Corner Restaurant, Bailey Avenue, Jackson, Mississippi

An old-fashioned commercial building/strip mall at the corner of Bailey Avenue and Fortification Street has interested me over the years. I do not know the vintage of the building, but I guess pre-World War II. As of 2004, at least one unit in the building was still occupied, but I think all are closed as of 2019.

On the Avenue, 2004, Kodachrome slide, Nikon F3, 200mm AF-Nikkor ED lens

In 2004, On the Avenue restaurant was open for business when I took this Kodachrome from across the street. Prices were great! (But I did not have lunch there.)

In 2018, I had some Panatomic-X film in my Hasselblad and drove to Bailey Avenue to look around. The building appeared to be totally unused.

Note the decorative elements, sort of art deco. I am impressed that builders decades ago made an effort to add some aesthetic elements to commercial buildings. Compare with today's boring steel quick-construction commercial buildings.  

Bailey Avenue is rather depressing, with many unused buildings and empty lots. But there is a lot of traffic - where are these people all going? 

Baobab Trees and Elephants, Tanzania

Tarangire National Park, Tanzania (Panasonic G3 digital file, reprocessed with DXO Filmpack 5)

My wife and I recently watched the Netflix nature program, Our Planet. It features some spectacular photography from harsh environments, including animals seldom photographed (such as the Siberian Tiger).  Episode 5, "From Deserts to Grasslands," described how baobab trees have incredibly deep roots that can tap water while the surface is in severe drought. I remembered being amazed by the huge baobabs in Tanzania and decided to revisit some 2015 files.

Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

Baobab trees are found in arid parts of Madagascar, Africa, Arabia, and Australia. The trunks can be meters in diameter and contain a large amount of water. In drought, elephants chew on the trunks to extract moisture. Sometimes, the trunk has hollowed out and provides habitat for bats, birds, termites, and other critters. The trees can be 2000 years old.

Tarangire National Park, Tanzania (polarizing filter)

Tarangire National Park, Tanzania (polarizing filter)

My friend Ed and I took a 4-day safari after our Kilimanjaro climb. Tarangire National Park is about 4 bumpy hours west of Arusha. It was quite arid when we visited in October. From the viewpoint over the river, we could see lions, elephants, and antelope. The air temperature was comfortable, and there were no mosquitoes.

Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

The pond was especially interesting because baboons, antelope, and other animals came to drink. We had to stay in the Toyota Land Cruiser, but as long as we were inside, the animals seemed to not notice us (or at least not be concerned). I think the tree in the foreground was a variety of Acacia (genus Acacia).

Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

Yellow-billed storks (Mycteria ibis), Ngorongoro Conservation Area

The Ngorongoro Crater is an astonishing geological terrain, a volcanic caldera that is 600m deep and 20km across. It is unbroken, meaning no rivers flow out of the caldera. It is considered an active volcano. I did not see any baobab trees, but the caldera does include grassland, swamp, forest, and  a soda lake. Once again, another place to visit with more time on the ground to observe and photograph - with real film.

Note: the Yellow-billed Stork is sometimes called a Wood Ibis, but it is confusingly named because it is a stork, not an ibis.

Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania

This big lady came up to the Land Cruiser. We stayed very still, but she and her family were pretty mellow, snuffled around, and headed back into the forest.

Time for diesel and a broken key, Mto Wa Mbu village, Tanzania

All good things must end. We had to drive back to Arusha. It is a 3-hour drive over bumpy roads, rough going. Some tourists fly in on small planes to an airstrip somewhere in the area. That would be the smart way to maximize your time in the nature area and avoid endless potholes. But Arusha is reasonably interesting; older articles are at this link and this link.

I took these images with a Panasonic G3 digital camera with the Panasonic Lumix 12-32mm lens and a polarizing filter for scenes with sky. To convert to black and white, I opened the RAW files in Adobe Photoshop Elements (using ACR 7.3), then opened DxO FilmPack 5 to use the Tri-X black and white film emulation. It is OK but not the real thing. I need to return to Tanzania with real cameras with film.

Long forgotten: the Pinewood Motor Court, Hwy. U.S. 80, Vicksburg

The Pinewood Motor Court was located east of Vicksburg on historic US 80, formerly the Dixie Overland Highway. The restaurant and motel have been closed since 1979.

The art moderne building was a restaurant. A 1950s post card labeled it as Cassino's Pinewood Grill."

The sign must have been impressive in its day, blazing with incandescent lights. I wonder if they flashed in a pattern in the direction of the arrow? Unfortunately, the "Pinewood" and "Grill" signs are gone.

