Paul Bunyan Center - Brainerd, Minnesota

MINNESOTA'S ANIMATED PAUL BUNYAN
Located at Brainerd, Minn., Paul is 36 feet tall and weighs 5,000 lbs. He talks, tells stories and sings lumberjack style. His size 44 cap shades his 16" moveable eyes. His broad shoulders and 18 ft. arms are protected by a size 73 shirt, which consists of 60 yards of wool-plaid material. Paul wears a size 80 boot boot with soles 5 feet long.

BABE THE BLUE OX
Constructed in Kansas City, Mo. by Joe T. Bowen. Shipped in one piece by railroad flatcar over five railroads. Wight 3600 pounds, height 15 feet, length 23 feet, width between horn tips 10 feet.


The Paul Bunyan Center stood on Excelsior Lane in Brainerd, Minnesota from 1953-2003. The park closed due to the high cost of upkeep. Luckily, the items were saved and shipped to a  new area on the outskirts of Brainerd called This Old Farm/Paul Bunyan Land. Even the footprints of the Paul Statue were saved in the Kohl's parking lot that now stands at the original site. Special thanks to Electrospark for the wonderful photos from a family's trip to Paul Bunyan Center in 1956.

Talking Paul Bunyan Statue

Dedicated to the Kids of Vacation Land

Sport, the Reversible Dog

Paul's Squirrel Henry

The Shrine of Paul

Boat Ride

Free Ride on Fire Truck

Paul Bunyan's Fire Department

1964 Tournament of Roses Parade - Pasadena, California

The Parade theme for 1964 was SYMBOLS OF FREEDOM. I did not color correct or do do anything tothese photos other than crop a little of the corners. I tried to properly note the float or the sponsor of the float but it can be hard to tell.

Beverly Hillbillies Float

Beverly Hillbillies Float Full View

Unknown Float - First Prize Winner

Dollar Float

Assorted Floats

Either North or South Gate Float

Peanuts/Security Float

Washington Statehood Float

San Gabriel Float

Gone Fishin' Huckleberry Finn Float

Arcadia/Tripolis Float

San Diego City-County Float

Unishpere Float

Unknown Float

National Rifle Association Float

Lutheran Brotherhood Float

Faith-Hope-Charity Float

Smokey Bear Float

Statue of Liberty/Alhambra Float

Charles Cushman's Chicago

These photos were taken over a number of years of Mr. Cushman's many trips to Chicago. These photos aren't so much of the building and streets of Chicago, but are of the people (mainly girls) in the parks on the beaches of Lake Michigan. Clicking on the images will take you back to my flickstream with a full description.

Some information on Charles Cushman from the UI website:
Charles W. Cushman, who graduated from Indiana University in 1917, bequeathed to the university some of his photographic equipment, his notebooks, and his entire collection of photographs, shot between 1917 and 1969. Upon Mr. Cushman's death in 1972, most of his photographs were sent to the University Archives and placed in storage. Mr. Cushman's widow, Elizabeth, donated to the University in 1989 additional photographic equipment and some photographs shot in the late 1960s. The Indiana University Foundation gave them to the School of Journalism, where they remained until fall 1999, when they were reunited with the rest of the collection at the University Archives.

See the entire Charles Cushman collection (with thousands of archived photos) here.

Signs of the Times: Nashville, Tennessee in 1940s

These photos were taken by a billboard/graphic artist in the late 1940s in Nashville, Tennessee. They come from the absolutely wonderful Electrospark collection.

May All Your Days Be Circus Days, or: How I Started Worrying and Learned to Fear The Clown

I have no idea why I am doing this. I am sure it's going to lead to nightmares for most of you. I am not generally afraid of clowns but some of these make me question if the devil does exist. I was going to type the details of every photo but decided that it broke up the horror. Instead, all images link back to their flickr source.
Now, with out further ado, a bunch of pictures of clowns: