http://www.charlesphoenix.com God Bless Americana! -- Books, Slide Shows, & Field Trip Tours Thu, 15 May 2008 15:32:09 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en People parked at the curb line the main street for the annual date festival parade. Among the paraders is a snow white ass. This is not any old ordinary barnyard ass. This is an ass with special skills. It’s has roller skates attached to its hooves and its roller skating ... http://www.charlesphoenix.com/skating-ass-indio-ca-1960/ Young skaters dressed in blue solids, strips and plaids stand out against the warm stained wood and banana yellow tones of the rink. it looks like “Little Mr. Shifty Eyes,” on the left, is looking at the lovely young lady or the young man beside her who is skating l ... http://www.charlesphoenix.com/skateland-somewhere-usa-1965/ The mid-morning sky is moody blue with high clouds. The Ranch Kitchen Coffee Shop looks like a ranch house complete with a front porch and shuttered windows. The signage is friendly, casual and very inviting. Dining room and kitchen quality and cleanliness are insured by the AAA logo. A not-so-weeping ... http://www.charlesphoenix.com/red-ford-at-the-ranch-house-somewhere-ca-1962/ A mommy, daddy and daughter are professionally posed in a photographer’s studio. Of course they’re all dressed up. Mommy and Missy have just been to the beauty parlor. Each sports a stylish variation of the poodle do and both have fuchsia pink painted lips. And there is a pearly white ... http://www.charlesphoenix.com/family-trio-accordion-duet-somewhere-usa-1962/ Three palms on one side, two on the other and an almost-centered flagless flagpole compliment one of Southern California’s least known architectural treasures. According to the legend the builder of the Angeles Abbey Memorial Park sent two architects to India in 1922 for inspiration. Two years later this Byzantine-Moorish-Spanish hybrid ... http://www.charlesphoenix.com/angeles-abbey-compton-ca-1955/ An upper-class suburban-scale picture window diffused with shears provides a warm backdrop for a bespectacled Andy Griffith wannabe and a lovely young lady that proves how well plaid stands out against yards of floral upholstery fabric. Her black bow-tied puritan collar on that short-sleeved shift is a stark contrast to ... http://www.charlesphoenix.com/americana-living-room-somewhere-usa-1967/ Saturday May 17, 2008 - 8 pm & Sunday May 18, 2008 - 3pm At the classic Moonlight Rollerway, freeway close in Glendale, CA Several weeks ago I went to the Moonlight Rollerway to have a meeting with the rink organist and owner, Dominic Cangilosi. I walked in the door and ... http://www.charlesphoenix.com/charles-phoenix-presents-the-moonlight-rollerway-jubilee/ http://www.charlesphoenix.com/charles-phoenix-presents-the-moonlight-rollerway-jubilee-2/ OK, I always say, “This is one of my all-time favorite vintage slides…but this one REALLY is!” A 1955 Ford Pick-Up crosses the intersection in front of a colorful corner lot full of chromy, two-toned cars. The art deco style Valley National Bank in the background wears its sky-high ... http://www.charlesphoenix.com/ford-on-a-pole-phoenix-az-1960/ A young man wearing a smart plaid shirt stands before a white washed fence holding a pink duck in a turquoise laundry basket. Several years ago after one of my slide shows a guy in the audience came up to me and said, “I want to give you my family ... http://www.charlesphoenix.com/pink-easter-duck-san-pedro-ca-1957/