When I moved to Vicksburg, the restaurant was still intact, but some of the motel units had been semi-deconstructed. The roofs were off, and you could see the cheerful pink tiles of the showers and lavatories.

In the early 1980s, an office in the middle of the parking lot was still intact.

The attendant in the office could survey the motel units and ensure that proper morals were maintained (or that no African Americans tried to check in).

Here are two samples of the same scene, one color and the other monochrome. Which tells the story better? These are scans of 4×5" Fujichrome 50 and Kodak Tri-X film from a Tachihara camera.

Preservation Mississippi wrote about the Pinewood in 2014. Read some of the comments for background information. A 2005 Vicksburg Post article summarized some of the history:

“My mother and father bought the first few acres in 1939,” said Gay Strong, who owns the Pinewood property on U.S. 80.  

At that time, U.S. 80 was the main all-weather, east-west highway from Savannah, Ga., to San Diego. When Richard and Mary Jo Cassino Strong first bought the land from the Dees family, a small grocery occupied the property. 

“Dad named it the Parkway Inn,” Strong said. 

Though busy before, the highway really became heavily traveled during World War II with convoys of military trucks rumbling through. After the war, the traffic scarcely diminished as more people bought automobiles and personal travel took off. In 1940 and 1941, the Strongs built the first eight motel units on the east end of the property adjacent to the building that housed the restaurant. In the 1950s, they built the 14 units on the west end of the property. 

“The restaurant was originally called the Pinewood Gardens,” Strong said. “I guess because we had so many flowers planted around it.” 

Later the popular eatery was called the Pinewood Grill. The original restaurant building burned in 1950. 

Strong said Mike Guido and Marie Angelo operated the restaurant after the Strongs, and Gay Strong’s uncle Frank Cassino took it over after the 1953 tornado destroyed his Vicksburg Candy Co. Cassino moved his restaurant to Openwood and Jackson street in the 1960s. 

“When we first started it, I guess you would call it a family affair,” Strong said. “It was Mama and Daddy and me.” She said the cooks were from the U.S. Army Corps of  Engineers fleet. 

“We had fresh eggs. We grew our own vegetables,” she said. The intestate highways began being built in this area in the late ’50s and early ’60s, and that wrote the death warrants for the Pinewood and many other motels and restaurants along the old U.S. highway system. 

By the 1970s, the Strongs could see the end coming. They tried to stave it off by renting the old motel rooms, which had kitchens, as efficiency apartments, to construction workers by the week and month. The end finally came and they closed the Pinewood in late 1979.

The photographs above are from 35mm Kodachrome 25 film, Fujichrome 50 in 4×5" size, and Kodak Tri-X 400.

From the Archives: Moscow, Soviet Union, in 1978 (Plus-X film)

Kremlin walls from the Moscow River in 1978
(Kodak Plus-X film, Leica IIIC, 5cm ƒ/2.0 Summitar lens)

Kremlin walls from Bol'shoy Kamennyy Most (bridge)

Vodovzvodnaya Tower, Moscow

A few weeks ago, I had coffee with my karate friend Tatyana. She remembered her childhood in the Soviet Union. When I told her I had visited Moscow and Leningrad in 1978, she immediately asked if she could see my pictures. Well, that led to retrieving my negatives and scanning them. They were on Kodak Plus-X film exposed with the same Leica IIIC that I still presently use. The negatives were scratched and muddy in the low exposure areas. Maybe muddy low tones were a characteristic of Plus-X, but I am not sure. Back then, my technique was haphazard, and I can't recall who developed this roll. The scratches may be my doing. I do not see much grain, and in those days I sometimes used Microdol-X, which was a fine-grain film developer (i.e., it was designed to reduce the visual appearance of grain). But I was staying in Athens in those days, so maybe a Greek lab developed them. Regardless, they required some serious cleaning with the heal tool in Adobe Photoshop CS3 and adjustment with the curve to improve tonality.

Red Square from the GUM department store

This is the view of Red Square and the Kremlin walls taken from the GUM store. The GUM department store was a giant arcade built during the czarist era. It was reasonably well-stocked when we visited in October of 1978. Tatyana said Moscow and Leningrad were quite cosmopolitan in those days, but small towns in the hinterland had stores with empty shelves. We bought something in the GUM, but I do not remember what. The purchase process was multi-step. First you pointed out what you wanted to a clerk, and she wrote out a ticket for you. Then you took the ticket to the cashier's counter. The cashier took your tickets and added the total amount on an abacus. She accepted your Rubles (definitely no credit cards in the Soviet Union, and regardless, I did not have any cards in those days). Then the lady gave you a receipt in multiple copies, which you took back to the original counter. Upon close examination of the receipt, the lady gave you your merchandise. They were reasonably friendly and did not seem too surprised to see foreigners. It was not yet the era of Perestroika (that came in the Gorbachev era), but the Soviet Union was semi-opening and increasing interaction with the outside world. Tourists were encouraged to come, stay in hotels, and spend foreign currency.

