, we could dash under a roof, or cover the camera with a plastic bag until we could find somewhere to pack everything back in the camera bag.

i'd been before, and it's usually very hot, and very busy and crowded. lots of cars, up and down the streets, on the lawn in front of city hall, and through side lots. cars can cruise along the street route.

well, the rain did scare a lot of cars away. but there were still a lot of cars i like to shoot anyway. better half didn't seem to see anything he wanted to shoot, until we came to a mostly empty lot, with some of the veteranos cars in it. he took some pictures, and set up a time lapse, to catch the movement of the clouds. actually, turned out really interesting, and he's having fun editing it. maybe he'll post it for a change.

while he shot that video, i quickly went and walked the rest of the show. 

found this impala near the city hall. thought it looked pretty awesome with the clouds overhead. turned around pretty quickly, to head back to fetch my better half. the rain was coming. this car and the one on far side of it drove away soon after.

made it back to my car, just as sprinkles started to fall...

long way to go

1940 mercury

i've seen this car before. probably at chicano park.

i was chatting with a car owner when i spied this car drive by at the end of the lane. he off-handedly mentioned that the merc owner had driven up to city of industry from san diego. that'd be about a three hour drive on a good day. but on a friday, it must have been hellish.

gave me more hope that this frisco's show was worth the effort to get here. having the previous show shut down before it had barely got off the ground, definitely was a good sign.

but what if this guy drove all the way the eff up here, just to have to leave?

i guess it was a gamble he was willing to make. i did not hear that the authorities shut it down after we left, so he lucked out.

i bet he has plenty of friends to hang out with as a back up anyway. nice car, no problem meeting people, i suppose.

rained a bit today. predictions put it at eighty percent chance of rain all day saturday and sunday, so i guess my weekend outings are off. shows may be on, rain or shine, but my lenses don't like rain that much. maybe i'll actually pack up my camera that crapped out on me last summer, and send it in for repair. does me no good as a paperweight.

oh, that shine

1959 chevrolet impala

always see people obsessively polishing their cars at shows. almost as soon as they park, they have a towel and bottle of liquid wax in hand. get the dust from the drive there off, i guess.

rub it and rub it, ahhhhwwww...

this car was already parked when i found it. middle of an aisle, gave up waiting for a space. didn't see the polishing. you'd think at a nighttime car show, there would be no reason, right? honestly, he probably didn't, and it is just several layers of clear coat, but damn, could almost imagine seeing other worlds in that paint.

i love these impalas, with their curves, and i was hopeful that the camera would be able to capture what i saw. i think this is pretty close. and i'm completely suprised that there weren't more cars and/or people moving as blurs through the exposure.

©2026 kathy gonzalez