what happened to our America….????? (Insert image of Native American looking over a trash dump with a tear rolling down his cheek…(yeah, I know he was not a real Native American)).
Great selection of snaps.
jeremyon May 5, 201011:41 AM:
i continue to think this one of the best ideas in a long time.
great photos. the kodachromes remind me of holding up my grandparents slides into an old yellow lightbulb. i love it.
jehuon May 5, 201011:43 AM:
1) Hey Louie, get ova here! Tony just snagged his line on Jimmy Da Fish.
2) Damn…no signal.
3) All right..which one of you kids switched the blanks.
4) Mom !?!?!
5) The Tree Monster had already claimed three cars of unsuspecting children that fateful day…
6) “You should have brought the telephoto lens.”
7) MapQuest said look for a sign that said Mountainside Theater…I just can’t see it.
8) After graduating from years of warrior training, Jane “Stick ‘Em” Smith should have known she was about to be attacked by a grizzly bear.
Ryanon May 5, 201011:46 AM:
As idyllic as these photos are, we have to remember that they were probably taken in the escapist 1950s, before the explosive social rebellion of the 1960s. They may be beautiful, but they only portray a small facet of the American experience: that of upper-class white people.
What these beautiful photos don’t portray is the experience of other minorities: black, Hispanic, Asian, gay, etc. I love them just as much as the next person, but I would much rather prefer to live in the present, when people from various walks of life are more fairly portrayed. And when we can wear a suit and tie one day, and jeans and a tee shirt the next.
Shawnon May 5, 201012:17 PM:
1st photo is great, all the guys I know go sport fishing in a v-neck sweater and snuff suede bucks! True classic!!!
That's Not My Ageon May 5, 201012:36 PM:
Oh wow I love the big wheel shot – reminds me of growing up by the seaside.
Geoffon May 5, 201012:37 PM:
Ryan,
What’s your point?
Bretton May 5, 20101:19 PM:
jehu stole my schtick!
Ryan, didn’t you see the picture of the Native American? Also, these appear to be family photos…maybe Michael should go to yard sales in the gay, black, Hispanic, Asian neighborhoods.
JonIndiaâ„¢on May 5, 20102:22 PM:
4th Photo down – Blessings be upon thy man or woman who invented thy 2 piece bikini.
Nick Loweryon May 5, 20102:24 PM:
Classic Americana, I wonder if I would have been happier back then or if I’m just deluding myself, guess it doesn’t matter either way.
Mitch Frankon May 5, 20103:09 PM:
Can you tell us a little more about how/where you found these? Not asking for secrets, just want to know what it was like to get the idea and then go seek out the slides…or was it finding the slides that gave you the idea?
Yeah, I went back and read it. More info than I remembered. Thanks.
Cdunnon May 5, 20103:44 PM:
Based on all these Kodachrome posts (which are awesome), people sure used to fish a lot.
RIchon May 5, 20105:54 PM:
Ryan,
How do you know none of those guys are gay. Ya know, I’m sorry, but I for one think a gay person deserves to have fun watching 2 coyboys shoot it out. And, that you can’t tell a gay fellow just by looking at him. But if you can, maybe look to the dude in the orange hat… helllllllloo.
Robert Loblawon May 5, 20106:01 PM:
Ryan, you have to chill out a bit and just enjoy. And I don’t have to remember anything, I can just enjoy them for what they are. Put the Culture Studies 101 away for a bit.
Bretton May 5, 20106:26 PM:
good spotting Rich…spot on!
Ryanon May 5, 20107:34 PM:
Just making an observation.
Geoffon May 5, 20107:41 PM:
Ryan,
Admit it, you weren’t really making an observation, otherwise you would have been the one to point out the dude in the orange hat.
Roberton May 5, 20109:37 PM:
I must be the most easily influenced person in the world. In the past two weeks I’ve bought a bunch of Air Mail envelopes, some old Kodachrome film, and have started looking for an old 4-wheel drive. You’re killing me!
