The Flickr 1970Sfriends Image Generatr

We had the coolest swings in our back yard. My sister and a friend stand on the "twirler", a swing which also spun around. There was also a hanging bar and a two-person swing, which with enough inertia, flew quite high. Milford CT. Aug 1974 by WAVZ 13

A crop from one of my Dad's Kodachrome slides. My parents bought these swings back in 1962 and we were still using them occasionally into the mid 1970s. A lot of the neighborhood kids enjoyed them as well.

My friends and I spent hours on the beach building "Sand Cities" complete with skyscrapers, highways and blocks of small houses and apartments. As the tide came in, we dug canals to divert the water as long as possible. Milford CT. Aug 1973 by WAVZ 13

Although we would try to reroute the incoming tide around our metropolis, nature would always have its way. After about 15 minutes, our city began to flood and quickly degenerate. The towers were the last to go as they slowly collapsed into the gently lapping waves of Long Island Sound. All that was left of our city during the next day's low tide was a large lump in the sand.

Daily life on Merwin Ave. Vinnie's Apizza, the abandoned Sauter Hotel at left. Sloppy Joe's restaurant in the distance. A friend pokes through rusty galvanized garbage cans. A '68 Chevy Impala with NY plates is parked. Milford CT Aug 1973 by WAVZ 13

For folks using a device which supports Flickr Notes, I've placed a lot of them on this photo. Each one goes into more detail and most have links to other photos of each place. Enjoy!

New & improved scan of an old fave. A neighbor on Merwin Ave parked a decrepit 1963 Cadillac in his back yard. It was going to be a "project car" which went absolutely nowhere. This hunk of Detroit steel sat for years right there. Milford CT. July 1973 by WAVZ 13

** I've added a bunch of Flickr Notes to the photo, so enjoy! **

This 10 year old Caddy was obviously in an accident at some point. My neighbor swore he'd fix it up and use it as his daily driver. Well... that never happened. This junker sat for years becoming more moldy and rusty over time.

The fire road between Seabreeze Ave and Merwin Ave. My friends and I used to bike it as a shortcut to the beach. Surf Club brown wooden pool cabanas in the back. Wildflowers and reeds everywhere. Today, these are all suburban houses. Milford CT. July 1973 by WAVZ 13

A friend of mine reads the evening edition of the New Haven Register while his mom cooks dinner. If this was a color photo it would be bathed in a gorgeous golden glow of the setting summer sun behind the trees in the background. Milford CT. July 1973 by WAVZ 13

I didn't mow enough lawns that week to afford a cartridge of Kodak 126 Kodacolor, so Verichrome Pan black and white has to do.

My friend does does the "face-grab" move while his kid brother looks on in surprise. Note the little white beach transistor radio in my friend's hand and the cool Oldsmobile parked behind them. Corner of Rock St and Merwin Ave. Milford, CT. July 1972 by WAVZ 13

Just for the record... this moment from our teen years was captured by my Kodak Instamatic 104 loaded up with a cartridge of Verichrome Pan black and white film.

My friends and I respond to the the building of 25 cheap new houses along the swamp land on Seabreeze Avenue. We painted a sarcastic sign and nailed it to the newest home being framed. Yours truly holding up the sign. Milford, CT. Aug 1974 by WAVZ 13

Although not completely clear in this 110 film scan, the sign reads...

"Ruby Wino Presents SEABREEZE ESTATES! From $75,000 to $110,00. Choice location! Featuring exclusive Porto-San bathrooms available. Call (203) 877-GYPS."

==> In 1974, those prices were quite high!
75,000 dollars would be worth $431,853.04 today.
110,000 dollars would be worth $633,384.46 today.

These inflated prices were all part of the sign's humor considering how crappy these houses really were.

We biked past the sign for weeks thinking that it might actually help in attracting buyers. One day the sign disappeared without a trace. Probably torn down by the construction crew chief. Hope he had a good laugh, though.

Hey, kids... DON'T DO THIS! Yours truly and a girlfriend puff away on cigarettes hiding behind the Woodmont Pumping Station on Rock Street. Within months, I developed a habit which lasted for 12 years until I finally quit cold turkey. Milford CT. Aug 1973 by WAVZ 13

Too cool to care at age 14!

A friend downing some Boone’s Farm up in his room. Note the two cassette decks and a radio. We were both into recording music off the air from our favorite Top-40 station, WAVZ 13 in New Haven. Milford, CT. Aug 1973. by WAVZ 13

I've added some Flickr notes explaining a few things. Enjoy!

Just for the record, this photo was taken with my 1972 Kodak Pocket Instamatic 40 loaded up with 200 ASA 110 film.

