Big box retail is dying, long live little bags. As chain stores ruined the landscape by making every highway exit look exactly the same from coast to coast, I just quit traveling. Why go there if it looks just like here?
Greed got in the way too...the more the behemoths grew, the less they participated in the community and the more they ruined the lives of those they sold to. Stagnant with wages, reluctant with benefits...phooey on them. Gap has announced they are closing stores. Have you heard anyone say they will miss them? Well, if you do, just drive to the OTHER mall right across the exit exchange, there is a Gap there too, and they have the inventory of every one of the remaining 2,500 Gap stores.
Finally, in every urban center of the land, let the small neighborhood business thrive. Beholding to the community they serve, friendly and charming, with individual attention geared to their specific clients. Small business WILL drive the recovery, and with it hopefully bring back some community, some family, some taste and some love.
It will take some time, but it will happen. I have SEEN the recovery, and it is in hundreds of little gentrified neighborhoods like the East Fulton Business District in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A few short blocks, ethnically diverse, walking friendly, hype-free and lovely. If there is a sign or a logo there, it was made by hand and made locally. Full of beautiful, happy store clerks, beautiful, homemade things, real food from local owned restaurants in buildings which once stood vacant...but each of them with an architectural charm from the past and renewed vigor for the future. I am going to guess a few folks were employed to fix things up too.
I was so impressed with one little establishment I asked my family friend to take a picture. Urban Exchange is a perfect example of the new economy and new business model. A consignment shop, upscale but down home (and right down the street) filled with beautiful affordable things and beautiful friendly employees.
Urban Exchange is located at 926 East Fulton Street, in The East Fulton business district. Consignors may drop off pieces ANYTIME during business hours, although week day drop offs are preferred. No appointment is necessary. Urban Exchange pays 40% of the selling price for current fashion women’s clothes and accessories that are in excellent condition. They are looking for brands such as J. Crew, Banana Republic, Free People, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, H&M, BCBG, Bebe, Diesel, Nine West, Steve Madden, AND so much more! They are looking for funky tops, hip denim, every day khakis, comfy sweaters, cheeky coats, jackets, hats, shoes, jewelry, belts and handbags......and so much more! We also collect hand made fashions made from repurposed materials. They pay 40% of the selling price. Payments are available for pick up on the 1st of every month.
They will look through your items, assess the style and label, and ensure all pieces are in excellent condition. They ask only all pieces are freshly laundered and pressed, and they steam each piece before displaying. They select the items they would like to accept into their collection, enter the description into the computer and assign an item number. Unselected pieces may be picked up within 72 hours and will be donated or responsibly disposed of if not claimed. Pieces are displayed for 60 days. Any unsold items may be picked up prior or upon the 60th day. Unclaimed expired pieces will be donated or responsibly disposed of.
Okay, so I didn't write the description above. But Stephanie Johnson did, the proud business owner who hired and pays the salaries of several wonderful people...and you can see she did it with care, respect for her clients and love.
I am choosing to show the shoes only, not because I have a shoe fetish, but because every woman I know does...and the selection is lovely and colorful. The clothing here is beautiful, and both lovely women I was with tried things on and I ended up paying for one of them. The little shop was full of happy folks and no one was herded into a cattle cage to pay like the Gap checkout. In fact we had to ASK where to pay, and it was right behind us staffed by ANOTHER lovely person, who I am sure the boss knows the name off, and will likely one day know the name of her husband, should she have one, and her children too, again if that is what she chooses. Maybe one day the cashier will drive past and remember working there, and point it out to her children.
As we drove home, we passed the "occupy" folks. I agree with them, but they might start thinking a little smaller and doing a little better. Rick Danko, a gentle talented man I respected much, once said something like "We thought we could change the world, but maybe we should just try to help the neighborhood."Urban Exchange, a business model for the recovery AND a splendid place to shop has a website HERE.(Please note Urban Exchange did not select this "media placement" or ask for a "click-through rate" or anything like that. Nor did they ask for this endorsement. I just liked being there, and I can share.)
