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BLURB has free shipping thru 12/10. Use the code FESTIVE. Now's a GREAT time to buy my book Traveling The Mother Road, Route 66 POLAROIDS.

The book is softcover, 80 pages, premium luster paper, and sells for $22.95. All the photos were shot with a Polaroid SLR 680 SE / Polaroid 600 film along historic Route 66 in California and Arizona. See classic cars & trucks, neon, road signs, wild burros & even kitsch aliens.

Check out the preview:

Traveling The Mother Road Route 66 POLAROIDS by Lydia Marcus | Make Your Own Book

THE LAST TRUCK: CLOSING OF A GM PLANT

As a fan of cars, Americana, and documentaries, I was drawn in by the Oscar nominated documentary short "The Last Truck: Closing Of A GM Plant" - currently playing on HBO On Demand.

The IMDB tagline sums it up as, "The inside story of the last days of a General Motors plant in Moraine, Ohio, as lived by the people who worked the line."

The plant came to a close as the U.S. economy faltered, gas prices rose, and the gas guzzling SUVs and trucks made on the GM line fell out of favor with the American public.

The documentary shows ordinary American factory workers (all with just high school educations) showing pride in their workmanship on the line, unsure of what future employment they will be able to find with their education level, and sharing stories of the wonderful solidarity and companionship they found among their GM co-workers. Sure these people just helped manufacture cars, but I really saw them as great American heroes doing the hard physical work that's responsible for building this great country and automotive industry. The film shows a cohesion and fraternity rare among women and men, blacks and whites, young and old.

Besides the dignity and pride that shows through from the interview subjects, I felt the film had a real beauty in how it captured the exterior of the plant and town.
- Lydia Marcus

Promo

Here's an interview with the filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar.

WE WANNA GET OUR KICKS ON ROUTE 66

If you like the bad performances on American Idol you may get a kick out of me and my two friends singing a twist on the song Get Your Kicks On Route 66. We made the video for a contest sponsored by Sears called Exploring My America. We hope to win the L.A. to Amarillo Route 66 portion so we can go on the trip and have it paid for by Sears.

LADY LIBERTY

Happy 4th of July weekend!


Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed January 23, 2010 in Twentynine Palms, CA

Photographed with a Nikon D40 / Nikon 18-55mm

TRADESMAN

© Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
May 8, 2010 in Culver City, CA

Photographed using a Nikon D80 and Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 lens.
Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body only)

CULVER CITY CAR SHOW 2010

Sunday I attended the free Culver City Car Show - my favorite local classic car show. It was a bit difficult to get full length photos of the cars (too many people in the way) and honestly, the background would have looked cluttered and ugly anyway. This led me to take photos I love to take anyway - close up, abstract details of cars, trucks, and vans. I absolutely LOVE the vintage fonts on these vehicles. Job-Rated, Hotrod, Apache - way cooler than Accord, Venza, Prius, or some lame brain series of letters and numbers.
- Lydia Marcus



















And now for some levity - a woman posing with the Green Hornet. Go GRAY HORNET!



These motorcycle helmets are both creepy and creative.


Culver City Car Show 2010
© Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
May 8, 2010 in Culver City, CA

Shot using a Nikon D80 and Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 lens.
Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body only)

RANGER QUADTYCH

Ford Ranger Quadtych
© Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed April 20, 2010 in Sherman Oaks, CA

Shot with a Nikon D80 with a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens.
Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body only)

SALTON MARINA

© Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed March 28, 2010 in Salton Sea, CA
Nikon 24mm f/2.8 lens and a Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body only)

THE TOURIST

"The Tourist" © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed April 3, 2010 at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Photographed with a Nikon 55-200mm VR

SPORTYCRAFT

Ford Econoline 150 Sportycraft
Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed March 8, 2010 in Lake Balboa, CA

SERVICE

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed February 20, 2010 in Downtown Los Angeles

SURFIN' WESTRIDGE-CANYONBACK

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed February 7, 2010 in Encino, CA
at Westridge-Canyonback Wilderness Park

PIONEERTOWN

Last weekend I went on a Los Angeles Group flickrmeet to Pioneertown and Joshua Tree National Park. For this blog post I'm sharing photos from Pioneertown. If you'd like to check out photos other people took on the meet, check out this discussion thread on flickr. Next time I post, I'll share my Joshua Tree shots.