You’re amassing a great collection! I actually really love the one of the men with the fish. I feels like it could have been someone in my family.
Robert Milamon May 6, 20105:50 PM:
These images represent a time that may have had its faults, but is worth remembering for its virtues.
Michael — mind sharing your resource for the slide scanning?
Michael Williamson May 6, 20105:52 PM:
All of the slide scanning was done at Scan Cafe…
B. Houndon May 7, 20106:30 PM:
Hush Puppies in first pic???
davidon May 9, 20108:19 AM:
The point that is missed is that they are photographs of a time, not the time, to mistake kodachrome photographs for something other than the objects they are is not a good idea, in my opinion…furthermore we only appreciate their beauty in relation to the lives we’ve been living and the photos we’ve been seeing, you show the pictures we enjoy to people in the photos at the time and they won’t appreciate the photos the way we can, it wouldn’t add to their life the way it can now from our distanced perspective. I agree with Wallace Stevens that nostalgia is a failure of feeling, I choose to regard them as artifacts useful for today, aesthetically informing yet, I don’t make the possibly dangerous leap to the better times way of thinking, especially considering the times they were, my grandfather was a nice enough man that I loved, still remember his blue canvas sneakers and khaki pants fondly, but as soon as you grow up and see how big the world is, his small mindedness and bigotry were obvious and no matter how nice his clothes were, if he wasn’t my grandfather, I wouldn’t care to spend much time with him. These are great to look at especially after the cold digital jpegs we are inundated with, great objects not better times.
TBoneon May 11, 20103:38 PM:
I’m not so sure that in this day and age people are portrayed fairly at all.
erkon May 12, 201011:18 PM:
i agree with ryan, this is kinda some bullshit. life sure looked fun…for these folks. for my family and a lot like them, times were hard. they went to the beach. they fished. they drank and chased skirts, but man, jim crow was hard. it’s interesting to see how some folks lived though. i can see why white people like this kind of stuff; it’s very romantic. it just wasn’t how our folks lived. which is not to say images like this don’t exist of other ethnic groups. they just couldn’t afford cameras much of the time.
regardless, they’re pretty images. and kodachrome makes me want to hop my lady and go like a rabbit. david’s spot on…these are objects, not better times that’s for sure. anyone seen revolutionary road? in my convos with the oldsters, that was a truer portrayal of america at that time more than what these slides represent. it’s nice to dream though. keep ’em coming.
Classics Patrioton May 27, 20104:03 PM:
TBone is on the mark.
The liberal narrative is that in the pre-Cultural Revolution past (i.e., before the 60s), America was a homophobic, misogynistic, racist nation full of intolerant haters. The purpose of the liberals’ deliberate distortion of history, and their concurrent effort to make us more ignorant of it, is to make us forget who we are, so that they can more easily manipulate us into who they want us to be. By demonizing the past, it’s easier for the leftists to remake society into their socialist ideal.
The reality is that our ancestors, for all their faults, built a safer, more stable society than ours, and that they were, on the whole, happier than we are. We have greater material prosperity–so what? They had lower crime rates, lower divorce rates, lower out-of-wedlock birthrates, lower incidence of the mentally ill wreaking havoc on society, and lower drug abuse rates.
Think about it: at a time when people could buy guns at hardware stores and gas stations, with no waiting periods or background checks, there were no school shootings and no Beltway Snipers. There were no home invasions and no need to walk the streets with a gun in your jacket or waistband.
At a time when most women stayed home to raise families, very few women faced the loneliness of growing old by themselves. They did not need a pharmacopeia of anti-depressants just to make it through the day. By being home to make meals, they not only saved money but also saved their families from obesity and diabetes. Their children were not diagnosed with ADD and ADHD, and the children were not drugged just to make them behave in school.
At a time when many blacks were poor, and even educated blacks were discriminated against, black America was, in many ways, better off than it is now. Blacks got married and had families, went to church, worked hard, and did their best for their families and communities. Now, young black men are killing each other off in droves; the ones that survive rarely, if ever, marry, but they sure do make a lot of kids with a lot of different women. Crime is rampant among modern black America, and those who suffer from it most are other blacks.
