A BUTCHER’S hook/look (Cockney rhyming slang)
Just a note here - I recommend installing the Substack app (free) on your phone. It’s easier, works well and looks better! Or online here - browse away!
all aboard
Here's one of those stray photos that seems to capture a moment from another time - one that's hard to fully imagine today. The story and context are lost, but I assume the family was packing up and moving to Buffalo. Then again, I could be completely wrong - they might just be heading off on holiday.
There are 3 in the car, driver standing and the person taking the photo - that’s quite a squeeze for a big trip.
motelling
We’ve stayed in a few, some good, others nasty, others interesting including the very first motel - Motel Inn in San Luis Obispo, opened in 1925 was advertised as the "Most Delightful and Complete Motorist's Hotel in the World’ Read all about it here
Being from another country there are parts of the culture here that I find really interesting just because they are so American, when the culture was its own. Combined with my interest in boring postcard imagery - Motel cards are it! I have a pile of them - it’s hard making a selection here but these ones are pretty special. Boasting hot showers, cable TV and air-conditioned rooms.
motel-ology
How did motels come to be? It makes sense when you think about it - as roads improved and more people owned cars, long-distance travel became common, creating a new need for roadside places to stay. Before motels, hotels were usually expensive and located in town centers, often far from highways and garages. A 1926 LA Times article states ‘travelers faced a long walk through dark streets in a strange town.' Motels emerged to meet that need, their name a blend of ‘motor’ and ‘hotel.’ Before that, many drivers and traveling salesmen simply camped at very basic auto camps—or slept in their cars.
getting from A to B
In this series I am continuing to explore the ambiguities of two dimensional representation of three dimensional space . The space in between.
getting around, getting here
‘At night New York is a fairyland - a new universe of millions of glittering suns and stars. The picture shows the Empire State Building, the highest in the world, with its great mooring lights for dirigibles illuminated’
Dear Charlie: I hitched-hiked down here Thursday and after 8 hours of steady thumbing I got here. March 22nd 1940
and the adventure begins…….
