fundraiser for big manny

has it already been three weeks? time is flying.

better half had an itch to go play with his new lenses he bought used online. needed to find out if they worked or send’em back. only thing i could think of was a fundraiser that i’d seen a flyer for on instagram.

garden grove isn’t crazy far for us to get to, even though we didn’t leave the house until almost noon. the typical fundraiser has a lot of the memorialized person’s friends and family showing up in their rides, meeting up for food and memories of the dearly beloved.

this particular meet up was at a small neighborhood bar, in a little industrial hood. though i used to have relatives in santa ana/garden grove, i can’t say that i’d ever been in this area. it wasn’t bad, as compared to some neighborhoods i’ve accidently turned into.

the parking lot was small, and there was a post office we parked in, just across the street.

as we drove up, we only saw a few cars. good enough. i always feel a tad odd showing up for some of these fundraisers. i didn’t know the person much, if at all, but i am fairly sure that i’d seen them, their car or club in the past. better half made a donation toward the collection for the funeral expenses, and gave our regards.

i haven’t seen my better half’s shots, and it’s been a while since he had a chance to turn on his computer, and not be working on work work versus fun work. he still has the lenses, so i’m guessing they performed as expected.

instead of just posting one car, i’ll post a few of the handful that were there, and maybe add more if i get a chance. people seemed to have just shown up, which is of course, more important to the family than whether they came to a fundraiser in their classic cars.

zlaket’s

stopped by the show in garden grove yesterday, on the way home from work. was better than sitting in friday traffic. haven't been there in many months, so it was nice to see that the street was pretty busy. i don't think there were too many empty spaces available when i left.

sadly, there weren't enough of the cars that i like or that used to show up there. i consoled myself with the few bel airs that were there. this was the first one i came across.

i set up and took a couple of angles of it, before the owner moseyed over. he asked if he could get a copy. told him i'd post it and handed him my card. want a print? go buy one here.

noticed the latin gents had shown up while heading out, but didn't take any pictures of their cars...to many people around them.

i intended to also stop at the show at the buena park elks' club before sunset, but was thwarted by construction lane closures before i could turn around and go a different way, so skipped it and went home.

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my older bro is in town from the east coast, and today's his birthday <happy bday rob!>, and all of us sibs are actually going to be at my parents' all together. that's rare.

too bad my better half can't go...he's sure to miss some of the best stories my brothers tell from their daily life at work. interesting jobs, they come in contact with some unique samples of humankind—and it's not even walmart.

then to see my younger bro mimic people...he transforms into that person, so you can almost see them. it's just priceless. bubbles, the ginormous stripper from west virginia, is a fav. with her country twang demanding "i thank you need to buy me a drank," to the gyrations of gravity on her heavyset frame coming to a stop, he burns the image of her perfectly into your mind, though you've never even seen her.

anyway, got things to do this weekend. looks like i'm hitting up a couple of shows next weekend, so gotta take care of stuff now. and probably do a job for work on top of that. don't think i'll drive all the way down to the office, unless i really need to, though that's fun too...no one there except the cleaning crew, and i always suprise the shit out of one of the women, when she comes around the corner of my cubicle.

i get misty

perfect weather for pictures early in the morning. fog and mist rolling off the water and through the park kept the harsh shadows away, but it sure did wonders for my hair. getting longer, and being baby fine, it just goes all limp, so i don't even bother to do much with it now. i'll chop it short eventually, but now is the time to see how long it will grow, which i suspect won't be much past my shoulder blades. at least i can tie it up now, when i get too warm and absolutely don't give a damn how i look, as long as i can get a good shot.

this chevy was parked with the bridge town oldies club, but i'm not particulary sure it belongs to them. not perfect, but slightly less chipped paint from this side, i think it was the color that stopped me for a shot.

my better half must have handed one of my cards to the owner, as he sent an email to me asking to see any pictures of it. i knew full well that i hadn't passed out any cards this early in the day. i forward those requests to him, and i know he sent off what he had taken.

well, i happened to have shot it too. always fun to compare our shots, but i don't think he posted his for all to see.

