The Flickr Oldsnapshots Image Generatr

All this classic Plymouth required was a replacement front axle, new glass to fix the cracked windows as well as a halfway decent paint job. Unfortunately, he realized that it would require more money than it was worth, so he passed on it for something else. (dad's photo was taken on Kodak 110 Kodacolor film).

After decades of storms, salt air damage and occasional flooding from Long Island Sound, some of these old beach cottages from the early 20th century looked a bit shabby!😁

That's a significantly younger 14 year old me hanging out at a friend's summer cottage near Merwin Avenue.

Taken by the friend whose family owned this place using a 1950s Kodak brownie camera found at a Goodwill thrift store loaded up with a roll of 120 size Kodak Verichrome film.

From left to right: the youngest LA cousin, one of my friends, another LA cousin in a yellow bathing suit, me in the back holding in my pudge, an LA cousin dunking in the water of Long Island Sound, my sister with her two pigtails, and the kid brother of my friend in the center of the shot. This was taken by my dad on Kodachrome slide film.

Like most small local movie theaters today, the Forest is nothing but a memory.

On weekends my parents used to drive us and our friends to local movie theaters like the Forest, the Whitney, the Whalley, the West Haven drive-in, the Milford Capitol and the Cinema 1-2-3 just off the Connecticut Turnpike in Orange.

In the center distance, you can see the backwards sign for Carrol's Cut Rate furniture. Times sure have changed since I snapped this on a humid cloudy summer day using my Kodak Pocket Instamatic 40 loaded up with a cartridge of Kodacolor 110 film.

Yes, another trip back with the repaired time machine. (over time, capacitors begin to leak and vacuum tubes fail. Some of these parts are getting difficult to find these days!)

I've been in Southern California over the years and the beaches near LA are very scenic. (until the recent forest fires, that is). Just imagine how much that air reeked of hydrocarbons back when this photo was captured. I strongly suspect that a certain amount of underground oil also seeped out in the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

On nicer days, however, my friends and I used to enjoy the freedom of biking and walking wherever our young minds decided to explore during that particular day.

We also swam at the beaches of Long Island Sound across Merwin Avenue from our house in addition to other nearby beaches. Each one was different - some very sandy, others rocky and others a mix of both.

This is an extremely abbreviated list of all the activities we used to do! I could write an entire book on that subject.

As long as my sister and I returned home for lunch and then a few hours later for dinner, everything was just fine with my parents.

Unfortunately, our cherished freedoms of summer suddenly came to a complete halt in early September with the start of the first day of school. (Oh Bummer!)

A moment caught in time with my Dad's 35 mm camera shooting 35mm Kodachrome film. Milford, Connecticut. Aug 1963.

One day I decided to bring my little 110 film Pocket Instamatic camera to rehearsal in the Milford High School auditorium. We were practicing for a now totally forgotten comedy from the 1950s called "Rally 'Round The Flag, Boys."

One other thing that came out of this experience is that I met my first girlfriend! (summer love). 😁

If you read the ad copy below the photo, sentences like this were full of fluff and nonsense... "The instrument panel vinyl even has the look of lacquered rosewood". (really?)

Whenever the text mentions that something is "available", that ALWAYS meant at extra cost without specifically saying so.

"Sunbird's styling could go down in the books as a perfect example of tasteful restraint". (You gotta be kidding?)

Note how the passengers on the bus admiringly look at the Sunbird. It's subtle, but sends a visual message.

This is one of the Kodachrome slides I scanned from my Dad's collection. I wasn't born for another 4 years, so it's interesting to see how young my parents and relatives appear in this view. Although the parked cars look like classics to our eyes, these were regular daily drivers when this view was taken.

Sometime around 1970, the three 19th century ornate beachfront houses were torn down to be replaced with a tall "modern" condominium. This view from 1963 provides a nice time portal into when the neighborhood still contained homes and cottages from the postcard era of the early 20th century. Looking at all the trees in the background, the area was significantly more semi-rural compared to today.

Although I appreciate that these 1974 photos on 110 film were included, some attribution would have been nice. What do you think?

Leaning against the tree in the center is a friend of mine with a 1950s Kodak Brownie camera which his grandfather gave him.

This was the year that Sloppy Joe's was closed during a complete makeover and restoration. My friend took this photo using his grandfather's 1950s Kodak Brownie loaded up with a roll of black and white 120 film. The negative is nowhere to be found, so this is an enhanced scan of the original print.

Sloppy Joe's stood across the street from Long Island Sound for generations. I've got postcards of it going back to 1910. The place was a great burger and hot dog joint with excellent fries and onion rings. Just perfect after a long swim at the beach.

Today, this is the location of the "Bonfire Grille" restaurant, which looks nothing like this image.

One of my Dad's Kodachrome slides showing summer fun at a beach along the Milford and Woodmont shoreline. Most of these slides portray daily life from decades ago.

I remember how the adults always hung around in this corner of the beach while kids ran all over and swam in the refreshingly chilly water of Long Island Sound.

Although Platt's Hill no longer exists, being leveled for suburban houses in the 1990s, during my teenage years it was a place we would often explore. It consisted of roughly 30 acres of woods. At one point around 1974, my friends and I found an abandoned tree-house and made it ours by fixing it up.

A friend took this shot with his Kodak Instamatic 104 loaded with a cartridge of Kodak's 126 size Verichrome Pan film.

I was finally finished forever with GM cars like the Pontiac Sunbird which looked GREAT, but spent more time in the shop than on the road. The Civic had NO styling, but never broke down until the automatic transmission finally bit the dust at over 300,000K miles.

Taken using a tiny Pentax Auto-110 loaded up with a Ferrania color 110 film cartridge.