The Last One, The Travelers Collection

I didn't save this one for the end because it was my least favorite from the collection.  Just the opposite, I love this snapshot.  It's always a stretch to read things into photos, but at the same time, it's also something that is hard not to do.  There are a lot of possibilities.  Maybe this was a loading the camera shot, something that the digital age has made obsolete.  For those too young to understand what I mean, the film goes in the camera, it has to be advanced to the first frame, so you hit the shutter while winding the film, and maybe, just maybe something good will happen.  I favor a different explanation.  I think the photographer was out with his wife, she started digging through her bags, and it was a there she goes again moment.  One of those little things that can a great irritant or very endearing.  Who knows which it was.  But, the photos in this collection cover quite a few years, so let's think the best.

Click on travelers collection in labels, and this time you really can bring up the whole lot.

Key West, The Travelers Collection

This one's labeled "Key West, 1940."  My first visit to the Keys was forty years latter in late February of 1980.  At first, I thought it was heaven.  A month earlier I had been in a snow storm in western Pennsylvania.  But in Key West, the temperature was nice and warm and the Gulf waters were perfect for swimming.  I visited Ernest Hemingway's house, and met a woman who owned a book store who had been a friend of Jack Kerouac.  But then reality hit.  It only took a few days for me to realize that Key West life was pretty much hanging out and that was about it.  Most of the residents worked in the tourist trade, gift shops, motels, restaurants, and bars.  At night they went home or became bar patrons.  There was a lot of low level drunks and stoners.  Not exactly a tropical paradise.

Click on travelers collection in labels to bring up the lot.

Honolulu, The Travelers Collection

I've been in 45 of the 50 states.  Hawaii is one of the five I've yet to see, and in many ways it's the one I'd least like to visit.  I've read so much about the Islands, and the Hawaii that most intrigues me is the one that doesn't exist anymore.  Yes, I'd love to hike in the national parks and swim in the ocean, but the cruise ship culture, steel and glass high rise hotels don't appeal to me at all.  This one is dated "Honolulu 1933" and it looks like a good time to have visited.

Click on travelers collection in labels to see everything.

Ethnic Dress, The Travelers Collection

I need some help on this one.  This has to be some sort of national dress.  Too, that's a fairly masculine jaw line, so is it a traditional male costume, or are we dealing with an ethnic cross dresser?  Click on travelers collection to bring up the whole collection.

Three That Don't Fit, The Travelers Collection

Alright, I get it.  It's that old obsession with posting EVERYTHING from a collection.  These three are from a group of photos that I purchased, from the same family, that had more than a few travel themed photos.  I've been putting them up for awhile, and it's time to end up the collection.  This is the first of the last, all of which will be published in a row.  These first three images don't seem to fit all that well with the others.  The top one of the tennis players could have been taken anywhere.  The middle one sure looks like classic beach front changing room architecture.  And those bluffs, I've seen ones like that from Long Beach California to Santa Monica.  The out the window shot, well it's a bit out of focus, but so what....it's kind of homey.

Click on travelers collection in labels to bring up the lot.

Somewhere In Asia, The Travelers Collection

I'm going out on a limb and say that these could not have been taken in mainland China.  When these were taken it was the Red China of Mao and Americans weren't all that welcome.  So, let's guess Taiwan.

No, I'm not going to finish up the travelers collection today.  I'm just so backlogged on some of the lots, and I'm just getting this set to a more manageable level.  Click on travelers collection in labels and be patient for a month or so, when I'll finish things up.

On The Beach, The Travelers Collection

We all the love the beach, including guys with bow ties.

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Visiting Grandpa, The Travelers Collection

I think that bobbed hair is from the twenties.  Just think, she probably lived to see a man walk on the moon.  Grandpa could remember a world before airplanes.

Click on travelers collection in labels to see everything.

The Great Outdoors, The Travelers Collection

Our travelers loved camping and the great outdoors.  That I get. The bottom two photos are dated "10/15/41."

Hey, I warned people that some of the photos in this collection were very, very dull.  Click on travelers collection in labels to bring up some more interesting images.

Golf, The Travelers Collection

Our travelers liked to golf.  I don't know why.

Click on travelers collection in labels to see the lot.

College Days, Mystery Locations, The Travelers Collection

Too many collections, too little time.

Why do people travel?  Some just for pleasure.  Some move about for a more concrete reason.  Maybe the owners of these photos were in the military, maybe they were diplomats, or in some service organization.  Or maybe they were academics.  Anyone who has gone to college will recognize the quad, that great open space, dead center on campus.  I don't know which institution, but that top photo is the classic university quad.  The last photo is labeled "A university in Genoa."  And the other two have an institutional look that could be a college.  At least that's my guess, and I'm standing by it.  And if I'm wrong on my suppositions, well, that's what the comments section is for.

To recap, awhile back I bought a bunch of photos from a dealer, all from the same source, and there were a lot of travel photos in the envelope.  Click on travelers collection in labels to see them all.  Some are fairly interesting, some not.  Blame my obsession with posting everything for the dull ones.

Rivers, Lakes and Oceans, The Travelers Collection

I admit to a certain amount of OCD in my personality.  The fact is, every time I buy one of these small collections, there  are a few less than interesting photos.  But in the end, it drives me crazy if I don't publish every last image.  So some generic scenery.

The top photo is dated, "June 1950"  Number two in the column, "1956 Iowa, Clear Lake."  The rest are all complete mysteries, so if anyone can identify the locations, I'll be grateful for the help.

