Packard...

Tis' the Season....

Don't remember that teddy bear that you got for Christmas as a kid? Or that Trans Am model kit? How about that new pair of corduroy pants? But you will always remember the rifle that you got from you parents. First a BB Gun, followed up a year or two later with a 22. You remember them, because you still have them. Many hours of good times have been spent with these presents. I still at 40 years old, go back to my Remington 22 pump that I got for Christmas at age 11. It still hits the intended can every time, and it still hasn't gotten old! It's still fun.

A time honored tradition (at least in America). So give the gift that never gets old, create a memory for your kids (But please teach them proper use). Do this while you still can... Merry Christmas Or buy yourself one...

Chanel spot...

Lifted this from the 8negro site. Check the site out by clicking title above. It's a very cool Spanish blog with everything that we all love...

Decorating today...

Here's a few to get you through it....

Barris in the early 70's

I'll take that one, and that one...

Got called out to look at a couple of cars that need some restoration lettering today. I took some pictures of other cars in the collection. This is just a part of the Woodland race car collection, and it seems to grow weekly. Great cars with a ton of history... Jimmy 302 six with all the speed equipment in this turtle deck T bucket... Note the Ford style radiator.

Just a few restored Sprint cars...

Back in the day, these guys were not afraid to use wild colors on their cars...

Although I do alot of turned gold leaf lettering, I never get tired of looking at it...

I'm looking forward to the jobs that they want me to do, one of them is a 1966 Hot Rod Magazine cover car. That will be the first car that I've done, that was on a magazine cover, before I worked on it.

Abercrombie and Fitch...

Ok, I am sure that all of you with Daughters have been drug through the Abercrombie store at least once in your life. Super over priced sweatshirts and other clothing, with un-relenting logo's on everything. Not to mention, at our local store, the girls walk through spraying the clothing with perfume until it is hard to breath. It's a headache in the making for sure! As it is Christmas time, and we want to make our kids happy, perhaps a trip is in order. I just wish that Abercrombie would go back in time to where they started out. Abercrombie & Fitch was a sporting goods store, the kind of place that any man for sure, but also ladies would enjoy. A real sporting goods store with mounts on the wall and rifles. Although the modern Abercrombie stores sport a mounted Moose head on the wall and a canoe or two, I'm just saying, if there were guns, I might be happier while looking through the store Christmas shopping.

Vintage Sign Sign....

I saw this sign today. Very cool vintage sign co. porcelain sign from the 1930's/40's, two things that interest me in one sign. I need this! Too bad it's not for sale...

1937 Harley Midget (Old Ironsides)

89cu water cooled Harley Davidson Knucklehead. Built in 1937, and raced in the years directly after WWII. This car raced against the Ford V8's & the Offy race motors and kicked butt.

Bo Diddley....

Sign...

The Blackwater Union,,,,

Went out last night to The Ranch honky-tonk in San Miguel Ca. There was a Johnny Cash cover band playing "Cashed Out". Good to have something happening in our neck of the woods. The real surprise of the evening though, was the band that opened up the show. The Blackwater Union, a group of local youngsters with their heads in the right place. Deeply rooted in traditional american labor party/ folksy / bluegrassy goodness. Not to mention, after their set, we talked to the band for a bit, and they were very humble and nice. I will search these guys out for further shows. A very nice stumble across... Check them out at the above link.

RoadrunneR

This little guy (or gal) was sitting in my driveway when I got home today. These are crazy looking birds. I've seen this one a few times... We have a ton of coyote also, just like the cartoon.

Rancho Ghosts...

Entrances to the Rancho Huer Huero, a Mexican land grant, given by the Governor Pio Pico on March 28, 1846. The entrance signs are all thats left of the Rancho, as the property has been split into hundreds of smaller ranches. I have no idea when these entrance signs were built, but I'm guessing from the hand hewn posts and the almost un-readable gold leaf lettering, that they must be very early 1900's if not older. The main signs (what's left of them) were crafted from one plank each, and the planks were at least 30 ft. long by 36 inches by 4 inches deep. Try to find a piece of wood like that today. Took these pictures on my way home today from Paso Robles. A great glimpse back in time to when California was Mexico.

Chinook...

Saw this goodie downtown today, it was in really great shape. Perhaps it's time for you forward thinking guys to project past the current van craze, and get a chinook...

BMX dreams....

Christmas morning, must be about 1976 or so. Some kind of knock-off Sting-Ray with early motocross stylings, at the time it was super cool! I was one stoked little guy....Around 1979 with my Panda BMX and my cat, Note my Mom's Turbo Mercury Capri, man everyone thought that my mom had the coolest car....

Action shot, blue metalflake 3/4 shell helmet with the Iron Jaw full face add-on. I still have the visor with the BMX Action sticker in my shop

The video below brought back alot of great memories, so I posted these pics. I will have to buy it.

Lookie here...

Hewitt's Hardware sign...

Hand lettered sign that I delivered today... I am re-doing all of the signs for this 100 + year old family hardware store in Templeton Ca. It's a super cool store where they know your name and actually help you. I am stoked to work on this place, the signs are replicas of the signs that hung in 1923 on the building. Very cool...

Man style work truck...

My truck, from jobs today, it's a nothing 64' V8, but I love it.

YouTube - Suburbia Theatrical Trailer

YouTube - Suburbia Theatrical Trailer

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Man at the age of 40, you would think that I would know better, than to stand in my shop all day long working in Vans... on concrete, cold concrete. Your feet never get warm again...

Safety first...

Fender finished...

Now on to the gas & oil tanks.... I can't wait to see this cleared,

stripes, stripes, stripes...

The first of many, fender and tank to match. Variegated gold, striped in paint. This one will make me cross-eyed by the time I'm done. More to come...

Charis Wilson... A True Beauty

Charis Wilson, 95, who inspired photographer Edward Weston during an 11-year relationship and posed for many of his pictures, died Friday in Santa Cruz, Calif.

Ms. Wilson was Weston's model, muse, and companion from 1934 to 1945. She appeared in more than half of Weston's nudes, including his best-known pieces, Floating Nude and Nude in the Doorway.

She wrote about Weston's photography and helped him with writing assignments, including an application for a Guggenheim fellowship. In 1937, he was the first art photographer to be awarded the grant.

The couple hit the road with the fellowship money and cowrote California and the West, which included about 100 photographs. They separated in 1945.