The back of this photograph tells the viewer that this is "Gail Staniewicz, and her special boy friend, June '68".

1968 was a huge year in American history. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, we were in the midst of a war with Vietnam, the Civil Rights Act was brought into legislation, and a resurgence in women's lib. was in full swing. In the month that this picture was taken Andy Warhol and Kennedy were killed.

Gail Staniewicz' young man is wearing a United States Air Force uniform. It makes me wonder about what these two had to go through and what it was like to live through such a tumultuous time, especially as a young couple. What's really great about this photograph, though, is how happy they are. Gail is making an all together silly face while her special boyfriend looks on admiringly. I'd like to know what happened to these two. Was there relationship one that lasted or was it short lived? What did they like to do in their spare time? What did their parents think about what was all going on? This photograph presents this weird feeling because we know that the time in which they were living was filled with real heartbreak and tragedy, but these kids just looked so happy together. It's nice and comforting in this strange naive way.

If I can trust my memory: this photograph was sent to me by a friend around three years ago. He sent it to me when he was living in Boston and I was still living with my parents in California. He found it in an antique store and sent it to me as a part of a birthday present. The written note on the back reads: "View of LA from observation deck of city hall".

It's hard to date this photograph or know what direction the photographer was facing when the shutter release button was pressed. I think that the decades between us and the photographer resulted in such a change in the Los Angeles landscape that it feels unrecognizable. The only distinguishing factor of this picture are, what I believe to be, rows of trains near the skyline on the left side of the photograph. These trains may be a part of Union Station, one of the last great railway stations built in America, and are easily seen from the southeast corner of Los Angeles' City Hall's observation deck. A haze of smog and sunlight blankets the background of the picture, a sight all too familiar in Los Angeles.



Pictures act as a sort of immortalization of a time and place. So, when you contrast more recent photos, often taken digitally, against an older Los Angeles, usually with the archaic format of film, one is able to see the passage of time in a tangible way. Buildings have been destroyed and new ones emerged, modernized and sleek. 

Of related interest: Los Angeles Past, Vintage Los Angeles