It's time to leave this collection for awhile.  Sooner or latter I'll return to it and add some more photos.  As always, click on travelers collection in labels to bring up everything to date.

Baseball, The Travelers Collection

I'm going to make a connection between this photo and the image in the previous post that may or may not be correct.  Stamped on the back, "AMERICAN PHOTO SERVICE, (unreadable), MINN.  SEP 10, 1956"  

I'm sure there a lot of people out there who have heard of someone looking "mid-western."  So, what exactly does that mean?  The mid-west, especially the upper mid-west, was heavily settled by Germans and Scandinavians.  A mid-western look leans toward sandy brown or blond hair, blue eyes, and a lean body type.  Yesterday's post was a family portrait from Sweden.  Today, kids playing baseball in Minnesota, home to plenty of Swedish immigrant families.  Not all of the photos in this collection are travel images.  I'm guessing that these photos were all owned by some Minnesotans of Swedish descent.  And that's how they are connected.

Click on travelers collection in the labels section at the bottom of the post to bring up the lot.

Sverige, The Travelers Collection

To recap, a few months or so ago, I bought an envelope of prints.  The dealer told me that they all came from the same source.  Going through the photos, I noticed that this family did a lot of travelling, so it's designated the travelers collection, and, of course, can be seen in total by clicking on travelers collection in the labels section at the bottom of the post.

Written on the back, "Tommarp-Sverige"  Sverige is what the Swedish call Sweden.  Tommarp is a small town on the very southern tip of the country.  In 2010, it's population was all of 284.  I think Tommarp must have been the ancestral home of our travelling family.  I can't think of any other reason why anyone would have gone there and taken this picture.  I'd love to know if that car is an early Volvo.

S.F., The Travelers Collection

Yesterday's post was a collection of true mystery locales.  Today, it's San Francisco.  Well, at least the top one.  Alcatraz can be seen out in the bay, but what I really like about this image is, it's still working class San Francisco.  It's hard to believe for anyone who has spent any time in dot.com, upscale, chichi San Fran, but the city by the bay was once the hot spot for west coast,  left wing labor politics.  Artists lived there because it was cheap.  North Beach was inexpensive Italian restaurants, and the beats at City Lights Books.

The first time I visited San Francisco, over thirty years ago, I can remember eating at this bay side cafe.  As a former member of the Laborers and United Mine Workers, I felt quite comfortable eating with the stevedores and commercial fishermen.  The last time I was in San Francisco, about a decade ago, I went to the same cafe.  How things had changed.  It was all upscale hipster types waiting for brunch.  Brunch at a working class eatery!  I might not be remembering correctly.  It's been a long time, but Eagle Grill sounds right.

I'm not sure about the second photo, but it looks familiar, and I think it's San Francisco.  If anyone can confirm that, please leave a comment.

Click on travelers collection in the labels section to bring up the lot.  I'll be leaving the collection for awhile after this one.  More in the weeks and months to come.

More Mystery Spots, The Travelers Collection

This small collection has a fair number of mystery location snapshots.  The top one looks like it's from somewhere in the northwest United States.  I've traveled enough around the region and have seen more than a few dams that look similar.  The second, an aerial shot, with cliffs in the foreground. (Or taken from a mountain top with rocks at the photographer's feet.)   Haven't a clue.  Number three is the only one with any info, and that's just a date.  "JAN 55"  The month and year I was born.  And the final, the ruins....I keep thinking England, but I've seen similar shells in central New York.

Click on travelers collection in labels at the bottom of the post to bring up the rest.

On the Boardwalk, The Travelers Collection

Another snapshot from the travelling family collection.  On the Boardwalk, but which one?  My guess is Atlantic City, and I have absolutely no idea why.  Anyway, the white, double-breasted, linen suit isn't something you'd see in our day.  Very stylish.

Click on travelers collection in the labels at the bottom of the post to bring up the rest of the collection.

More Mystery Locales, The Travelers Collection

A month ago, I bought a small collection of photos, heavy on travel  shots.  They're all from the same source, so someone, or some family liked to keep moving.  I'm putting these three up together, because they all have that Mediterranean feel, southern Europe, maybe North Africa.  They're not labeled, and there's nothing so distinctive in any of these photos, that would make it possible to go searching, on the net, for a location.  So, if anyone out there recognizes their old home town or favorite destination, leave a comment.

Click on travelers collection in the labels at the bottom of the post to bring up other images from the same lot.

A Beach Front Hotel, The Travelers Collection

I'm starting with the mystery locations early with this group.  I went to Google images and entered "historic beach hotels" and found a couple of maybes, but no true match.  If anyone out there recognizes the building leave a comment.  There's one thing for sure, those palm trees eliminate Bar Harbor, Maine.

Click on travelers collection in the labels section for the other images in the lot.

Aloha, A New Travelers Collection

There it was, sitting on EBay with no one willing to bid.  Hey, it was cheap, so why the hell not.  This latest collection is photos from a person or family that liked to travel.  Some of the images have people, some don't.  A few are labeled, most not.  A handful are of places I recognize, but many of them will be posted as mystery locales, with the hope  that someone out there in blog land can set me straight.

Even though I've never been to Hawaii, this one was easy.  I've seen pictures and movies of Aloha Tower and Honolulu Harbor before.  But where are all the hotels?  The tower opened in 1926, and the building boom didn't start until the late fifties to early sixties.  So, somewhere in a 30 to 35 year window.

Like most of my other collections, this one will be spread out over a few months.  Look for travelers collection in the labels section at the bottom of the post.