1950 cadillac
instead of going to dino’s cinco de mayo show at lincoln park, i ended up out in long beach, at a little car show in a church parking lot. no idea what types of cars would show up. my reason for going there is that my daughter is living out there somewhere with her boyfriend and her dog. in a room at his grandmother’s house. her stuff lives in my condo, which at this point is just an expensive storage unit that smells of stale dog piss. but that’s another rant for another day.
i figured since i was over there, we could do lunch. talked to her the day before and she said she’d “be down for that.”
got a text message that morning saying they’d been up late, she couldn’t sleep and was too tired to come over. sort of typical.
made the best of the situation. not knowing what to expect, and show hours said starting at nine a.m., i was there about an hour or so early, so i could get parking. thought cars would already be arriving for roll-in, as you do. nope. bunch of vendors setting up, but no old cars.
and did i mention it was a sunday? church was holding mass. nah, didn’t go in, but did splash some holy water on my forehead. very least religion i can do.
i wandered around until i found a bathroom. walked through the little garden area and looked at the various altars and statues. went back to my car and listened to music.
about the time i said i’d give it five more minutes, an old chevy truck showed up. told myself i’d at least get a picture of that one. by the time i found him parked he’d already popped the hood. shit.
then an old ford galaxie pulled up, so i settled for that. by the time i was down with that one, i noticed the owner of the truck and his daughter were going to walk away, and they closed the hood. got that one too.
closer to ten cars finally started showing up. but there was only a small area coned off for them. who plans a car show at a church on a sunday? so as mass ended, they started shufling cars and casually pushing cones further out.
sun was already high, and i figured i’d never find parking at lincoln park, so i stayed for a couple of hours and shot all the cars i liked.
seen this cadillac before, at an xmas toy drive late one evening in december. it was dark, and it wasn’t the best location. here it is again, in a circle, center of attention. interesting use of pinstriping and painted on “cadillac,” as well as metal flake paint. liked it well enough.
did i also mention there was a stage? when the live “band” (i only remember seeing a singer and a guitarist) started screeching out some zz top lyrics, i totally laughed at the dichotomy of the harpy belting out rock tunes and knowing the mass was going, with the side door open. no way the priest and parishoners couldn’t hear the profanity as they got their dose of gospel.
i couldn’t take the singer’s voice any longer, and just had to leave. headed over to the together car club picnic, since it was close to home.