re: Pictures from days gone by....

Just bought these vintage salt shakers.

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Is that a bowl FULL of assorted brand packs of cigarettes on that table?

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Years after visiting Frank and enjoying the hi fi system, the lung cancer reminds his guests of the lovely time they spent there.

There is something “off” about this Gary’s Garage Sinclair Gas photo. A lot of vintage stuff on display, including the car, the gas pumps, water can, etc. However, what about that Sinclair Credit Card sign?

I know what you mean. There's something a little hinky about it. But I can't quite make up my mind. It seems conceivably real, but it also seems just a little too 'calculated,' as if it were consciously composed, like a more modern photo trying to emulate a vision of the past. Having both the S&H Green Stamps sign and the Royal Crown cola thermometer on each side of the door almost seems a little too much bowing down to familiar iconography. Even a podunk place like that having a 'gas war' sign seems odd, and doesn't seem right with the vintage of the car, even if said car was maybe 20 years old at the time.

Again, could be real. But it sure got my suspicions going. I say all this because I was also a camera bug when I was younger, and I shot lots and lots of old gas-stations, cafes, and roadside americana.

Thanks for clearing that up! It's a hell of a good replica. But it did get my suspicions going.

It reminds me of so many modern movies or tv-shows that try to replicate past times. There are some very clever and talented set-designers and such, and they can successfully present correctly dated decor. But they usually falter by leaning too much on jamming things with year-specific iconography. A film set in 1935 or 1955 or 1975, and every bloomin' backdrop has a temporal Sears catalog exclusivity that doesn't truly capture the realism of its era. It might 'evoke' an era, but is basically too self-conscious and too precocious for my tastes, and undercuts the intent (at least, for me). Visually, time-periods are much more composites of modernity and what came before.

Elvis tells Frank to hold my beer...

I remember going to a Luther's somewhere between Jean Laffite and NOLA. The food was great especially when it was a late evening mid-week stop.