As tourists, we were herded into one of the Beryozka shops. These only accepted foreign currency and catered to tourists, diplomats, government officials, and special people (athletes? ballerinas?). The Beryozka shops sold goods that were hard to get in normal shops. Most local people were forbidden to enter the premises, plus they usually did not have any foreign currency. We saw the normal offerings of liquor, cans of caviar, scarves, and some jewelry. I almost bought a Kiev camera but passed.

In the photograph through the arch, the people in the distance are waiting to see Lenin's body. If we tourists wanted to enter the mausoleum, the guards would have put us in front of all those people, but that seemed rude and we did not want to flaunt privilege. So we never did see Lenin's body. Stalin  and other notables are buried at the base of the walls. Notice the gents hanging around in "plain" clothes? We assumed we were being tracked, but who knows? Maybe our grumpy Intourist guide was the only official watching our group. In our hotel room, we occasionally said "Hi!" and "How are you today?" to the telephone receiver.

Soviet tourists, bronze Czar Cannon (cast in 1586)

The premier tourist site was the Kremlin, the ancient seat of power of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. We were surprised how open it was. You could not enter the government buildings, but could pretty freely walk around and take pictures. I occasionally looked for First Secretary Brezhnev, but of course, he was nowhere to be seen.

Church of the Nativity, Kremlin 

Several ancient cathedrals and churches are inside the walls of the Kremlin. Although religion was officially discouraged in the communist era, some churches were maintained and, I think, held services. The government preserved others as museums.

St. Basil's Cathedral, Red Square, Moscow

St. Basil's Cathedral, Red Square

St. Basil's Cathedral, (from Wikipedia: The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed (Russian: собо́р Васи́лия Блаже́нного, Sobor Vasiliya Blazhennovo)) is an architectural wonder. This, too, was a museum. I recall the inside being rather dark and claustrophobic. The ornate chambers were much more confined than the soaring spaces in Gothic cathedrals in France or Germany.

Smolensk Cathedral

The bell tower of the 1690 Smolensk Cathedral dominates the walls and passages in the ancient Novodevichy Convent. This is now a museum.

Bolchoi, Moscow

We saw the Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione) at the Bolshoi. I recall a superb performance, but cannot remember if it was sung in Italian or Russian. Also, I cannot recall if we went with our tour group or just bought tickets and attended by ourselves.

We stayed in an old hotel called the Berlin. It was on Pushechnaya Street and and within walking distance of Red Square and most tourist sites. It dated back to the Czarist era and looked like it had not received much maintenance or cleaning since the 1917 revolution. Sturdy babushka ladies sat at a desk on each floor and gave you your room key while they glared at you. I am not sure if they worked for the KGB, but they certainly had been instructed to report any suspicious happenings.

This was a quick tourist look at Moscow. I am sorry I did not take more pictures of ordinary life. There are some slides in my boxes, but scanning will wait for "some day" (like so many other mythological projects). These black and white frames were from Kodak Plus-X film, exposed with my dad's Leica IIIC camera and 5cm ƒ/2.0 Summitar lens, which I am still using many decades later.

1950s Excellence: the Canon 50mm ƒ/1.4 Leica Thread Mount (ltm) lens

Leica IIIC camera with 1960s-vintage Canon 50mm ƒ/1.4 ltm lens

Background

Long-term readers recall that I have used my dad's Leica IIIC rangefinder camera for decades. He bought it at the Post Exchange in Guam in 1950 and used it for family photos in Asia and Europe. It was equipped with a Leitz Summitar 5 cm ƒ/2.0 collapsible-barrel lens. The Summitar was a remarkable 7-element optic of pre-WWII design. My sample has noticeable field curvature and displays a lot of aberrations at ƒ/2.0 and ƒ/2.8. That can be used creatively for certain types of work. By ƒ/4.0 or smaller, the aberrations are barely noticeable.

But I often take pictures of architecture and wanted a lens that was more uniform over the entire field and maybe offered better resolution. But which lens to choose? German, Russian, and Japanese optical companies made tens or hundreds of Leica thread-mount (ltm) lenses in the 20th century.

