Look at the disapproving glower on the dour face of the woman to the far right. If that is a glimpse into her soul, it puts a permanent kibosh on my efforts to create a time machine. The plan has been to go back into a Shorpy photograph to retrieve a beautiful mate.

With one false move, haywire construction or faulty coordinates, I'd end up with her and not Rue the Cover Girl. Not worth the risk. I can just picture that look on her face every time I asked her for....nevermind.

Update the clothes, add a few more "beggar-peddler" types and this could be the mall in downtown Santa Cruz.

The shopkeeper undoubtedly was annoyed that some disgusting, vermin-like person was standing in front of his shop. How dare she drive business away? The photographer probably paid her for allowing him to take her picture and the more fortunate bystanders were amused and curious as to why somebody would want to waste their time and equipment doing that. Then there's the irritated woman in the big hat, walking toward us. She's annoyed, too. I imagine that she's thinking "Why doesn't someone do something about these awful people?" Oh, and does anybody notice that the "beggar-woman" looks pregnant. Whatever becomes of people like her? In researching my Family's genealogy, I've recently discovered that my great-great-grandmother spent some time in a London workhouse and had a baby daughter there the day after Christmas 1870. Meanwhile, my great-grandfather, her son, was in another workhouse, along with his brother, in a different part of the city. I can only wonder how people can survive these kinds of experiences and not be destroyed by them.

I'm relatively sure that this is David Brenner's grandmother.