The Grand Tour 01: Kodachrome Slides from North America, 1949

 

Background

One of my New Year's resolutions (every year!) is to clear out more old photographs, files, and papers from the house. We have an overwhelming amount of stuff (junk) that has followed us around the world. After retiring, I donated, sold on eBay, and sold via a New Orleans auction house family souvenirs that we had accumulated over the decades. It felt good to lighten the load. The worst thing you can do to your children is leave a mess for them to clean up. They end up resenting you. 

Over the 2025 Christmas-New Year holiday, my wife and I spent many evenings looking at my dad's slides. He was a prolific photographer. Oddly, he did not record dates and places on most of the cardboard slide mounts. We had a general idea where most were taken, and his diaries sometimes provided a date. But some of his photos remained a mystery.

We discarded "pretty" pictures. No one cares about a colorful flower, sunset, Old Faithful, or a garden. The exception is if the subject covers a topic that no longer exists. (Following this subject line, I no longer take "pretty" photographs.)

Most of the slides from 1947 to about 1960 were Kodachrome film. Many from before 1950 were marginal technical quality, possibly taken with a Perfex camera. I think he did not buy a light meter until 1950. For the older photos, he may have used the Kodak printed exposure recommendations. 

In 1950, he bought a Leica IIIC camera with a 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens at the Post Exchange on Guam (Marina Islands). This was a major upgrade in optical quality. I still occasionally use this camera and lens. 

Here is a short collection of some of my dad's more interesting Kodachrome slides. We will start in North America in 1949, when he flew to Guam for his second contact there. When the contract ended in late-1950, he returned to Massachusetts the long way, moving west across Asia, Africa, and Europe. I will approximately follow his 1950 trip west around the world. His travel book was very handy to check dates and locations (see scans below).

The earlier article shows Celilo Falls (now underwater) of the Columbia River in 1949. My dad took those pictures on the return from his first Guam contract. 

Mexico City to San Francisco

Mexico City

 

 

Self portrait at Teotihuacan, Aug. 2, 1949

Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary,  Zócalo

  

Monterrey, Mexico

American Airlines DC-4, Monterry, Mexico

The DC-4 was a robust and reliable airplane. But it was not pressurized, so the cruising altitude for passenger use was between 8,000 and 10,000 feet. Cargo versions of the DC-4 played a major role in the Berlin airlift.

Reno, Nevada

The flamboyant signs of Reno, Nevada. Recall, in the 1940s, gambling was illegal in most of the USA except Nevada. So Nevada was the destination for excitement and naughtiness, although easterners could also fly to Cuba for some Latin indulgence. 

San Francisco

Oakland Bridge, August 1949

Downtown San Francisco, August 1949

In the 1940s, San Francisco had a working waterfront with warehouses, railroad, and cargo docks.

Honolulu, Hawaii

In the era of propeller airplanes, it was a long flight from the mainland to Hawaii. The US Coast Guard stationed patrol ships along the route in case of emergencies. My dad wrote that he flew in a Mars flying boat!

Honolulu and Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii. Where are the hotels and highrises? 

On the waterfront, Honolulu, August 1949

Hawaii was still a US Territory in 1949. It was an exotic tropical destination for mainland tourists in the post-war tourism boom.

I scanned these slides with a Nikon Super Coolscan 5000ED film scanner running Nikon Scan 4.03 on a Windows 7 32-bit computer. Many of the colors were off, and I made minor color corrections using Photoshop CS6. 

Lost: Celilo Falls, Columbia River Gorge, 1949

Dear Readers, this will be the start of a series based on my dad's Kodachrome slides from the 1940s and 1950s. 

In mid-1949, my dad completed a contract where he worked in Guam (Mariana Islands) and returned to mainland USA. He retrieved his car from a garage in San Francisco and headed back to Massachusetts via the northern route. He drove north to Oregon and turned east to follow the scenic highway on the south (Oregon) side of the Columbia River. 