I’m not saying that the past was idyllic; I’m not defending Jim Crow. But, in many ways, it was a lot better than what the postwar liberals and their children, the Boomers, have wrought. I can’t wait for them to get out of the way so that we can take our country back–if there’s still one to be had.
what happened to our America….????? (Insert image of Native American looking over a trash dump with a tear rolling down his cheek…(yeah, I know he was not a real Native American)).
Great selection of snaps.
i continue to think this one of the best ideas in a long time.
great photos. the kodachromes remind me of holding up my grandparents slides into an old yellow lightbulb. i love it.
1) Hey Louie, get ova here! Tony just snagged his line on Jimmy Da Fish.
2) Damn…no signal.
3) All right..which one of you kids switched the blanks.
4) Mom !?!?!
5) The Tree Monster had already claimed three cars of unsuspecting children that fateful day…
6) “You should have brought the telephoto lens.”
7) MapQuest said look for a sign that said Mountainside Theater…I just can’t see it.
8) After graduating from years of warrior training, Jane “Stick ‘Em” Smith should have known she was about to be attacked by a grizzly bear.
As idyllic as these photos are, we have to remember that they were probably taken in the escapist 1950s, before the explosive social rebellion of the 1960s. They may be beautiful, but they only portray a small facet of the American experience: that of upper-class white people.
What these beautiful photos don’t portray is the experience of other minorities: black, Hispanic, Asian, gay, etc. I love them just as much as the next person, but I would much rather prefer to live in the present, when people from various walks of life are more fairly portrayed. And when we can wear a suit and tie one day, and jeans and a tee shirt the next.
1st photo is great, all the guys I know go sport fishing in a v-neck sweater and snuff suede bucks! True classic!!!
Oh wow I love the big wheel shot – reminds me of growing up by the seaside.
Ryan,
What’s your point?
jehu stole my schtick!
Ryan, didn’t you see the picture of the Native American? Also, these appear to be family photos…maybe Michael should go to yard sales in the gay, black, Hispanic, Asian neighborhoods.
4th Photo down – Blessings be upon thy man or woman who invented thy 2 piece bikini.
Classic Americana, I wonder if I would have been happier back then or if I’m just deluding myself, guess it doesn’t matter either way.
Can you tell us a little more about how/where you found these? Not asking for secrets, just want to know what it was like to get the idea and then go seek out the slides…or was it finding the slides that gave you the idea?
Mitch — I spoke about it in the first post: http://acontinuouslean.com/2010/04/07/acl-kodachomes-lets-go-fishing/
Yeah, I went back and read it. More info than I remembered. Thanks.
Based on all these Kodachrome posts (which are awesome), people sure used to fish a lot.
Ryan,
How do you know none of those guys are gay. Ya know, I’m sorry, but I for one think a gay person deserves to have fun watching 2 coyboys shoot it out. And, that you can’t tell a gay fellow just by looking at him. But if you can, maybe look to the dude in the orange hat… helllllllloo.
Ryan, you have to chill out a bit and just enjoy. And I don’t have to remember anything, I can just enjoy them for what they are. Put the Culture Studies 101 away for a bit.
good spotting Rich…spot on!
Just making an observation.
Ryan,
Admit it, you weren’t really making an observation, otherwise you would have been the one to point out the dude in the orange hat.
I must be the most easily influenced person in the world. In the past two weeks I’ve bought a bunch of Air Mail envelopes, some old Kodachrome film, and have started looking for an old 4-wheel drive. You’re killing me!
And it turns out that the Oconaluftee Indian Village is still open. (http://www.cherokee-nc.com/index.php?page=17)
Makes me feel nostalgic for things I never knew.
Wonderful work, please keep it up.
C.
You’re amassing a great collection! I actually really love the one of the men with the fish. I feels like it could have been someone in my family.
