The Incredible San Fancisco Artists' Soapbox Derby, 1975.

The Incredible San Fancisco Artists' Soapbox Derby, 1975. from Mike Haeg on Vimeo.

Image Dump

Been ungodly busy with my last semester of school lately. 19 credits of engineering classes with two labs is already destroying any bit of free time.

Here are some pictures I came across recently that I really enjoyed.

Worker at carbon black plant, Sunray, Texas- 1942

After seven years in the Navy, J.D. Estes is considered an old sea salt by his mates at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas-1942

Rural school children, San Augustine County, Texas- 1943

Hanna furnaces of the Great Lakes Steel Corporation, Detroit, Mich. Coal tower atop coal ovens-1942

One of the girls of Vilter [Manufacturing] Co. filing small gun parts, Milwaukee, Wisc. One brother in Coast Guard, one going to Army.-1943

Daniel Senise throwing a switch while at work in an Indiana Harbor Belt Line railroad yard-1943

Jesse Rhodes Waller, A.O.M., third class, tries out a 30-calibre machine gun he has just installed in a Navy plane, Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas- 1942

Children with adult in the tenement district, Brockton, Massachusetts -1940

Loch Lomond

Tuckermans Ravine

Although the ski seasons is still going strong, I am already excited for spring to come so that trips to Tuckerman's Ravine on Mt. Washington can start again. In my mind Tuckerman's is the pinacle of Northeast spring skiing. Tuckerman's is famous for the quality of the snow pack, even late into the spring. This is due to its geography that causes much of the surrounding areas snow to blow down into the ravine creating an amazing base.



Tuckermans days are my favorite way to end the skiing season. The two hour hike into the lodge at the base of the ravine (lovingly named the HoJo's), is just long enough to work up a good appetite, but not enough to burn you out for the hike up the face of the ravine. One of the best parts of the day is hanging out, eating on the lunch rocks at the base of the ravine. The crowd is usually very friendly, and the amount of people that show up on a nice weekend day is impressive.


The hike up the bowl itself can be a bit nerve wracking, especially if people in front of you are slipping a lot. Its hard to describe the steepness of the ascent, the best way I've been able to describe it is climbing a frozen ladder. The ride down is worth it though, the bowl is steep and wide open. Its probably the closest to big mountain riding you can get on the east coast. Once you're too tired to climb the face again, you still have a fun ride out on the snow packed riverbed that parallels the two mile hiking trail that brought you in.



Here are a few excerpts from the history of the ravine from the Tuckerman.org site:

Named after botanist Edward Tuckerman who studied alpine plants and lichens in the area in the 1830's and 1840's, this ravine exerted a pull on the earliest visitors to the White Mountains. Henry David Thoreau visited in 1858, and in a prelude to the mishaps that would befall some later visitors, he sprained his ankle, and suffered intense embarrassment when his guide started a forest fire that swept the floor of the ravine. In the late 1920's, skiers came to Tuckerman a little more frequently as accessibility improved due to winter plowing of the highway through Pinkham Notch. Skiing was becoming more popular as clubs such as the DOC and AMC involved more people in the sport.

The "HoJo" is the last stop before the ravine

In the 1930's skiing was a booming sport. As the decade progressed, increased publicity about skiing, the availability of formal ski instruction, ski trains, and mechanical ski tows all brought new recruits to the sport. No longer the exclusive preserve of club skiers and college teams, skiing attracted a wider group, and those new skiers made their way to Tuckerman in large numbers. In the early 1930's it was common for a group a skiers to have the massive bowl to themselves, but by mid-decade there would be hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of skiers in the ravine on a clear spring day.

Tuckerman's is dangerous

Just two years after the headwall was first run in 1931, the Ski Club Hochgebrige proposed a summit-to-base race on Mt. Washington, to be called the American inferno, named for a similar race held in Mürren, Switzerland.

