Memories 1

Long time, no blog. I would have made that the title of this entry, the first for about wow! nearly four months. Lots went on in between, but my current preoccupation is the one I'm focusing on, for now at least, peripatetic soul I seem to be. So, you might ask, what's that?

Well, I've done a little of it before, but now I think I am going to be determined. I have lots of photos from before there was the cell phone and the cloud. And so, seems to me that in the interests of my latest project, paring down, as well as a small bit of familial and friend immortality in so far as such is available on earth, I should make a serious effort to put my photos on line. Will they be there in the year 2100? I am not sure human beings will be here then, or even in the next 20 years, so really, that isn't a big concern. I am just taking the shot. So, for today, a few that I have already downloaded. Do I think people will be interested in the faces of people, some of whom are already long gone, and the rest of us who aren't too far behind statistically speaking? I can only tell you that I find looking at photos of people and places fascinating, places I've never been and people I've never known. I am not unique so I'm guessing there will be people interested in the life of another in photos and memorabilia. So, here is the blog of today, Memories No. 1. I will try to tell you the background or context of each, thus providing a story along with the photos.

Four different shots of several different years. The one at the upper left is my father just after he returned home from World War II. It's one of my favorite pictures of him. I think he was in my mother's apartment she shared with her mother and sisters. He was always handsome but in this stage of his life he had a certain swashbuckling, movie star look, no? Cigarette in hand. You can see from the photo on the upper right that he lost little of his good looks. By this time, he was about 60 years old at an apartment near Fort Independence in the Bronx. My mother had already died, and it was just the two of us. He was wearing a smoking jacket, even then a bit of an anachronism. Besides him is his beloved mandolin. I still have that, at least for now. The photo in the lower left is circa 1979, at the reception for the first wedding of a childhood friend. My father was set up on a blind date around 1978 with this lovely lady, who though much younger than him, shared Greek heritage. She was, she remains, a joy. Their relationship did not work out, as I really wanted it to do, but they remained good friends until he died. She and I are still friends, years after my father's death. She ultimately left New York to be closer to her son. The picture on the lower right is my late mother, circa the late 1940s, in front of the Bronx Lebanon Hospital. She would die there several decades later.

I have few photographs where my father smiles. This is one, probably in the 1980s, or early 1990s. With me. I'm smiling too. 

This photo is just about faded. I was able to retrieve the facial features with the help of my phone's editing tools. These are my father's parents, George and Mary, probably in the late 1940s. My grandfather died before I was born.

My mother so much wanted to be a model. It didn't happen, alas. And she died too young. Here she is about 18.

In about 1992, I decided I wanted some decent pictures of myself to give to friends and family. A prideful enterprise I realize some 30 year later, but I really enjoyed the experience. There was a professional studio at the corner of Holloway and La Cienega at the time. Mostly they did aspiring actors. I might have been the first and only lawyer they ever had ask to do a photo shoot. I don't remember the man's last name but the photographer was the wonderful "Attila". I brought several outfits and I really did do the Vogue thing, making spontaneous poses as he shot a huge roll. I still have the proofs somewhere. When I find them no doubt I'll put them on here. Funny isn't it? I didn't think I looked good in those days. I never thought I did. So much the pity as life goes very fast and then you really don't look good. 

Anyway, I hope you who do stop by enjoy the photo play!