These images represent a time that may have had its faults, but is worth remembering for its virtues.
Michael — mind sharing your resource for the slide scanning?
All of the slide scanning was done at Scan Cafe…
Hush Puppies in first pic???
The point that is missed is that they are photographs of a time, not the time, to mistake kodachrome photographs for something other than the objects they are is not a good idea, in my opinion…furthermore we only appreciate their beauty in relation to the lives we’ve been living and the photos we’ve been seeing, you show the pictures we enjoy to people in the photos at the time and they won’t appreciate the photos the way we can, it wouldn’t add to their life the way it can now from our distanced perspective. I agree with Wallace Stevens that nostalgia is a failure of feeling, I choose to regard them as artifacts useful for today, aesthetically informing yet, I don’t make the possibly dangerous leap to the better times way of thinking, especially considering the times they were, my grandfather was a nice enough man that I loved, still remember his blue canvas sneakers and khaki pants fondly, but as soon as you grow up and see how big the world is, his small mindedness and bigotry were obvious and no matter how nice his clothes were, if he wasn’t my grandfather, I wouldn’t care to spend much time with him. These are great to look at especially after the cold digital jpegs we are inundated with, great objects not better times.
I’m not so sure that in this day and age people are portrayed fairly at all.
i agree with ryan, this is kinda some bullshit. life sure looked fun…for these folks. for my family and a lot like them, times were hard. they went to the beach. they fished. they drank and chased skirts, but man, jim crow was hard. it’s interesting to see how some folks lived though. i can see why white people like this kind of stuff; it’s very romantic. it just wasn’t how our folks lived. which is not to say images like this don’t exist of other ethnic groups. they just couldn’t afford cameras much of the time.
regardless, they’re pretty images. and kodachrome makes me want to hop my lady and go like a rabbit. david’s spot on…these are objects, not better times that’s for sure. anyone seen revolutionary road? in my convos with the oldsters, that was a truer portrayal of america at that time more than what these slides represent. it’s nice to dream though. keep ’em coming.
TBone is on the mark.
The liberal narrative is that in the pre-Cultural Revolution past (i.e., before the 60s), America was a homophobic, misogynistic, racist nation full of intolerant haters. The purpose of the liberals’ deliberate distortion of history, and their concurrent effort to make us more ignorant of it, is to make us forget who we are, so that they can more easily manipulate us into who they want us to be. By demonizing the past, it’s easier for the leftists to remake society into their socialist ideal.
The reality is that our ancestors, for all their faults, built a safer, more stable society than ours, and that they were, on the whole, happier than we are. We have greater material prosperity–so what? They had lower crime rates, lower divorce rates, lower out-of-wedlock birthrates, lower incidence of the mentally ill wreaking havoc on society, and lower drug abuse rates.
Think about it: at a time when people could buy guns at hardware stores and gas stations, with no waiting periods or background checks, there were no school shootings and no Beltway Snipers. There were no home invasions and no need to walk the streets with a gun in your jacket or waistband.
At a time when most women stayed home to raise families, very few women faced the loneliness of growing old by themselves. They did not need a pharmacopeia of anti-depressants just to make it through the day. By being home to make meals, they not only saved money but also saved their families from obesity and diabetes. Their children were not diagnosed with ADD and ADHD, and the children were not drugged just to make them behave in school.
At a time when many blacks were poor, and even educated blacks were discriminated against, black America was, in many ways, better off than it is now. Blacks got married and had families, went to church, worked hard, and did their best for their families and communities. Now, young black men are killing each other off in droves; the ones that survive rarely, if ever, marry, but they sure do make a lot of kids with a lot of different women. Crime is rampant among modern black America, and those who suffer from it most are other blacks.
I’m not saying that the past was idyllic; I’m not defending Jim Crow. But, in many ways, it was a lot better than what the postwar liberals and their children, the Boomers, have wrought. I can’t wait for them to get out of the way so that we can take our country back–if there’s still one to be had.