During my lifetime, I’ve spent an awful lot of time in the passenger seats of cars. One of the best things about not driving is that you get to enjoy the scenery; but not being in control of the vehicle means I can’t pull over to the side of the road whenever I see something I like. I’m still working […]
One of the great things about watching Huell Howser was that he always loved listening to the stories of “old-timers” — people whose memories can still bring history alive and remind us that those old forgotten pieces of the past, like an empty field or some sun-bleached wooden boards, once formed an important part of everyday life. This episode of […]
About a month ago I described what you could expect to see from my family slides in the next few weeks: … I’m briefly returning to boxed slides from 1957 — this week to Washington, D.C., and later to Chicago, Iowa, and San Diego, California. Did I say San Diego? Well, the box is labeled “San Diego 1959” — but […]
I’m not familiar with any of the sights Huell visits in this hour-long episode of Road Trip, but I’ve definitely heard of the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Since I recently featured this part of Northern California in my Memory Monday posts, I thought it would be nice to see them from Huell Howser’s perspective. All […]
The “new” Salmon Falls Bridge was constructed in 1953, replacing the 1930s-era bridge now lying under the waters of Folsom Lake.
My entry for Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge this week.
Like me, you may have heard about recent efforts to split the state of California into two or three parts — in particular, separating Southern and Northern California. I was surprised to learn from this episode of Huell Howser’s Road Trip that if it weren’t for construction of the Old Ridge Route through the San Gabriel and Tehachapi Mountains, California […]
When I was in San Francisco last August, one destination firmly on my itinerary was Ocean Beach, the Cliff House, and the Great Highway. I was drawn there after reexamining my family slides from 1956 — which I shared back in Memory Monday weeks 8 and 9 — including images of my grandfather and my aunt walking along Ocean Beach […]
This week we’re celebrating Independence Day in the U.S., so I thought I’d do something a little different. This episode from the series Huell Howser Presents showcases a film produced by the California Department of Public Works in 1936. Eighty years ago there were a lot fewer paved roads and a lot less traffic! Watch for some very familiar landmarks, […]