Posts Tagged ‘black & white’
May 27, 2012
© karen e. titus | all rights reserved
Waterloo, New York
This business hasn’t traveled far since opening in 1887 – it started two doors up the street from its current site, according to owner William B. Velte Jr. It moved to this spot in 1932.
Velte bought the store in 1965. Apart from a 28-month stint in the service, starting in 1950, he’s been a steady presence. “I love to fix screens and windows,” he says. Velte started working in the store in the winter of 1948, right out of high school, earning $26 a week. The first thing his boss told him: “If we have another Depression, you’re gonna have to take a cut in pay.”
Velte says the secret of his success is simple. “Work. 60 hours a week. I clean the streets, I clean the parking lot, I don’t take coffee breaks.”
Though he appears to sell everything in his store, it’s not quite the case. At one point his daughter (who began working at the store when she was a 4th grader) came by with a customer. She told her dad, “He’s looking for a propane fogger.”
Not even bothering to look up from the screen he was repairing, Velte replied, “That’s not us.”
Tags:black & white, characters, main streets, Memorial Day, New York, photography, road trip, Route 20, shops, travel
Posted in New York | Leave a Comment »
February 14, 2012
© karen e. titus | all rights reserved
Newport, Oregon
The Yaquina Bay Bridge, opened in 1936, is on U.S. Route 101, the north-south route at the far western edge of Newport. Route 20 comes to an abrupt end at 101, with no fanfare whatsoever. The view of the bridge offers a nice coda at the end of the accidental highway.
Tags:black & white, bridges, Oregon, photography, road trip, Route 20, travel
Posted in Oregon | Leave a Comment »
May 21, 2011
© karen e. titus | all rights reserved
Westfield, New York
Those who live in the Chautauqua region of New York point, with justifiable pride, to the area’s charm and beauty, the Finger Lakes wineries, the Chautauqua Institution…. Certainly they’re not lacking in a sense of humor, either.
Tags:black & white, New York, photography, road trip, Route 20, shops, travel
Posted in New York | Leave a Comment »
May 16, 2011
© karen e. titus | all rights reserved
Idaho Falls, Idaho
“I get up at 2:30 in the morning to be here by 4. At 5 a.m., there’s always a trucker, and a few farmers for coffee and a bite to eat before going out in the fields. The retired guys with wives are still sleeping then, but they’ll come in later and meet for coffee. There’s never a time when we don’t have customers, which is why I like this job. I’m never off the floor more than 10 minutes total in a nine-hour shift.
“It’s the same old crowd, day after day. The same old conversations. I can always tell what time of day it is just by looking down the counter.”
Tags:black & white, characters, diners, Idaho, photography, road trip, Route 20, travel
Posted in Idaho | 1 Comment »
May 12, 2011
© jan albers | all rights reserved
Sharon Springs, New York
Now part of the national historic district in Sharon Springs, New York, the temple was part of the mineral water spa that drew visitors from the early 19th century to the the start of World War II.
Tags:black & white, historic buildings, New York, photography, road trip, Route 20, travel
Posted in Lost Highway, New York | Leave a Comment »
May 6, 2011
© karen e. titus | all rights reserved
Waterloo, New York
Waterloo, N.Y., takes Memorial Day seriously, staking its claim as this holiday’s birthplace. In the summer of 1865, local druggist Henry C. Welles suggested honoring the Civil War’s dead by placing flowers on their graves. The following May, the village held its first official celebration, draping evergreens with black, flying flags to half mast, and parading to the three village cemeteries to decorate the graves of the fallen soldiers.
One resident was moved by a more pragmatic patriotism. Speaking from the diner she owns on Main Street, which was filled with American flags, she watched through the window as other town residents worked in a frenzy to prepare for the parade. “They’re expecting 30,000 people. Where’re they gonna put them? 20,000 people. No room. 10,000 people. Where’re they gonna put 10,000 people? They’re making a big mistake.”
Tags:black & white, cemeteries, festivals, Memorial Day, New York, photography, road trip, Route 20, travel
Posted in New York | Leave a Comment »
May 4, 2011
© jan albers | all rights reserved
Johnstown, Nebraska
This small bar offers patrons unparalleled living on the edge: The sign in the window warned “Microwave in Use,” while the sign inside the bar read, “Smoking is NOT Prohibited.”
The L-Bow Room had no running water or plumbing, so Cleo Dodd, the 70-plus owner, carried in jugs of water every morning. The bar served the needs of local farmers and ranchers who wanted a cup of coffee, a cold beer or a round of pool.
Tags:black & white, characters, Nebraska, photography, road trip, Route 20, travel
Posted in Nebraska | Leave a Comment »
The Accidental Highway 