A gas station doing in an ornate Spanish Revival style, with a small cupola at the top. Faded letters read "Barnsdall Oil Co. and Rio Grand Oil Co." Blue and white tile frame old doorways and windows.

I Pulled Over for This! Neon Lights and More from our Bay Area Road Trip

July 19, 2022, Leave a Comment on I Pulled Over for This! Neon Lights and More from our Bay Area Road Trip

Sometimes when out and about I stumble across a neat sign or abandoned building, a place really cool to look at, but perhaps not much more than that and doesn’t need a blog post all to itself. This is always the case with road trips, so today I bring you a round up of some…

Myself seated on the "Throne of Love" which is painted red and has gold designs around the edge and has various indicator lights reading options such as "Wild Thing, Adorable, Hot Stuff, Sizzling Hot, Hotsy Totsy, Lovable, Passionate, A Sweet Hart, Bombshell"

Revisiting the Coin-Op Delights of Musée Mécanique

July 5, 2022, 1 Comment

Fisherman’s Wharf is an icon of San Francisco, with both the hustle and bustle of the still active fishing community along side tourists who run in and out of the various restaurants, shops, and museums. Nestled next to the iconic Grotto restaurant is my favorite place in all of San Fransisco, Musée Mécanique, an astounding…

The dock of the island, with the large former barracks turned apartments looming above.

More than a Prison: The Gardens, Native American Heritage, and Birds of Alcatraz

July 1, 2022, Leave a Comment on More than a Prison: The Gardens, Native American Heritage, and Birds of Alcatraz

Alcatraz. The Rock. The most formidable prison in the United States. From its early years as a fort, later turned prison, and then the location of the protest that sparked the 1970s Native American Rights Movement, Alcatraz Island is now a National Park that seeks to preserve the history of the island, while also accepting…

Myself, wearing a red, white and blue stripe shirt, blue jeans, and carrying a vintage cream colored suitcase, standing in front of the motel, which is painted blue with yellow trim, in the background hangs the sign for the motel, a black sign reading "Ocean Park Motel Kitchens Hot Tub No Vacancy" in neon letters.

Staying at San Francisco’s First Ever Motel, the Ocean Park Motel

June 29, 2022, Leave a Comment on Staying at San Francisco’s First Ever Motel, the Ocean Park Motel

After our stop in Santa Rosa it was time to head into San Francisco proper and check into the place I chose for our stay. Like I said before, I love staying at unique and historic places, and when I found out San Francisco’s first ever motel was still standing, I knew we had to…

Greetings from San Francisco

June 8, 2022, 3 Comments

…Well almost! We are headed there this weekend for a few days, and I thought it was the perfect excuse to share the San Francisco portion of my vintage postcard collection! The historic Cliff House originally opened in 1863, serving as a resort for the upper class of the Bay Area. However it burned to…

A girl dressed in a German style dirndl holds a camera on the left. A girl in hula attire holding a camera stands on the right. In the middle text reads "YOUR SOUVENIR PHOTO FROM Clifton's Los Angeles, California." Below a ribbon reads "The Brookdale The Pacific Seas" Images of a deer, church, water wheel, thatch hut, ukulele, and pineapple.

The Lost Art of Nite Club Souvenir Photos

April 29, 2020, 8 Comments

It’s no secret I’m a fan of collecting vintage California souvenirs, and awhile back Patrick and I stumbled upon a souvenir photo from the Hollywood Palladium, which was tucked inside a delightful folder. It combined my love of California souvenirs and his love of photography, so we decided to start collecting vintage nite club souvenir…

Treasure Island

August 26, 2014, 4 Comments

After visiting Mission San Juan Bautista, we took a very quick detour to visit another filming location, the Treasure Island Administration Building, located on Treasure Island between San Francisco’s downtown and Oakland. The building is one of the most accessible filming locations from one of my favorite films, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. While Petra…

Walt Disney Family Museum

March 21, 2014, 12 Comments

On our way home from Palm Springs we took a little detour to the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, a place I wanted to visit during my last time to San Fran, but didn’t make it to. The decision to go was somewhat spur of the moment, made in the late evening the…

Mission Dolores

May 9, 2012, 3 Comments

UPDATE: It is important to remember that while California Missions have been hailed as places of peace, they also have deep and complicated histories, including slavery, violence, and forced religious conversion. My last stop on this trip to San Francisco was Mission Dolores. It was on our way back to the airport, and so Patrick…

In Search of Vertigo

May 8, 2012, 4 Comments

San Francisco has certainly changed, that’s for sure. I thought that locating many of the filming sites from Vertigo would be rather simple, heck I had a book to tell me, didn’t I? Well…think again. As I walked the streets of San Francisco on the hunt for what remained of Hitchcock’s “tortured Valentine” to the…