The heavy snowpack of 1933 had piled up in Tuckerman Ravine so deeply that the angle of the slope was lessened enough to make the race practical. On April 16, 1933 the first Inferno was run, from the summit down Right Gully through the ravine and down the hiking trail to Pinkham Notch. The winner was Hollis Philips, with a time of 14:41.3.

Propoganda Posters

I'm a big fan of schools, museums and other institutions making their vast collections available digitally online. Recently in my searches I came across some interesting propaganda posters from WWI & WWII. The best collections I found are located here, here and here. Definitely worth a look. Below are some posters I found that I didn't see in the collections are below(they are probably in the collections somewhere).











I'm a big fan of schools, museums and other institutions making their vast collections availble digitally online. Recently in my searches I came across some interesting propaganda posters from WWI & WWII. The best collections I found are located here, here and here. Definitely worth a look. Some posters I found that I didn't see in the collections are below.

Aarron Horkey

Aarron Horkey is one of the most well known print makers in the concert/band poster arena. Most of the time he is referred to by his relation to Burlesque of North America an artist collective of which he is a member of. He is often incorrectly referred to as the owner of Burlesque but he is simply a member. Its hard to dig up any other information about Horkey's background, but his work speaks for itself. Famous for his intricate and detailed lettering, his prints sell out incredebly fast and almost always become ebay gold. Horkey's prints often draw many admireres for their detailed designs, and extremely unique imagery. The biggest draw for me is the fact that he is often creating these prints for some of my favorite artists. He redencenlty work on a collaboration with addidas, although while I wasnt the biggest fan of the shoes, I definietley appreciated that adidas was drawing on an artist like him. Click the images for a bigger view.

Custom Volvo

Found this via speedhunters, a pretty cool car website that I have found myself liking more and more as they mix in older, interesting, and race cars into the typical tuner or drift posts they normally make. Definitely hope they keep diversifying and covering the whole gambit of car culture.

I'm not a big fan of super dropped stance cars, heavily cambered wheels or non stock body kits, but this Volvo caught my eye. I really like when people tune or modify cars that are typically not even considered by most people who are looking to build up a car. I've aslo always had a love affair with the classic boxy 240. Even some of the newer Volvos have interested me. This however, was something even I was surprised to see. Some may love it, some may call it an abomination. I haven't decided yet.

Coming Soon

Some more films I'm looking forward to seeing. Un Prophete looks especially good. The Expendables looks terrible but might be fun to see on the big screen.

VAGX Rucksack

Digging these new rucksacks from Korean company VagX Comes in Red, Black, Purple and Navy. They make a cool messenger bag and a nice day pack also. Worth a look.

Hilton's Tent City

What do you get if you mix 2 parts outdoor store, 1 part army surplus, and 1 part workwear store? You get Hilton's Tent City. Situated in Boston's downtown just a block from the Boston Garden, Hilton's has been outfitting outdoor enthusiasts since 1947. The shop consists of 4 floors stuffed wall to wall with jackets, tents, stoves, boots, and anything else you could to survive the outdoors. Carrying some of the best brands for any type of adventure you could want to go on, from the commuter to work to camping in the whites. With jackets from Arcteryx, Barbour, Canada Goose and Patagonia. Workwear form Carhartt, Filson, and Woolrich, bags from Bailey Works and Chrome and best of all cast iron pans from Lodge. The selection is incredible, the staff is friendly but most of all the atmosphere feel like an outdoor store should. The hallways and walls are lined with posters from every era of camping, hand drawn signs guide you throught the sections of the store, and pictures sent in from loyal cusomters adventures cover the stairwells. A bookshelf on the first floor has information on any area or sport you could be interested in. Definitley worth a stop if you find yourself in Bostons downtown.

JonWilliamson.com

Just found an amazing blog full of vintage advertisements ran by Jon Williamson.
As of now there are over 1500 vintage ads up. Definitely stop by and spend some time digging around. Here just a taste of what it has to offer.