Our neighbors and their dogs taken across Rock Street in what was then an empty field. The white speckles are thousands of clovers. The end of the Surf Club parking lot is visible in the background. Milford Connecticut. June 1973 by WAVZ 13

I've added a number of Flickr Notes to this photo. Some of them contain a link to other photos showing more details.

This image was shot using a friend's 1950s Kodak Brownie camera. Decades later, it took a LOT of Photoshop work to bring back to life this very damaged 120 roll-film negative.

My harem of lovely chicks admire the sacrifice of an old Tonka Truck in Dad's barbecue. (well, actually my sister at right and her best friend in our back yard). I took this with a friend's 1950s Kodak Brownie using 127 size film. Milford CT. Aug 1973 by WAVZ 13

Ginger, our neighbor's dog. She loved being with people and spent a lot of time in our yard. In this photo, her eyes are closed in doggie bliss while being petted by a friend. July 1974. Milford Connecticut by WAVZ 13

Ginger spent vastly more time in our back yard than at her owner's across the street. Since we had the largest yard on the block, lots of neighborhood kids would play there and use the swings in the back. Ginger loved the company of all these children and running around the yard playing with them.

Kid photojournalism: Something really bad just happend - and YOU are there! Mom and Dad look on with concern as my friend's kid brother runs away while crying. Milford Connecticut. July 1972 by WAVZ 13

A rare Druid ritual and YOU are there to witness it! Two girls pay homage to the Deities Of Fire by toasting an old Tonka dump truck in my dad's barbecue. Milford Connecticut. July 1973 by WAVZ 13

Well... OK...it's really my sister and her best friend. Neither of them were Druids. There's some light leaks going on in this one. This was taken with an old 1950s Kodak Brownie camera which I found at our local Goodwill store. In the early 1970s, you could still buy 127 roll film at most photography dealers.

Hanging out 1970s style with friends down in the basement party room. We were WAY ahead of the curve when it came to medicinal cannabis. :) Listening to Pink Floyd, Peter Frampton, Steely Dan and so many others. The good old days. Milford CT. July 1976 by WAVZ 13

Yep, my friends and I were all fairly toasty by this point when the shot was taken using my little Kodak Pocket Instamatic 40. I ran out of Magicubes, so a long exposure was required to catch the scene. As I recall, a Bachman Turner Overdrive LP was playing on the turntable at this precise moment.

A scan of a Polaroid showing the cast of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" performed by the Summer Drama Worskshop at the brand new Joseph A Foran High School. I'm the guy with the glasses on the right. Milford Connecticut. Aug 1974 by WAVZ 13

One thing I've learned is that old Polaroids don't survive the test of time gracefully. This image, still a little blurry, is vastly better than the original print. It's amazing what Photoshop can do to breathe new life into old memories like this one.

By the way, I had an enormous crush on the girl two steps up and to the left of me! (the one with the large belt buckle). Unfortunately, she was already "taken". Sigh...

Exactly 46 years ago to the day, I was a guest at a good friend's Bar Mitzvah party about to drink a glass of wine (at 13, you're an adult, right?) while two kids peek into the window to check out the festivities. New Haven, Connecticut. Oct 28, 1972 by WAVZ 13

My dad snapped this photo with my Kodak 104 camera loaded up with a cartridge of 126 Kodacolor film. It wasn't until two weeks later when the prints came back in the mail from Clark Color Labs did I realize that we were being spied upon! (these days they call it "photobombing").

My sister and a friend with identical blue stripe shirts at the candy counter of the Whitney Theater. Dad often drove us to see movies on rainy weekends. We were about to watch the Disney film "Now You See Him, Now You Don't". Hamden Connecticut. Aug 1972 by WAVZ 13

Nothing quite as vintage as a crop from a very scratchy 126 film negative. I just didn't feel like Photoshopping all those silver halide scratches from a scan of the original negative.

What is that strange oval on the left side by the candy sign? They often occur when scanning old 126 film.

Ahh! Summer memories somehow always bring me back to the "Stinky Swamp Canal" behind the Pumping Station near the Surf Club parking lot. Yours truly examining some choice tidbit dredged from the muck. Milford Connecticut. Aug 1973 by WAVZ 13

The choice of goodies to find in this smelly treasure trove was nearly endless. Every couple of days somebody would dump additional wonders ranging from old dolls with missing limbs, heads or eyeballs, hubcaps, broken bicycle rims, soda cans, wooden crates, mangled car tires and lots of smashed glass bottles. Every now and then you'd get REALLY lucky and find a pack of sealed cigarettes.