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VINTAGRAPH • WPA • WWII • YOU MEAN A WOMAN CAN OPEN IT?

Living Room-O-Rama: 1963

On the left: Father's chair; on the right: Mother's chair; not shown: Father and Mother. Why they're not there is unknown; possibly I chased them out to take this panorama, which film grain fans may detect consists of two 35mm Tri-X negatives. Otherwise, Father would be reading the papers, Mother doing a crossword and both, perhaps, watching the TV, which was all the way across the room behind me. Up the stairs to the left is my room, and I'm otherwise evidence in a younger version in the photo on the desk. Elsewhere are displayed other family members, including my brother, sister, maternal grandmother, youngest nephew and aunt-by-marriage. Notable book collections: Heritage Press editions of Dickens, Twain and Carroll on the left, a c.1915 set of the Books of Knowledge on the right. Also, various beloved gimcracks and tchotchkes. Items on the erroneously-dubbed (by Mother) "tilt-top table" at the left indicate it's around Christmas. Finally, in the rack at right, a Sunset, "The Magazine of Western Living," which, of course, is the kind we were doing at the time. View full size.

On the left: Father's chair; on the right: Mother's chair; not shown: Father and Mother. Why they're not there is unknown; possibly I chased them out to take this panorama, which film grain fans may detect consists of two 35mm Tri-X negatives. Otherwise, Father would be reading the papers, Mother doing a crossword and both, perhaps, watching the TV, which was all the way across the room behind me. Up the stairs to the left is my room, and I'm otherwise evidence in a younger version in the photo on the desk. Elsewhere are displayed other family members, including my brother, sister, maternal grandmother, youngest nephew and aunt-by-marriage. Notable book collections: Heritage Press editions of Dickens, Twain and Carroll on the left, a c.1915 set of the Books of Knowledge on the right. Also, various beloved gimcracks and tchotchkes. Items on the erroneously-dubbed (by Mother) "tilt-top table" at the left indicate it's around Christmas. Finally, in the rack at right, a Sunset, "The Magazine of Western Living," which, of course, is the kind we were doing at the time. View full size.

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

Where are the curtains?

tterrace, I have enjoyed looking at all your family photos over the years, but now I can see I've been imagining this room wrong. I somehow thought that large window with the crisscrossed curtains was to the right of the fireplace as we face it. Now I see there is a door there instead, a bit oddly placed, now that I think about it. Is the big window opposite the fireplace, or further down the wall? My curious mind needs to know!

[The big window is behind me. - tterrace]

Panorama 1.0

I just located the original snapshot-sized prints I taped together back then. Obviously, the technology has progressed.

Where's Kitty?

Was she still living when the photo was taken? And where did Mom go in 1988? And who has the BVM?

[Kitty didn't join us until 1968. After selling the Larkspur house, Mother moved to a condo in neighboring Corte Madera. Not sure what happened to the figurine. [Breaking news: As of last year, 2018, I now have the BVM figurine, courtesy of my sister, who had it all along.] - tterrace]

Slanted shelves?

I'm curious about the slanted bookshelves to the right of the fireplace -- is that an artifact of the panorama blending? It's curious how the middle two shelves are more slanted than the top and bottom ones.

(We once lived in an ancient cottage in Mill Valley that actually did slope nearly that much. You got the distinct feeling of walking uphill when heading from the back porch to the front door, and round objects like eggs and oranges would roll off the kitchen counter.)

[Though some optical distortion remains uncorrected, our house was not without a number of geometrical anomalies. - tterrace]

Panorama details

The illumination is natural room light, no flash. The join I left to Photoshop's Photomerge function; the seam itself is irregular, in the area to the left of the fireplace niche. I then manually adjusted the verticals into line.

Nice job.

Perfectly joined photo; I couldn't detect a seam anywhere! I recall when Tri-X film came out - you could take black-and-white photos inside without a flash. Somewhere, I've got two rolls of candid shots I took inside the J. L. Hudson store in Detroit one Christmas. Contrast was a little lacking, but the views of customers, kids, salespeople, snapped unawares, were priceless.

Howdy Dooit?!?!

Wonderful capture of a good room. Where are the negs joined? Is it slightly to the right of the Virgin on the mantle? I can't see a join.

Since you used Tri-X, was this taken on a tripod with no flash?

Did you ever use that Ilford monochromatic C-41 film? I used it a lot toward the end of my photo-taking-for-a-buck days. Not only did it have an interesting graininess and a super-wide ASA range, but I could drop it off at a one-hour film lab if I wasn't near my own lab for processing.

Antithesis of Edith and Archie

Comfy chairs? Check. Good lighting for reading? Check. Gimcracks and tchotchkes, but not an over-abundance? Check. Can I go back in time and move in?

Living Room

Thanks for posting your living room of memories, always glad to view your postings.

Place Holders

I appreciate the basket of pine cones.
A nice touch until wood burning season arrives.

I am moving in

What a wonderfully warm and comfy place to be. Such wonderful family memories for you!! Thanks for another good pic. Makes me homesick for my childhood days!

Pride of place

Please, tterrace (or sister), let us all know what is that object smack in the middle of the mantel insert, between the two flower urns: Blessed Virgin Mary? Krishna? Something from Disneyland?

[The first. It was always there, up until the day my mother moved out in 1988. - tterrace]

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