Philadelphia Eddie's

Had a very busy, not very productive weekend. The pictures will have to come later, I still haven't downloaded any of them yet. For now we go back, again, to Philly for Philadelphia Eddie's Tattoo shop at 904 Arch Street in Chinatown. No, I didn't stop in either for a tatt or even just to look around. I'll show you tomorrow how the weekend was. See you then.

Chris

San Antonio, Texas. 1983

Continuing with the Way-Back-Week, these pictures aren't exactly from vacation. No, they are from my 'Town Pass' into San Antonio while in USAF Basic Training. July 25, 1983. Firehouses and fire trucks. See how far I have evolved. And the surprise I mentioned yesterday is that the were taken with the latest in newfangled photographic equipment. A Kodak Disc camera that I got for graduation. That's right these fine framable prints came from a negative, literally, the size of your thumbnail. Someday I'll find it and post it to show you how modern I once was. That on top is the Central Fire Headquarters, 801 East Houston Street in San Antonio, built in 1938. Back of the pictures says, "across from the Alamo". Second includes a 1965 Seagrave 100' tiller truck and what appears to be a Ford snorkel. Last one is an engine responding somewhere. Notice the fireman standing up in the open jumpseats. I can hear Spanky and the Little Rascals, "Wee-Woo-Wee-Woo, Get out of the way! Wee-Woo-Wee-Woo"

Acadia Storm

Perspective. From here that looks like one big storm coming my way. Funny thing is it passed me by. Others weren't so lucky. This was in July of 2009 on Mount Desert Island in Maine. My son and I were at Sand Beach while he skim boarded and the Mrs. and my daughter were back at the cabin we stayed in. They saw the storm first hand. I just saw the storm. By the lack of comments (something I get used to on theme weeks) I must be doing something wrong, but hey you can't please them all. Way-Back-Week will continue tomorrow and I may have to flash some pictures from photographic equipment that I'd bet most of you have never seen.

Oriole Fans in Cooperstown '07

I continue to dig back through the old files for today's post. These are from the Baseball Hall of Fame induction of the Oriole's Cal Ripken back in July of 2007. Top picture is Cal and Major League Baseball President Bud Selig. Then as they were introduced, Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson. Yes, we were back a ways from the main stage for the majority of the ceremony. There was almost 75,000 people there. And it was in the 90's that day. So we hung out behind the Hall of Fame Museum's truck in the shade. And finally a movie of the National Anthem with special credit to all the O's fans in attendance. If you've never been to an Orioles game listen closely when she starts, "Oh, say does that star spangled banner yet wave."

Headlands Beach

This is a shot of Headlands Beach along Lake Erie, just east of Cleveland. That is the West Breakwater Light in Fairport Harbor.
You can tell I've hit a lull in my picture-to-post stack here on my desk. I've been going back through some oldies lately. I should put gas in the scanner and fire it up for some Way-Back pictures. Yeah, maybe I'll do that. Until then bear with me.

Icy Market Street

More bridges for Monday. This is another of my frozen Susquehanna River bridge pictures. Today it's the Market Street bridge over looking the state capital building.

My BF Pictures

This big head of Ben Franklin sits along 17th Street in Philadelphia and can be seen from Route 676 below. Not sure if I like the black and white one or the color one better. Funny story... I saw a picture of some guys tattoo that was a picture of a hundred dollar bill with the words "It's All About the Presidents" tattooed over it. Some people just can't be teached anything.

HFD Station 1 - Uptown

Two weeks ago a tagged along with a van full of junior firefighters from Shippensburg on a field trip to the Pennsylvania State Fire Museum in Harrisburg. After that we visited Harrisburg's Station 1 for a tour. While there they got a call a block or two behind the station, so we got to see them make a run. I didn't take a lot of pictures but here's a few. The last one got a little more blown out than I was looking for, but I like the one of old Tower 2.

The Forgotten Sunsets - 2010

Not every time I go and take some pictures do you see something from there here. Sometimes it's just therapy. Some of these pictures are from shoots that you may have seen something from. Some are just a different look at it. Some you haven't seen any of the pictures. Pictures one and three are from the hill behind my house. Two is from out at the State Game Lands in Newburg. Four is Chincoteague Island, Virginia. Five is North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. And Six is from a soccer game behind Gettysburg High School.

