Green Lake 2011 - Poor Attempts At Dear Photograph

After spending some time perusing dearphotograph.com a few months ago, I decided that the trip to Green Lake would be a great opportunity to try out the technique where one holds up a vintage photo in the same setting. Little did I realize how difficult it could be to get everything to line up properly. Oh well, even if the photos turned out terribly, it was still an interesting and challenging exercise. Here goes...

mom, winter '69-'70 (pregnant with me at the time)

grandpa & grandma, early 70s

cousins, mid-70s (Kimmy, me, Jeff, Dan)

me, with fish, late-70s

puppy Kasey, Taffy and Kimmy, 1985
brother Dan & Hot Wheels, 1985
Kasey, 1987

My First Three Bikes

Found some old pix at my parent's house last week...

1975 Roadmaster (made in Olney, IL)

1977 Rampar R-10 (later run over by a neighbor lady and replaced with an '81 model)

1981 Raleigh Rapide + tube socks

Yeah, surprisingly no Schwinns. All of my friends had Schwinns, I wanted something different, so we drove to the larger twin cities of Champaign/Urbana, IL and bought the Raleighs from Durst Cycle.

Dad

Happy Fathers Day
circa 1968, Vietnam

Get The Boy Something He Wants

Of course that "something" is a bicycle. Or, more specifically, "bicycles" if you read closely. Because how can you live with just one bicycle? Does a golfer have only one club? Of course not, he (or she) has a bag full of tools to chose from for all conditions. As do I. Several. Nine to be exact, along with a mental list of a few more that I'd build up if the budget and space allowed.

photo swiped from Underground Velo via Just A Car Guy

Grandpa Oldaker Would Be Proud

I should really stay away from Bring A Trailer. Because when I visit I always come away wanting cool old and/or odd vehicles like this International Harvester Travelall.
Built shortly after Grandpa retired from Harvester, this beast would make a fine highway cruiser (if you don't mind getting about 8 MPG). Handsome in an oh-so utilitarian way, eh?
Just needs a big-ass chrome roof rack up top with some vintage Samsonite luggage tied down with cotton rope.
In-car entertainment? Many stations on that AM dial to choose from. Just don't expect to be able to hear anything if seated in the back.
But that's where you load your dogs, and they don't care about the radio. Just roll down the windows for sniffs galore. The only thing that'd make it better would be if it was painted in IH's signature deep red color.

I'm just a sucker for old IH trucks. Frankly I'm surprised that Grandpa didn't have one himself as a Scout would have been a great vehicle at his Green Lake home. Four wheel drive for getting into town during the winter, yank the boats out of the water at the end of the season and hose out the cargo area after his beloved yellow labs went for a ride.

on board the FloteBote®, Green Lake, WI, sometime in the late 1960s
L-R, my Uncle Steve, Aunt Ginny, mom, Grandma O., (cocktail), Grandpa O.

But he was an Oldsmobile man. I remember these two in particular:
1977 Toronado. His was dark blue, sadly no epitome-of-the-1970s T-top. But it was really Grandma's car.
1975 Custom Cruiser. With the still-cool "disappearing clamshell tailgate" - the glass slid into the roof while the door slipped under the cargo floor. His was pea-green with the walnut siding shown above. Plus lots of dog hair in the cargo area. Being an odd car geek/wagon dork, I really wanted this car when I turned 16. Even though it was the aforementioned pea green/walnut siding with whitewalls, skirted rear wheels and an underpowered but over-displaced 455 cu. in. V8. Heck, I still want one.

If anyone feels like buying the Travelall and donating it to me, here's a link to the eBay auction.

Down on the Mount Prospect Driveway, September 1964 Edition

My dad gave me some photos of his 1958 VW Beetle a few years ago. After residing in an end table in their Homewood, IL home for years, they had become stuck to one adjacent photos and sadly ended up a little worse for wear.

But worse for wear is not how I'd describe his then six year-old Beetle.
Still looking good sitting in his parent's Mount Prospect, IL driveway, even after a seeing a half a dozen Midwestern winters. It's hard to tell from the pic, but this little Käfer sported a folding canvas sunroof, which must have been great for his road trip out to the 1964 New York World's Fair. I wish he would have held on to this one.

Photobooth Phun - Olde Tyme Edition

While rooting through my flat file for another vintage postcard (good filler material when I'm outta things to say), I found some long-forgotten photo booth prints.
Not dated, but my bride (happy b-day!) doesn't appear to be wearing a wedding ring, so it's likely from sometime in 1994. Plus my hair is still semi-floppy in these pix. I gave up - or rather gave in - to male pattern balding late '94 and started hacking my hair super short.
Although I am not 100% certain, I'm pretty sure these were taken at Chicago's Lounge Ax (R.I.P.).

Photobooth Phun!

Not the Apple program, but a gen-u-ine your print in 4 minutes black & white (with a tinge of sepia) pull the curtain and watch the timer tick down, all while making goofy faces.
Allie introduced Celeste to the novel concept at the Kings Highway restaurant at Palm Springs' Ace Hotel a few weeks back. We also showed her one of those olde tyme contraptions called a "turntable". [grizzled voice] "back in my day, all records started with some beautiful analog pops, cracks and hisses - and after about 22 minutes we had to get up and FLIP the thing over to PLAY THE OTHER SIDE." [/grizzled voice]. I think I need a new Technics SL-1200.

More Rewind

Scanner overload. Pix from the fateful night that my friend Don reintroduced me to Allie. Background - I knew Allie in college, but mainly because I had a thing for her friend Karen. Don became friends with Allie thru his cousin Carla. Carla was one of Allie's friends from high school and was also a distant cousin of Don.

Taken late Jan 1993, Second City's Rolling Meadows branch and a Baker's Square down the road. Just a bunch of suburban goofballs. Except Don, he's a true-blue Chicago kid.

Carla, Kim, Allie, me

I don't know why we were climbing the awning structure. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Kim and Allie have zombie eyes.

stickin' stuff on foreheads, fun!

cousin Carla

Don liked to eat. Still does.