August 7, 2004

• Small Town America in Lost Angeles

  
  

  
  

  The day has been rather “hot”  here in the L.A. “area” hitting the triple digits. As I write, I am shirtless, wearing my shorts, with an 18″ fan blowing directly in my face. I’m “sipping” on my third Corona and lime, and since it’s finally past 7:30pm, I’m cooling down a bit. Here in the South Bay, I even understand from my housemate, that it was pretty hot down here, but I spent most of the day, until about 4:30pm, driving around taking photographs for my webshots folders with the theme of Small Town America in Lost Angeles.

  
  

  

  
  

  First was Bellflower, where I lived with Pat in the early 90s. Bellflower’s Old Main Street is Bellflower Blvd., and the street lights have bells over the lamps. On the Title Card above, the insert here is the old train station. I wrote the town’s name on the Hosanna building, which used to be the movie theater. There is lots of traffic on Bellflower Blvd, but not lots of activity on the streets, until  they have a Street Festival, when they close down the Blvd. to traffic. My Bellflower photos are online here in the Bellflower Folder on my Webshots Gallery.

  
  

  

  
  

  Prior to traveling north to Glendora, where I lived while in college until Father died, I stopped by Rose Hills Mortuary, where both my parents (pictured above) and my best friend Tom are buried. I hadn’t seen my parent’s graves for about 20 years. The cemetary is about 40 miles from where I live. My dad, who died in 1974, had the better “preserved” gravestone. My mother’s was faded and I couldn’t get a good photo. My dad’s stone has a Bible Verse I picked out. “Come unto Me, All Thee that labour, and art heavy laden, and I will give you rest” My mother’s stone says “She finally got peace and quiet”, a reference to the book she wrote about raising “us kids”, “Just Give Me Peace and Quiet.”  I found Rose Hills to be fascinating. There a many, many, many folks buried there. I was overcome with grief when I saw my friend Tom’s stone, I remembered the complete funeral, which was in 1987, when Tom was 35 years old. He died because of complications arising from falling 20 feet.

  
  

    I am only now transmitting the photos from the Glendora folder online.

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Glendora is the town we moved to after living in El Monte for about 13 or 14 years. I only lived in Glendora from 1971 to 1974, when my father died. The Main Street is Glendora Blvd., which travels north through town up to the base of the foothills. The photos are in the Webshots Gallery in the Glendora folder. After visitng Glendora, I travelled West to Monrovia, which has the best preserved “Old Towne” Main Street. It was pretty busy with lots of visitors to the area shops, even though the weather was in the triple digits up in the foothills. You can get to the Monrovia folder here. I almost got heat prostration, walking up the streets with my camera. I had on shorts and a light shirt over a t-shirt, and I was wearing my hat, but I got a bad headache, and felt a bit lightheaded for a while. It was certainly hot.

  
  

  

  
  

  Today was rather long, but I accomplished much, and what’s really neat is the way I can tweak a couple of the photos, then upload everything online, and post the links like this in my Xanga Blog, all before evening. I call this a very important part of my “electronic experiement in art.” If I can “create” something, like the idea for this photo series, by looking at something, and getting the germ of the idea, then I can concentrate on the idea so that the art comes together. I still have to travel to South Pasadena, and both Santa Ana and Orange, in Orange County. Most of these areas I photograph, are on the Historical Register as Historical Landmarks. Monrovia leads the pack of towns of the one’s I have visited or lived in. I didn’t live in Monrovia, but we battled them on the football field for the CIF title when I was in high school in Rosemead. Monrovia is a mountain town, like Glendora, though, so the backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountain Range, especially since besides being hot, it was un naturally clear today, even up this far in the hills, but the smog was overwhelming. I only “visit” the “northern” towns in SoCal. I will never move from the South Bay, on the ocean, with the requisite breezes. As stated, though, it was pretty hot in the South Bay today, too.

  
  

   

  • 11:17 pm
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