Alternate lenses

If money were no object (you know that fairy tale), Leica issued a limited production of their superb Type 5 50mm Summicron in 1999 with the 39mm thread mount rather than the bayonet M mount used in their current cameras. I checked eBay and saw copies being sold by Hong Kong companies for over $2000 (Hong Kong is the place to look for unusual collector items like this). The extra-rare Leica 50mm ƒ/1.4 Summilux Type V is $3400 (Model 11621). OK, above my budget. (2024 Update: That $2000 or $3400 now looks reasonable.)

Leica also issued their Type 2 Summicron in thread mount from 1960-1963. But this is another rare collector (= expensive) item. I have a Type 2 Summicron-DR (dual-range) in M mount, but there is no way that an M-mount lens can be fitted to the older thread-mount camera bodies.

I wanted a vintage lens as opposed to one of the modern Voigtlander (= Cosina) or Konica ltm lenses, which meant a 1950s or 1960s optic. It surprised me that the 1950s and 1960s ltm lenses from Minolta (Rokkor), Fujinon, Topcor, Tanaka (Tanar), Yashica, and Konica Hexar sell for hundreds, I suppose because of their rarity.

Soviet ltm lenses physically fit the Leica bodies but often have focusing issues because of a difference in the standard used for the focal length. Many users claim no issues, but I decided to stick with a lens specifically made for the Leica standard. Also, Soviet lenses suffer from highly variable quality control and material selection.

The Canon Camera Company made excellent interchangeable lens rangefinder cameras from the mid-1940s through 1972. The V series were especially innovative, according to Cameraquest. By the late-1960s, the single lens reflex (SLR) camera was dominant in the marketplace and Canon ended production of their innovative Canon 7S rangefinder camera in 1972. Leica and some of the Eastern Block companies continued to make interchangeable lens rangefinder cameras after the late-1960s, but most used bayonet-mount lenses. I remember visiting a camera store in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1976 or 1977, and they still had some new Canon ltm lenses in stock.

Thankfully, Canon's 50mm lenses were designed for the exact same mount and focus design as the Leica thread cameras, so they would work correctly on my IIIC. Canon offered 50mm lenses in ƒ/3.5, 2.8, 2.2, 2.0, 1.9, 1.8, 1.5, 1.4, and 1.2 maximum apertures. A remarkable ƒ/0.95 version only fit on the Canon 7 bodies. The early post-war lenses were very heavy, with chrome-plated brass bodies. I wanted one of the later and lighter-weight versions, so that meant theType 2 ƒ/2.2, ƒ/1.8, or ƒ/1.4 models.

For more information about ltm lenses:

• Canonrangefinder.org
• Camerapedia
• Summary of ltm lenses from various companies on Cameraquest
• Summary of Canon ltm lenses on Cameraquest
• Summary of Canon's 50mm lenses from canonrangefinder.org

The ƒ/1.8 and ƒ/1.4 models were by far the most common. But I learned that a majority of the Type 2 ƒ/1.8 lenses suffer from haze on the glass element behind the aperture. No one has a solid answer why this develops, but the haze or scum etches the coating and even the glass. That left one choice: the gorgeous and well-regarded ƒ/1.4 lens. Japanese and Hong Kong eBay vendors offer these lenses in varying conditions.

After a bit of searching, I bought this beauty from a Japanese eBay seller. He claimed there were some scratches on the coating, but I cannot see them. The coating is single layer, not multi as in 1970s and newer lenses. Mine is a Type 2, but I do not know the exact date because I have been unable to find a chronology of older Canon lens serial numbers. The lens is a modified Gaussian design with six elements in four groups. The aperture ranges from ƒ/1.4 to f/22 with nice precise clicks. The filter size is 48mm. I ordered a vented hood from one of the Chinese eBay vendors (about $3) as well as some filters, and I was ready to take pictures.

Some other reviews of the Canon 50mm ƒ/1.4:

• A blogger, Jason Howe, wrote a detail description of this lens.
• Hamish Gill, the editor of the 35MMC blog, presented nice examples.
• A review by Kevin Shorter.
• Some portraits of Carlos Santana. 

It is difficult to tell what the 1.4 lens cost when it was current. A 1963 Modern Photography showed $210. But a 1968 Modern showed only $126.

Note: As of 2019, Leica is still making their superb M-A film rangefinder camera, and sales have increased with the revival of film. In 2023, Leica reintroduced their Leica M6 camera.  

