4 posts tagged “antique”
I am stuck inside, it is raining rather hard this morning, so I decided to take pictures of some of my massive collection that needs to stop. I collect too much stuff.
She has always been there at the Antique Sandwich Company in Tacoma. It was established in 1973 by a group of hippies wanting an eatery with character. I started coming here as a child.
There she is, the marble statue. I have gazed at her for 30 years. She seemed so strong to me. I know nothing about her, but in my head I know her. Her strength awakened my own strength inside. She showed me how a woman can be strong and beautiful. When I was a child I would touch her feet, so cold and hard, it surprised me at first. I thought she was just going to move at any moment. I swear I saw her breathing once. I stared into the carved eyes, studied the folds in her toga style dress, the bones in her toes, the soft curls of her hair. She is so dirty now, collecting dust. The only white spot on her body is her nipple. Her exposed breast made me nervous as a child, we would dare each other to touch it, Zach did it gladly. We must have been about 10 years old, I can see we were not the only ones.
It felt like with every angle I snapped a photo, her expression changed. She says so much, and nothing at all. She has been my goddess for so long, and now I share her with you. If you know anything about her I would love to know more.
OKAY! I just called and got a teeny bit more info about her. She has a date of 1893, her name carved in her is "Colombo" she is from Italy, Caracas and was made for the Colombia exhibition. They did a bit of research on her and found some photos of some similar statues but not her, a reference to one named "Americas" which makes sense considering her dress.
I told her of a few of my stories about her and she laughed. She has been meaning to take some photos of her and send them to the smithsonian to see if they could give her some more info.
next stop, Google.
I started the day with my normal 2 cups of black coffee and some cereal. I knew I HAD to go to the post Office. I had to mail my art pages for the skinny book swap. So, I got dressed layered orange and pink striped tank under a long sleeve dusty pink T-shirt and a big orange and purple top over that, dark jeans, blue, pink and green tall striped socks and orange converse tennies. Vintage scarf to cover the hair that was not cooperating AT All, and I was off. Camera around my neck, purse over my shoulder, and art packaged in a bubble envelope clutched to my chest. I did not anticipate how hard it was going to be to let them go. I really loved some of those pages. Sigh, $6 to send them and they were taken to the back room of the post office. They are gone. I walked outside and it was beginning to mist rain so out came the red cherry umbrella.
I decided to go to my favorite antique store, it is only a block away. They gave me so many of the pictures I used in the art pages. I walk in and the older gentleman that owns the shop with his wife is there. He is a smaller man, light blue eyes and a gray beard. He loves talking about his hippy days in San Francisco. Then he pulls out from behind the counter some things they had set aside for me. Two very large scrapbooks FULL of newspaper articles from the 1930's. I love this kind of thing, then I noticed that most of the articles are about Tacoma. It is the history of Tacoma in 1933. There are thousands of articles cut out and glued to the soft and brittle pages. I asked how much. He was unsure, his wife was out in Seattle with her sister who was here from Wisconsin. He called her cell phone with no avail. So he said before I went home I was to check back in to see if he had got hold of his wife yet.
I went seeking lunch at one of the local greasy spoons. It has been there on that corner for as long as that block was built. The long counter with spinning stools lines the middle of this tiny place. Above that is a row of personal mugs with names written on the bottom of all of the regular patrons. I ordered hot chocolate (more for the whipped cream that the much too sweet hot cocoa) and a grilled cheese sandwich with french fries.
The Books are SO amazing! A slice of life from this part of the US in the 30's and 40's. I have not read through either one yet. Some headlines include:
*Becomes Mother 4 times in a year!
*This 20 year old Tabby mother of 166 cats
*Navy Dirigible, USS Akron (and of its demise)
*First Lady is thrown by mount (photo of Mrs. Roosevelt smiling so happily on a horse)
*Girl saves Dog, Dog Saves Girl
*Queen Mary First Visit to USA
*Women nurse Gandhi in death fraught fast
*7 brothers to wed 7 sisters
*Coolidge found dead by his wife
*Shot that killed Lincoln echoes in Vet's memory
*Wears Size 34 Shoes! (pictures man tying laces of huge shoes)
*Stout woman is trapped for 4 days in bathtub
*Stogies?--Old Stuff to Child Smoker aged 2 (I have found 4 photos of children smoking cigars now)
*Tacoma Couple Happily married 66 years
*Worlds Fair opens today (Chicago)
It is SO interesting to read these articles. Lets me see the way life was then. Anyway here are some photos of said books.
The Cobblers shoe was $8
This is the base of the birdcage. I think I am going to make some sort of collage, mixed media artwork for the cage. Make it into an art sculpture for my home. My husband was not happy with the large purchase as my house is VERY cluttered. But the birdcage was only $10! I could not pass it up. I have always wanted to have an old birdcage for an art project. Maybe I will incorporate some lyrics from they might be giants "birdhouse in your soul" I love that song. : )
So Pretty!
the red metal box on the floor there, that is my grandfathers erector set he passed on to me.