Here's a description of Pioneertown's cinematic history according to to www.pioneertown.com:

"Pioneertown was built in 1946 as a movie set for western movies, including the movies of Gene Autry, The Cisco Kid, with Duncan Renaldo, Annie Oakley with Gail Davis, Judge Roy Bean with Edgar Buchanan, Range Rider with Jock O. Mahoney, and Buffalo Bill Jr. with Dick Jones. The movie set was to provide a place for the actors to live, and have their homes used as part of a movie set. Some of the original investors in the town were Roy Rogers, who also built thePioneer Bowl, Sons of the Pioneers, which the town was named after, Dick Curtis who was a professional villian in old movies, Bud Abbott, Russell Hayden, who played Lucky on the Hopalong Cassidy series, Louella Parsons the Hollywood gossip columnist and Philip N. Krasne: The Man Who Saved Pioneertown. Mane Street is private property and is always open to courteous pedestrians."

Pioneertown is only a two hour drive from L.A. We were graced by the beautiful presence of fresh snow all over Pioneertown.



Me on "Mane" Street. Photo by Laurie Thomson.


While most of the group wandered through the Pioneertown, I found myself drawn to the Pioneertown Motel in the back and the snow covered cars and landscape behind the Motel.













This is the motel.


The motel was very cool and had a lot of character. Each room has it's own kitchenette. It's definitely the kind of place I'd like to stay at in the future - quiet, peaceful, nostalgic.



A beautiful tree on Mane Street.


A funny snow woman by the motel.

This snow woman reminds me of Dustin Hoffman in drag as Dorothy Michaels in the classic early 80's romantic comedy "Tootsie"

It was pretty much a ghost town at Pioneertown - we were the only tourists. The only other people I saw were staying at the motel. A few of those were out walking their doggies out in the snow.

This cute doggie named Gracie was sunbathing in front of her two mommies' motel room.









As the group was getting ready to leave Pioneertown, I met these three amigos.



These guys were kind of like Jackass or Dumb and Dumber come to life. The guy on the left was a groom to be. On the way to get married, he got his car stuck in the mud. While working to get the car dug out of the mud with a shovel, he split the tux pants he was supposed to wear to the ceremony. Once they got the car out, the trio did some pre wedding celebrating with Pabst beers. This was just before 11am. The last thing I heard the groom say was something about he should have known better about getting the car stuck because he grew up driving that road and that his wife to be was going to be pissed and he probably wasn't going to be "getting any" tonight. At least he had a sense of humor about it. Good luck with the marriage buddy.

Photo credits © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed January 23, 2010 in Pioneertown, CA

COMING OR GOING

Volkswagen Vanagon L
Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2009 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed December 10, 2009 in Studio City, CA

SUBURBAN 'STANG

"Suburban 'Stang"
Polaroid Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2009 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed May 17, 2009 in Lake Balboa, CA

CONTINENTAL TRIPTYCH

Polaroid photo credit: © Lydia Marcus 2009 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed May 9, 2009 in Culver City, CA at the Sixth Annual Cruisin' Back to Culver City Car Show

From Hemmings.com:

"Bizarre or beautiful? Lincoln's all-new Mark III, IV and V Continentals upped the ante in luxury motoring. To some, the 1958 through 1960 Lincoln Mark III, IV and V Continentals are under-appreciated middle children, straddling the line between the understated, classic 1956-'57 Continental Mark II and the Camelot-chic 1961 Continental; others consider them the redheaded stepchildren of the 1950s Lincoln line. Whatever your thoughts, there's no escaping these Continentals' advanced unit-body design, massive stretch-out room and distinctive styling. With prices on their forebears and followers rising by the day, now is the time to aim for middle ground and pick up a 1958-'60 Continental."