COOL SHOE PHOTOS BY TOM SMITH
Pozart Portrait circa 1965 Untitled (First Shift?) Collection Jim Linderman
I know... I hate to see watermarks on images too...but lately things I have posted have turned up as refrigerator magnets on Ebay. In enormous quantities! So much for sharing. Which is also the reason you may see my name in the title field here more often. Anyway, as I really love this original photograph of a Cowboy Magician, I'm sharing it here but not sharing it without credit, dammit.Untitled Photograph, circa 1920? Collection Jim Linderman
Wood doesn't last long outside, which is why most weathervanes that remain are metal. This one was made by hand, likely using a pattern from a hobbyist magazine. Traces of the original gray paint remain. Traces of the attached mount remain as well. One can tell if a wooden folk art weathervane is authentic by the age and wear...as there are prevailing winds (and an imperfect balance) the wear should be uneven. I have seen some nearly destroyed on one side, but with plenty of paint and color on the other.Wooden Weathervane Figure, circa 1920? Collection Jim Linderman
Click to Enlarge to browse "PRIZES"Undated photograph (Ball Toss) Collection Jim Linderman
What were they thinking? The book Commies, Cowboys and Jungle Queens calls this pre-code debacle "a blatant vehicle for sexual fantasy." Hah! Published to no acclaim in 1952, this is issue number one (of one) of Pin Up Pete. The lives of a GI Casanova!And sure enough, there stands Pete, fresh and clean, home from the war, with jungle girls and some hot tang from the Ice Capades on his arms. Inside, Pete is in much poorer shape, as he and his friends, rendered like Bill Mauldin's Joe (bearded and sloped) pour over pin-up conquests from Pete's past. I think they are supposed to be dead, and we are supposed to think wherever they are, they are still living their pin-up dreams in heaven.
The intended audience? Sheesh. Certainly not the 8 year old sons the vets who made it home produced. Could be their younger brothers who followed the war at home and were now about of "pin-up-pounding" age? Maybe an aging vet who only read comic books and wanted to relive the glory of his paper-doll friends instead of the horror of war?
Pete was a lucky man. Not only did he survive the war, he survived with every memory of his lusty comic-book cuties intact. He had them all in his dreams...and he's willing to kiss and tell. Nary a Rosie the Riveter escaped his dogging...and in his mind they were all tough, beautiful and somewhat dominant dames, just like every cartoonist with a pervy bent drew them before Kefauver forced them into drawing REAL smut to make a living!
Whatever, There was only one issue, and from an age when anything went in comic books...just like today!Some pages have a pin drawn in! Maybe so few of these exist today because kids tore it up and stuck them on the wall just like real pinups?The great BookSteve has a copy and so do I. I'll post some of the pages he didn't.Pin Up Pete: Loves of a GI Casanova! Toby Press (A Minoan Magazine) 1952 Collection Victor MinxThis is also a post on Vintage Sleaze the BlogSEE DULL TOOL DIM BULB BOOK CATALOG AND ORDER HERE
Looks like someone tried to buy a date with some food, but Doris calls the shots.
I thank you very much for the sandwich and would love to have some more. I'm very sorry but I can't meet you either evening for I have a date both nights. I would like to have your photo though for I wouldn't know you if i met you on the street. Your friend, Doris Beck
Homemade postcard/note with affixed photograph Circa 1930? Collection Jim Linderman
I'm not a big fan of Jazz, but I am a HUGE fan of Wynton Marsalis. As I have said before, if you ever have a chance to see him, you will be telling your grandchildren one day...he is that important. As for Clapton, I have always thought he was capable of solos even Coltrane couldn't imagine. So this pairing, recorded live, is a blessing.
I've seen Wynton in this same venue...he being pretty much the house band there. I was fortunate enough to be near the front when he played here with Dr. John. I know...sorry you weren't there.
If I still lived in New York City, I would have been first in line for this gig too. The CD just came out.
I won't digress on the racial elements, other than to say we have a European influenced African-American Jazz man from New Orleans playing with an African (Delta) influenced white man from England. Can they make harmony? Duh.
My nomination for a Grammy. What category? MUSIC. The clip below is but a small example. Not only that, you see Clapton talk...something he rarely does without his fingers!