Lit Brothers, Philadelphia (PG 162)

Philly two days in a row, sorry. This is the Lit Brothers store on Market and Eighth Streets in Philly. Lit Brothers was a moderately priced department store started in 1893 by brothers Samuel and Jacob Lit. They sold the name and the ownership got passed around a little until it eventually closed in 1977. The building is now offices.

A Little Brotherly Love

And by a little I mean small. I've seen pictures of this... statue? sculpture? icon?.. before but I always imagined something big. Big Love. You know, ten maybe fifteen feet square. Heck it's only, like, five feet square. And sits up there off the ground so you can't even touch it. I suppose so none of the loving brothers steal it.

Bridge After Bridge After Bridge

Standing on City Island in the frozen Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, Pa. looking south. Behind me is the Market Street Bridge, the Walnut Street Bridge, the M. Harvey Taylor Memorial Bridge and the George N. Wade (I-81) Bridge. In front of me is the Cumberland Valley Railroad Bridge, the South Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge (unseen ruins from here), the Reading Railway Bridge (now Norfolk Southern) and the green one there in the distance is the John Harris Bridge, aka the South Bridge (I-83).

The Barn in Sepia

Just some random barn I came across while out and about today. As much as I hated losing the brilliant blue sky, I liked what the sepia tone did to it.

21. Franklin and Cumberland Fire Stations

I think I spread these two out pretty far didn't I?

First station is Hampden Township Fire Company, Station 2. Located off of 295 South Sporting Hill Road in Mechanicsburg. Sorry but their website contains no history so just look at the pictures. Thanks.

Second station is actually at the Franklin County Public Safety Training Center. Located off of 3075 Molly Pitcher Highway (Route 11) south of Chambersburg, Pa. Opened in October of 2003, it includes a storage building (called the Morton Building) , a burn building and an administration building. The Morton building houses the training center's training engine, a 1979 Pirsch pumper, an old Marion engine. (I should find my pictures of it and post them sometime)

Name That Station 21

OK, I know it's been a while. I haven't been out shooting stations for a while, I didn't want pictures with Christmas decorations. Anyway we're back, at least for this week. Same rules as always. These could be ffrom Franklin and/or Cumberland Counties. Answers will be posted at 1:01 this afternoon. What's your guess?

Click Here for Answers

Good Morning Sunshine

I told you all that I have enough sunrise pictures from North Myrtle Beach to last until next summer. This one is from 10/10/10 and includes the Cherry Grove Pier.

Bye Bye Boyd's Bear Country ( PG 7 revisited)

The end of a short era. Boyd's Bear Country on the outskirts of Gettysburg, Pa. is closing. Everything is half price. On New Years Eve the line was back to the parking lot and I could have been anywhere else. Gas is $3.15 a gallon and a hunk of resin shaped like a cute bear is $30. For some reason they blame the economy for this. I don't get it. What will happen to the million dollar barn? Who knows. I originally posted the Boyd's Bear barn as Painted Gentleman No. 7 back on May 30th 2007, bearly (get it? Bearly? Ha!) a month after giving life to this here blog.

Philadelphia City Hall

City Hall is a very large impressive building sitting right in the middle of Broad Street. Surrounded by some the awesome architecture I just didn't know what to take a picture of next. According to Wikipedia this is the second largest masonry building in the world at 548 feet to the top of William Penn's head. Built between 1871 and 1901 at a cost of $24 million. Check it out here.

Walnut and Market

Frigid. That's the word that best describes standing out along the frozen Susquehanna River. Shown here is the Walnut Street bridge on the left (also known as the walking bridge) and the Market Street bridge on the right, taken from City Island. Top picture is a 6 shot panorama. Man, the floating ice makes me cold just sitting here looking at this picture.

Pelicans at Dawn

Last October while I was wandering the shores of South Carolina I had my first opportunity to get pictures of pelicans. They didn't seem to be around long once the sun came up. But on our last morning walk they seemed to fill the predawn skies. So this is my collection of pelican silhouettes.