Trabuco Outdoors Blog

Leadville, Colorado

If you enjoy photography and old west history, you'll want to spend some time in Leadville, Colorado. Leadville was a boomtown during the late 19th century with the silver strikes of 1877 and 1878. The glory years ended by the end of the century although the town was occasionally boosted by mining operations of lesser metals including zinc and lead, and Leadville was little more than a hardscrabble town by the second half of the 20th century.

In any case, there is still a goldmine of photographic opportunities in the town. I wandered around town for a couple of hours in 2010 and then again in 2011 and just shot whatever caught my eye.

Blakely Smale Dry Goods Company

Delaware Block

Boarded building

The Tabor Opera House is the most famous building in town. Built by Horace Tabor in 1879, performers included Oscar Wilde, John Philip Sousa and Harry Houdini. Tabor became wealthy not by discovering silver, but by grub staking. David May started the May Company department store in Leadville in the late 1870s. The legendary Unsinkable Molly Brown who survived the sinking of the Titanic was another famous Leadville resident.

This photo is from one of central Colorado's other historic boomtowns: Central City.

Quick trip to San Francisco

My son Scott & I headed up to Carmel and San Francisco during his spring break last week. There are a few of nice photongalleries in Carmel including Photography West and Weston Gallery that sell original prints by the 20th century master photographers, many of whom lived in Carmel during their photographic career including Edward Weston, Brett Weston and Ansel Adams. At about $35,000 for an entry level Adams print, we left without buying anything. We did manage to make a few of our own photos that we would be willing to part with for 1/1000th of the price of an Adams print.

If you drive from LA to SF, I recommend taking a quasi-inland route instead of driving straight up I-5 if you have time. We drove I-5 through the grapevine and then headed west and drove through the Carizzo Plain national monument. Although know for its Spring wildflowers, there were virtually none last week. It's a drive worth taking anyway. We connected with Highway 101 at Paso Robles to Camel, and then headed up the 101 and Hwy 1 north of Santa Cruz.

After spending a night in Carmel, we spent a couple of hours in Point Lobos state park. It's a park that is challenging photographically, so I'll definitely have to return when I have more time. The photo above is from a rural graveyard near the "town" of Pescadero south of Half Moon Bay. Below are a few from San Francisco and the drive back home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grand Teton Bison

Catalina part 2

Here's a few more photos of Catalina Island and some things that just caught my eye when we were wandering around Avalon.

Need $$$ 4 Gas

Old Highway 66 near Victorville.

Pioneer graveyard - Goldfield, Nevada

Wandering around the Las Vegas Strip

Here's a few from Las Vegas in mid August on our way to Colorado. I don't get much from the gambling anymore. It used to be you could get a fair amount of play gambling in this town. With the poor return on the slots and the high minimum bets on the tables, I just don't feel like I get much entertainment value for my  buck anymore. Now I just amuse myself by photographing the street. Much more cost-effective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amboy - Highway 66

Amboy was one of the desert settlements offering gas, food and lodging to Highway 66 travelers from the 1940s through the late 1970s when I-40 was completed in the California desert. Buster Burris was the owner and most prominate figure in "town" until the late 1990s.

The Roys sign, while one of the most recognized icons on the Highway, is relatively new. Completed in 1959, the sign refers to Roy Crowl who was Buster Burris's father-in-law and sometimes business partner.

Although the sign appears to have functional lighting in the shot above, the light source is from the adjacent gas station. The cabins are primarily lit by the full moon. Although the cabins don't appear to be actively rented, they are well maintained.

Amboy is not a ghost town as there are permanent residents as well as both a gas station and the post office which are open for business.

 

'57 Chevy, Leadville, Colorado

San Francisco Alley

This shot was taken in the alley adjacent to the City Lights Bookstore on Columbus which connects North Beach and Chinatown. I thought it might be interesting to shoot it at night, so my son Scott and I returned at about 11pm. Sometimes it just doesn't look like you expect, so we headed back without taking a night photo. This turned out to be my favorite photo of our trip.