anyway, i see that i've posted a bunch of chevys. i think next time i'll post something else for a change. should really look back through the shows i went to last month when i couldn't post, and show them some love.

been busy

finally got a couple of hard drives and spent the weekend backing up stuff, getting ready to make room on my hard drive. plus it rained, so i skipped a couple of shows, assuming no one would go.

so, i'm still finishing up some back ups, but if its not raining tomorrow, i intend to check out a new show in el toro. i'm not quite sure why its starting, since there's still the one at fuddruckers at the same time. i've been away from it for a while, so maybe there's some drama going on with the organizers or the restaurant. maybe they intend to move it all over to the new one. i don't' know, but i'll check it out.

meanwhile, my better half's van has been having engine and/or electrical issues, and i have to drive him over to pick it up again in few minutes, so here's a quick post. it's a viejitos car. it's red. red's a bitch.

not plain vanilla

here's the first one i took from the dia de los muertos show in whittier yesterday. this was a row of showlows cars. ronnie was kind enough to let me know they were going to be there, and since its right up the street from me, easy to walk to. even got uptown early and got some bfast before they arrived.

i don't think i've seen this one from their club. very exceptional and clean. i liked the pinstripes, which they all seem to have, and it's very well done.

verde

just now realized this is the third green car in a row. oh well. they match my eyes, if you need a reason. i dunno. maybe it just gets more difficult to pick what to post...i've found so many spectacular cars the last few shows. i'm on chevy overload again. it's only january...i'm gonna run out of room on my hard drive before the year is over if i don't watch it.

found this one at angelo's on thursday. this belongs to one of the latin gents car club members...maybe one of those guys on the left there. they're very nice guys, love their cars. i've seen them here and there before, and they said the same about me.

all the awesome chevy's i've seen at chubby's the last couple of weeks are theirs too. damn, you guys, they're beautiful cars. anyway, they flipped when i showed them my pictures, and seemed interested in me shooting some pics of them and their cars at chubby's on friday. i don't do a lot of pics with owners in there with their cars, but i was willing to try it again.

i got there too early for most of them on friday, and the majority of them were driving in as i was driving out...maybe next week...i'm feeling kinda ill right now, and think i'll go lay down.

green with envy

i'm starting to miss taking pictures. of anything, actually. perfect day outside today, and of course, no car shows in the winter on a monday. rain will be coming back tomorrow evening...i wonder if that will scare off the cars at fuddruckers. well, guess i'll find out soon enough.

maybe i should go out to the peterson museum, but i don't think they'd let me bring the tripod in. eh, maybe i should go to a greenhouse and shoot some flowers or bugs or something.

anyway, here's an old chevy that visited the broiler once upon a time on a sunny evening, back in may. i'm sure it was the metallic sparkle paint that caught my eye at the time. it also had a touch of pinstriping, but i don't remember it being overdone.

century prime

i made my first visit to the monthly show over behind the honda center, at the bob's big boy in orange last sunday. didn't seem to be too much else going on elsewhere on sunday. i missed several shows on saturday that i have been meaning to get back to and always having something else on my calendar to keep me from them. ah well, maybe next month...

maybe i was a little early, even though i got there an hour after start time, but there didn't seem to be too many cars. there were a few in a small lot on one side of the building, then a few rows of scattered cars on the other side, though there were a few other rows taped off but empty, so i suppose more show up later or whatever.

i have a few shots that i will post at some point from this show. i'll start with this one, since the owner seemed to be very interested in what i was doing, especially after showing him my book of prints. he was hesitant at first to close the hood on his baby, but i guess i proved it might be interesting to let me have a go. he kept an eye on me, of course, but no worries, i didn't get near enough to damage the goods.

it was pretty clean, and had he not closed the hood, i would have been satisfied with my shots of the dashboard. i usually like the tail end on the older chevys but this model year doesn't really do it for me—almost too plain—so i passed on that.

the frame on the back plate proclaimed him to be a vietnam vet...so is my dad...so thanks to both of them for their service, belatedly.