CLICK TO ENLARGE
CLICK TO ENLARGEThe first public showing of the original photographs of Rudolf Rossi in Santa Fe at Au Boudoir Art Space this November. Each original photograph was taken, developed and hand-tinted by the artist circa 1955. Each photograph is one of a kind and they were never shown during the artist's lifetime, nor have they been seen since. The book Camera Club Girls, available HERE, acts as the catalog to the exhibition. Camera Club Girls: Bettie Page, Her Friends and the Work of Rudolph Rossi by Jim Linderman is available from Blurb.com. 114 Pages, $37.00 softcover, with over 150 illustrations.
Few of us are lucky enough to have worked with greatness, but I have. Way back during my hard-boiled drunk librarian days, I was fortunate enough to work near, and frequently with, Andrew Rooney at CBS News. Eight years. After all that time, the worst boss I ever had in my life fired me. Eh...everyone should get fired at least once in their life, it builds character, teaches lessons and I deserved it.Mr. Rooney was a brilliant writer from my father's generation, and he would have liked my father. Both served with distinction during the real war, when boys truly were men. Shipped off at 18 to save the world, literally, and they did. There are very few men left from that war.
Rooney was a journalist when it mattered. I don't think he ever filed a story from a press release in his life, and If that makes any of you "journalists" left feel a bit guilty, good. Shame on you and your like. Andy found his way onto the other side of the camera, but what he really was, and is still, is a damn good writer. A serious, clever, inquisitive writer with probably ten best-sellers under his belt.
Rooney, I believe, is 92, and his last regular piece for 60 minutes will air this Sunday. I'll be watching. During my stint at CBS, I enjoyed more than anything having Andy grump his way towards me to ask for something. What he wanted was help finding a dozen pictures of Muhammad Ali, or the population of some president's hometown, or the amount of money spent on turkey sandwiches during an average year. Once a week or so, the whole 8 years I was there, Andy would come in and challenge me and the rest of the staff with odd requests.
One time Andy asked me a question about E. B. White. I asked what he wanted to know about Charlotte's Web. He stared me right in the eye, and with probably the most gruffness he could muster said "E.B. White wrote the greatest essay about New York City" and stomped away. He was right, and I gave that little book away to friends in the city as birthday presents for the next 15 years.I remember when he showed me the desk he had made by hand. It is still in his office and I will miss seeing it on 60 Minutes. I remember his typewriter, and when he reluctantly switched to a crappy Wang computer. I remember every year he would walk in carrying a huge box of Vidalia onions to share. He did a story on them once and received a box every season.A year or two later, I ran into Andy on West 57th Street while I was on my way to the park for a run. I took to running seriously after being fired...and was down a good 15 or 20 pounds from my CBS days. I had that emaciated look of a good runner. Andy took one look at me and said "Jim? Are you okay?" As I hadn't had to wake up in the morning for 8 months, by choice...I told him I sure was great, chatted a bit and headed up to the park.A few months later, I realized Mr. Rooney had looked at me and feared I had acquired AIDS. At the time, my city was being ravaged by the disease, and unfortunate, withered men were a common sight on the street. Andy cared enough for me to ask.
For years after leaving CBS I always thought the last time I would see anyone from there was at Andy's funeral, which I would have done my best to attend out of my deep respect for the man, but he fooled me. He never died.
It has been some 20 years since I worked at CBS. I still have nightmares about it, but then I still have nightmares about high school. I have knocked around quite a bit since then, but few people I worked with had such an impact on me, and I would like to thank him somehow. The best thing I can do is put him here right next to a photo of E. B. White.
Originally my tribute to co-worker Andrew Rooney, now, a month later, a Tribute to his Life.
A big man thunders along the street in Colorado, 1931. Someone hired a giant. I suspected this could be an unknown photograph of Robert Wadlow, a tall drink of depression era water who passed away in 1940 at the age of 22, but he would have only been 11 years old here. Whoever it was could have certainly delivered a pretty big "HOWDY" and the ten gallon hat could actually be that! Feel free to participate. Any giant watchers out there?
Unknown parade participant 1931 Colorado "NeverFade" photograph collection Jim Linderman
CLICK TO ENLARGEThree original Cartes de Visite photographs from San Francisco around 1880, maybe a bit earlier, maybe a bit later. They were found together, but I do not know if they are actually related. It does look like red and green were popular.Group of CDV photographs, tinted by hand, circa 1880 Collection Jim Linderman
