Automosaurus Rex . . . (or Wrecks ?)

Talk about giant American cars. . . useful perhaps back when gasoline cost 25 cents a gallon. Going the way of the dinosaurs now I guess. It was about time, too. . . Photographed this behemoth on Lemon Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, back in 1988.

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Harsh Fate . . .

Just up the street from where I lived in Lancaster, PA, there was a beautiful old cemetery. In the Winter certain angels wore a covering of snow, and for others, having to spend eternity sleeping in the cold earth was a harsh fate. . . and they said so. . .

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Better Than This ?

A street scene in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1988. The beer in the billboard on the left is Old Milwaukee, which, if you recall, was not "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous", because that, as you know already, was Schlitz beer. But nevertheless, it reminds me of that old story about the pitcher for a baseball team whose name was Milt Famey. Milt Famey was drinking a few beers in the bullpen one day, when he got the call to replace another pitcher on the mound. He then proceeded to walk the next four batters, walking in the run that won the game for the other team. One of the winning players who had been walked saw the empty beer cans in the bullpen after the game, and exclaimed, "by gosh, that's the beer that made Milt Famey walk us !"
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Actually, what I love in this image is the message, "It doesn't get any better than this". . . a nice thought. . . for the world at present, I am hoping it doesn't get any worse than this . . .
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Signs Of Our Times . . .

The image of the clown behind the window in the post just below this one dredged up a memory of an overgrown sign I photographed back in 1988 in Pennsylvania, near Lancaster, which in turn reminded me of two other signs from the same time frame, one for Lancaster County Motors Inc., and the other for South Jersey Real Estate with a lovely rooster. . . signs of our times.

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State of Abandon. . . 51st State ?

In an earlier post I showed the exterior of a couple of abandoned houses in Pennsylvania in the region just to the east of Three Mile Island, an area where there were a surprising number of abandoned houses. No doubt related to the incident in 1979 at TMI. I went inside some of them, as I cannot resist poking around in places like that, these four photos are from those houses back in 1988. In this first one, the chimney had collapsed down itself, vomiting out bricks all over the living room floor. . . Now I'm hearing that there is a whole new generation of abandoned houses forming due to unscrupulous practices by major financial institutions, for which we are all paying the price now. . . in a few years they'll be ready to start photographing.

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Susquehanna Winter . . .

In the winter of 1988 I was living out in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and took a few day trips over to the Susquehanna River. In February the river was covered with ice and the snack bar was. . . closed.

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From the edge of the river this is what the ice looked like up closer . . .

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Three Mile Abandon. . .

I lived in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country, for nearly the entire year of 1988. On weekends I loved to get out and ramble around the countryside, and made several day trips to the Susquehanna River valley area. You may recall that back in 1979 the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island experienced a major problem, not quite perhaps on the scale of Tchernobyl, but all sources seem to agree that there was a serious release of radioactive matter into the atmosphere. Just how bad ? Who knows, the debate apparently is not closed. What I do know, is that wandering around the area to the east of Three Mile Island in 1988, I was surprised at the number of abandoned houses all over the region. Some that I visited looked like people had left in a big hurry, leaving clothes in closets and canned or bottled food in cupboards and cellars. Some were literally falling down. Here are two examples. . . what a strange world we live in. . .

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Dream Cars Reprise !

The timing of the story coming in today from Jalopnik.com, mentioned in the post just below this one, was perfect, as I just got another small batch of photos back from the lab this evening. . . more of the 4000 negatives that I never got around to printing over the years. And they are full of wonderful surprises. . . well, wonderful for me, the certifiably demented dreamer of dream cars and dream houses putting this blog together for your perusing, carousing pleasure. . . Only another 3600 or so left to go !

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These three beauties were photographed in Central Pennsylvania in 1988 while I was out one day rambling around in the woods not far from my dream house. . .

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