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For millennia, Native Americans fished for salmon, sturgeon, and steelhead in the narrow rock channels near the base of Celilo Falls on the Columbia River. The Falls were a major trading and gathering point for Native Americans from around the western continent. Now underwater, the Long Narrows were located about 13 miles east of The Dalles. According to https://www.historylink.org/file/10010:

Indians fished along the entire stretch of the river from the falls to The Dalles, but were most active near the base of the falls and at the Long Narrows. In the narrows areas, basalt outcroppings provided places to stand along and in the river's flow, and the protruding rocks swirled the river into opaque turbulence that concealed the Indians' nets from the sharp-eyed salmon. Farther upstream, others fished with spear, hook, and net from perches on timber scaffolds cantilevered over the boiling water at the very base of the falls.

From Wikipedia: 

Celilo Falls itself was the first in a series of cascades and rapids known collectively as The Narrows or The Dalles, stretching for about 12 miles (19 km) downstream. Over that length, the river dropped 82 feet (25 m) at high water and 63 feet (19 m) at low water.

The Oregon Encyclopedia has an interesting article on the falls.

In 1957, engineers closed the gates on The Dalles Dam and flooded the river valley upstream. The falls are now underwater, and the historic fishing grounds are gone. (I was about to write forever, but one day, our descendants will be taking down these dams and letting the river flow free again.)

 

When I first saw these slides, I did not know where the falls were located. I would have liked to go and see them. But then I learned they were underwater. Drat, I missed them by 69 years......

The Native American fishermen built platforms that projected out over the water. In the upper picture, I see a small cable car box or platform. I am glad my dad had the chance to see this interesting geologic and cultural feature of our Pacific Northwest.

Columbia River view east from Vista House

This is the splendid view east along the Columbia River from the Vista House. The Vista House was built in 1916-1917 at Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Crown Point (“Thor’s Heights”), part of the State Scenic Corridor. Note how in the 1949 photograph above, Interstate 84 has not yet been built. Today, it blights the view below. 

My dad took these photographs with a Perfex 35mm camera using Kodachrome film. I do not know which model Perfex. These 75-year-old slides are in remarkable condition. I scanned them with a Nikon Coolscan 5000 operated by NikonScan software running on a Windows 7 computer and cleaned some scratches and blobs with the heal tool in Photoshop CS6.

(These are real Kodachrome slides, no Ai fraudulent manufactured pictures.)

My dad's Chrysler Windsor automobile. He modified the back seat so that it lay flat and he could camp in the car. He had many minor issues like leaking brake cylinders and engine overheating. 

My Last Kodachrome Slides Ever? Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 2008

In my (messy) archives, I found a box containing Kodachrome slides from November 2008. I think this was the last roll of Kodachrome that I ever exposed. 

Kodak discontinued production of the film in 2009. Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas, ran the very last processing anywhere on January 18, 2011. It marked the end of a 75-year era of the famous Kodachrome, a color film that defined and characterized color photography in the mid-20th century.

Here are some examples of this last roll of Kodachrome 64 (K64) from Vicksburg and Edwards, Mississippi. Click any picture to see more detail.

Vicksburg Stores

Former store, 1720 Military Avenue

Closed store, 1326 Magnolia Street (35mm ƒ/2 Summicron lens)

Church

Mount Calvary M B Church, East Avenue, Vicksburg

Corner stone, Mount Calvary MB Church, East Avenue

A recent street view on Google Maps shows that the church has been painted a light color. Note that in 2008, it still had diamond-shaped asbestos roof shingles. 

Cottages

2901 Cherry Street

1200 Harrison Street

Vicksburg had so many of these little early-20th century cottages. One by one, they would be abandoned and, finally, condemned by the city inspector. The word, "Demo" on the Harrison cottage means the inspector has marked it for demolition. This is an example of the deconstruction emptying out of American urban centers.

Speed Street School

This handsome brick school stood at the corner of Speed and Marshall Streets in Vicksburg. Built in 1894, it served as a school until 1940. In 1968, it was divided into low-rent apartments. Two former City employees told me that shootings, fights, drugs, and rapes were continuous trouble when it was used for low-cost housing. I explored inside after the tenants were expelled, and the apartments were horrifying. A Louisiana company demolished the building in 2008 and recycled bricks and timbers. The site is now a grass field.

I took these pictures with my 20mm ƒ/5.6 Russar lens. It was a challenging lens to use well but provided an amazing wide view for settings like this. These are all tripod-mounted.

