Archive for the ‘History & Hauntings’ Category

I love old photos of New Orleans. Comparing what was to what is is always amazing, and ebay often offers up batches that have been scooped up from garage sales and whatnot.

But it is a definite crapshoot. Since I only buy lots, the sellers will choose 2 or three shots out of a big batch to show off in their ad, and they’ve selected what they believe to be the best of the bunch… but of course, their idea of what constitutes ‘the best’ is a whole lot different than mine. Let’s be honest- Jackson Square doesn’t change a whole lot, and my main fear is that I’ll open a batch only to find that I’ve paid $20 for 3 dozen shots of Cafe du Monde.

Pretty much every package has a few shots that are really great, and looking at the people and cars is always interesting. I’ve come to realize that the more fashionable you are today, the harder it’ll bite you on the ass later.

I’m powerless- I must develop some sort of storyline around the sets- especially the ones where there are lots of people.

These ladies, for instance, clearly had themselves a kickass time:

It was from a 1967 scrapbook, and I need to scan in some of the stuff they collected- lots of bar napkins and scribbled notes. They were clearly young, uninhibited, and enjoying it. Good on ‘em- they’d be in their 60s now and I’d like to think of them reminiscing and chuckling about their misspent youth.

But the last batch I received? I bought it totally blind- the seller picked it up at an estate sale, the photos formed a full carousel and were labeled “New Orleans Vacation,” but he hadn’t scanned in any actual photos. Still- out of 100 slides, there had to be some interesting things, right? To be fair, yes, there were a few. But mostly it was just…strange. Also, sadly, they must’ve been stored somewhere damp, because they were the most deteriorated shots I’ve bought so far.

This family, which appears to be a couple & their grandkid, took most of their photos of highways. Or city streets…out of their car window, complete with exciting highlights of traffic, their hood, and windshield wiper. These people managed to get the only bland, lifeless photos of the city I’ve ever seen.

Most of them looked like this:

And this:

This one is accidentally interesting, because it happens to catch the Superdome under construction:

Once they parked and actually got out of the car, we have yet more exciting stuff, like this guy’s chest and dog…but you can’t see the French Quarter or architecture or…well, or anything of interest:

And that’s pretty much how it goes…until they hit Bourbon Street. and boy, they really thought the smut was exciting!

We liked the Sho-Bar and its dancing girls:

And REALLY liked the Topless & Bottomless Boys & Girls (there were several shots of it, all from this far away):

(btw, “boys and girls?” Ew. Sounds like Chester the Molester’s destination of choice.)

And the one, the only closeup in the entire batch of 100 is amazing. They didn’t take a close shot of grandma, or of the kid. Not of a building, or architectural detail. The one thing interesting enough to get close to was a teeshirt shop window, witty as ever:

Which is, actually, sort of interesting. From an anthropological point of view, it teaches us that things are same as they ever were. Tacky ye shall have with ye always. Although it’s somewhat more interesting tack, I guess. The ‘fly United’ was certainly different.

Charlie thinks it says something profound about middle America, circa 1973. Lord, I really hope not, lest I end up with more packages like these.