RAM VAN

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2008 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed December 28, 2008 in Venice, CA

HAUTE DOGGITY

This was my second year in a row attending the Haute Dog Howl'oween Parade in Long Beach. Last year's parade had more than 600 dogs in costume and this year's parade was even bigger. Last year the parade took place on the sidewalk with spectators squeezed on both sides of the cement. This year the parade expanded to two closed off streets with spectators seated in rented chairs lining the street, standing on either side of the street, or sitting directly on the curb.

When we first drove past the festival, both Cali and Abbey (my neighbor Amy's dog) started whimpering a little and just sniffing the air like crazy. They saw and sensed a lot of dogs in the area and they were beginning to get wound up. I wasn't sure how Cali was going to do with all the doggie stimulation. She LOVES to play and I thought she'd be pulling me in all directions. The past month I've been taking her out with me to lots of festivals and she's been getting better and better at remaining calm when she sees other dogs. The first time I took her out with me to the Taste of Encino, I thought she was going to pull my arm out of it's socket lunging and pulling to get at other dogs. But at the Haute Dog Howl'oween she turned out to be surprisingly calm and just wanted to say hi or give a quick kiss to all the doggies she met. There were a couple playful pups closer to her age that actually engaged in play with her so that was great. The only problem I had with her was her attention span - she started to get kind of antsy during the parade because we were planted in one place for a very long time. When you're dealing with a puppy it's really no different than dealing with a kid. You wouldn't expect a kid to stay put in one place for a very long time without wanting to get out an roam around and a dog is exactly like that. Instead of getting up, I just decided to forgo watching the parade for a little while and got down on the ground with her to give her attention and belly rubs.

I didn't get to take as many photos as last year because holding onto Cali and taking photos at the same time is a challenge. But here are my faves from the day. Everything was shot with my Nikon D80 and a 50mm lens at f/1.8.


Pomeranian cutie.


The cutest boxer puppy! I just wanted to eat it up!!!


This "lobster" dog took for cover under the chair because it was wary of Cali.


Tiny & Precious!


I had originally bought a ladybug costume for Cali but she wasn't having any part of it. Maybe when she's older and calmer I can ease her into a costume. But I did manage to pick up this cute scarf for her at the Haute Dog festival. It's red with white hearts and looks great against her black coat. I also bought a yellow one that has a hibiscus flower pattern on it. They attach with velcro and were only $4 dollars.


This is my neighbor Amy with her chihuahua mix Abbey. Abbey is Cali's first playmate, they met right when I got Cali at 4 months old. Abbey is a little bundle of energy and spunk and who always lets Cali know who's the boss! This was the first time Cali and Abbey traveled in the car together and they got along great.


I wanted to get a better portrait after the parade but we were all so pooped out. Posing two dogs together is not so easy.


I think this is a boston terrier dressed as a Laker. It just wanted to play. So sweet.


SUPER LAB!


Definitely the weirdest (and possibly most creative) entry in the parade.


The "Lion" dog and Abbie. The lion mane was homemade by it's owner. Soooo cute.


Chickies!


Playful pup.


This year the parade began with a kid costume category. I thought this little girl dressed as bacon was the best!


This little boy was awesome as Edward Scissorhands. I loved his scowling expression!


A portrait of me & Cali taken by my friend Matthew.


Another shot of me & Cali. Cali will be 8 months old in a few days.

Photo credits © Lydia Marcus 2009
Photographed October 31, 2009 in Long Beach, CA at the Haute Dog Howl'oween Parade

Update November 6, 2009: Received new photos from my friend Matthew Dillon so thought I'd share them.

Here's Amy M., Me & Cali, and my neighbor Amy S. with Abbey.


Me & Cali and Amy S. & Abbey.