Edwards

Serious traditional Detroit iron

Edsel sedan - yes, a bit weird

A fellow on the north frontage road at the Edwards exit of Interstate 20 had a serious collection of old Detroit cars. Maybe I could have commissioned him to restore the Edsel for me. Well, maybe not.

I took these photographs on Kodachrome 64 film with my Leica M2 camera and various lenses. Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas, developed the film in the last operating Kodak K-Lab processing machine. I scanned the slides with a Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED film scanner using NikonScan 4.03 software running on Windows 7. 

20mm ƒ/5.6 Russar lens - superb optical performance

This is a late, black version of the Russar lens. It has a M39 thread-mount, so to use it on a Leica M camera, you need a M-LTM adapter. Lomography reintroduced this lens around 2017.

I have posted previous articles that were based on Kodachrome slides. Rhode Island in 1977 is one example. 

From the Archives: 1990s Kodachromes from Vicksburg, Mississippi

Vicksburg, Mississippi, had so much interesting photographic material. I am glad I explored when Kodak's famous Kodachrome film was still available and could be processed by laboratories equipped to handle the special chemicals and techniques. I used Kodachrome until near its final end in the early 2000s. It is gone forever and will not be revived, despite the requests from old-timers. Here are some samples from the 1990s.

Fairground Street Bridge from top of an oil tank 

Rear stairs on Grove Street house pre-renovation (20mm ƒ/5.6 Russar lens)

Deconstruction, 807 Main Street

Chevrolet, Grove Street

Vicksburg depot and tracks used by Vicksburg Southern Railroad (VSOR)

View east to Mulberry Street from depot 2nd floor

I looked into the former depot (now housing the Old Depot Museum) and saw some youngsters. They said they rented an apartment on the second floor. They generously let me take some photographs from their balcony.

Lower Grove Street

Discount Barn, Levee Street

Former McKay Motors on Washington Street (150mm ƒ/4 Super-Takumar lens)

Cottages, 505 and 507 Fairground Street (200mm ƒ/4 Leitz Telyt-V lens)

Pearl Street view north (50mm)

This ends a short look back in time. I have hundreds of more Kodachrome slides of Vicksburg. Will I ever have time to scan them? 

From the Archives: Good Stuff in Pass Manchac, Louisiana, 1997

Ai Statement 2026:

None of the photographs you will ever see here on Urban Decay are generated by or modified by Artificial Intelligence (Ai). They are the genuine image recorded somewhere on earth at some time. I clean lint and scratches manually on some film pictures using the heal tool in Photoshop CS5 and CS6, but the rest of the photographs are as recorded on film. Occasional digital photos are from cameras old enough to not have any embedded Ai software.. 

Dear Readers, you can trust that what you see is real (or was if the site has been demolished).

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Pass Manchac

Pass Manchac is the waterway (pass) between Lakes Ponchartrain and Mauripas in southern Louisiana. Many drivers zip over the pass on Interstate 55 without paying much attention. But locals in the know pull off into the little community of Manchac to eat at the famous Middendorf's restaurant. It has been in business since 1934, surviving hurricanes, floods, the Great Depression, and the interstate highway system. 

The rest of the unincorporated community consists of some interesting little stores and swamp tour companies.

Middendorf's serves the best fried flounder (whole fish with head) I have eaten anywhere. It oozes over the boundaries of a dinner plate. The catfish is also remarkably good.

Reno's Seafood: fresh shrimp, crabs, crawfish, and beer. I wish I had tried the boudin.

Local sign-making at its best. I miss south Louisiana. It is culturally and gastronomically so interesting.

I took most of these photographs in 1997 on Kodachrome 25 film with my Leica M3 camera and the 35mm ƒ/2.0 Summicron-RF lens. This was the spectacular 8-element model, which is now a coveted collectors item. The RF means this version was equipped with goggles to adjust the view in the viewfinder of the Leica M3 camera. Leica also sold a version without the goggles for their M2 and M4 cameras, which had a different viewfinder. 

I scanned the slides with a Nikon Coolscan 5000 film scanner.

Leica M3 camera with 35mm ƒ/2.0 Summicron-RF lens