That Vintage Girl

Mermaid and her Octopus by Tina O'Brien. The mysterious and alluring mermaid, a half-human and half-fish female that lives in the sea, has appeared in mythology, folklore, art, and music across many cultures for centuries dating as far back as ancient times.  Mermaids have been referred to as sea-maidens, sirens, nymphs, or merrows and portrayed as beautiful and seductive creatures with benevolent and malevolent powers that can bring good fortune and tragedy.  In ancient Greek mythology, they were referred to as sirens, half-women and half-bird creatures known for their enchanting songs that bewitched sailors and led them to their doom. In Irish and Scottish folklore, their beauty lured men to the sea. In Slavic folklore, mermaids were the souls of beautiful women who drowned. The mermaid in Hans Christian Anderson's fairytale, The Little Mermaid, trades her beautiful voice for legs to be with the prince she loves.  Between the 16th and 20th centuries, ship builders start...

If you walk along any famous boulevard in Los Angeles, you will find many hidden treasures and relics from old Los Angeles.  I get a feeling of elated joy and nostalgia when I see that these remnants from the past are still with us. The old Studio City Theater on 12136 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City is one of these historic treasures.  It was a popular neighborhood movie house from 1938 to 1991.  After the theater closed it became a bookstore, first operating as BookStar and now as Barnes and Noble.  But most special about this theater is that most of the original Art Deco inspired structures have survived like the original ticket booth, the theater marque, the entry with the window cards to display movie posters, and the beautiful terrazzo floor.  Inside, you can still see the projection port windows that projected thousands of film reels onto the silver screen. And the new Art Deco inspired signage inside the bookstore blends perfectly with the original styl...

This Museum Day post is about my visit to the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, California. Tucked away in a remote part of the Inland Empire, the museum has one of the largest collections of interurban electric street cars that were used on the Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles during the early 1900s. The museum collects and restores these beautiful vintage rail cars to preserve and share their historical significance in the development of transportation and communities in America.  It was not too long ago in American history when the primary mode of intercity transportation was just walking.  So people shopped and worked close to their homes.  But this stationary lifestyle began to change in the late 1800s with the development of electric powered trains referred to as trolley or street cars.  As more and more trolley lines were built,  they evolved into expanded interurban railway systems that ran within and between cities. Developers began...