Initial test film

Wow, new lens, so exciting. I loaded some Kodak BW400CN film in the IIIC and headed to the countryside south of Interstate 20 in central Mississippi.

Front porch, April 14, 2019, Sontag, Mississippi (hand-held, approx. ƒ/8)

Abandoned mid-century cottage, Sontag-Nola Road, Mississippi

Truck and farm yard, Sontag-Nola Road, Mississippi

Former filling station, Beauregard, Mississippi

Closed gasoline station on Hwy 27 near Utica (ƒ/11 or ƒ/16); note detail foreground and back

Apartment complex with unusual architecture between Clay Street and Baldwin Ferry Road, Vicksburg (medium yellow filter)

Detail (original size) of sign on left center of the previous photograph.

Holly Beach, Louisiana. I hope that truck has large enough tires to impress the ladies.

Old Country Store, Lorman, Mississippi (Fuji Acros 100 film, long exposure braced on ledge)

Historic cottage at 706 Harris Street, Vicksburg, Mississippi (with med. yellow filter)

Minister on Washington Street, Vicksburg (Fuji Acros film)

Summary

This is a beautiful optic with nice rendering, especially on B&W film. This was a top-grade lens in the 1960s, an example of Japanese optical and mechanical excellence. Some reviewers called it the "Japanese Summilux." I will test it with fine-grain film; if I can find some 135 size Panatomic-X, that would give a genuine old-school appearance to my negatives. This lens is large enough to block some of the viewfinder, and I need to compose carefully. One solution is to use a 50 mm auxiliary finder. I just bought a Canon version.  

Final conclusion: If you want a classic lens for a Leica ltm rangefinder camera, definitely consider the Canon thread-mount lenses. But look carefully for the dreaded haze.

Quick Drive on North Washington Street, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Washington Street view north. Undated, from Cooper Postcard Collection, Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Washington Street: a distinguished name that honors our first president. Almost every city or town in the USA has a Washington Street, and Vicksburg is no exception. North Washington Street extends from approximately Grove Street to the junction with US 61 Bypass, a few miles south of the community of Redwood. At one time, US 61 ran through downtown Vicksburg along Washington Street, but the bypass was built in the 1970s to let heavy truck traffic avoid driving through downtown. We will take a quick look at N. Washington Street starting at Grove Street and move north.

North Washington Street from 61 Coffeehouse, Fuji Acros 100 film, Vito BL camera

Before our short exploration, a stop at the 61 Coffeehouse at 1101 Washington Street yields an excellent espresso and conversation with the barista ladies. The block just north of Grove Street (see the field in the photograph above) has been bare since before 1985. It probably fell prey to the "urban renewal" plague that hit Vicksburg in the 1970s.

Warehouse, corner of 1st East and N. Washington Street, Tri-X film

Some nondescript warehouses are at the corner of N. Washington Street and 1st East. From here north, Washington Street is reasonably flat and easy for bike riding.

Jo-Anna Motel, from the Cooper Postcard Collection, Mississippi Department of Archives and History

The Jo-Anna Motel (click the link to my 2011 article) was near the intersection where Haining Road turns off to the Port of Vicksburg. The Jo-Anna was torn down in the 2000s when the National Park Service bought the land. The land today is untended and a mess of weeds, mud, and scrubby trees.

Vicksburg Forest Products from Haining Road bridge over railroad, Vito BL camera, Acros 100 film, polarizing filter

The first big business that is visible from Washington Street is Vicksburg Forest Products (formerly Anderson-Tully Company). The tracks in the foreground continue as far north as the International Paper mill north of Redwood.

Corner of Hutson and N. Washington Streets, Olympus Trip 35, TMax 100 film, yellow filter

3112 N. Washington Street, Olympus Trip 35, TMax 100 film, yellow filter

3950 N. Washington Street, Olympus Trip 35, TMax 100 film, yellow filter

Heading north from Haining Road (Port of Vicksburg), you pass small cottages, mobile homes, and churches.

Former detail shop at corner of Chicasaw Road (digital file)

Exact location unknown, N. Washington Street, Kodachrome film

This sign describing the Chicasaw Bayou battle has been moved, so I am not sure where I took this photograph. I have looked for the Corvair junk yard, but never found any remnants. The houses near the present sign are different.

Spouts Spring Road, Vicksburg, Hasselblad, 80mm Planar lens, expired Kodak Ektar 25 film

Cottages on Spouts Spring Road, Olympus Trip 35, TMax 100 film, yellow filter

Spouts Spring Road is a U-shaped road that runs east of N. Washington Street. There is a spring that has been channeled into a creek. I wonder if the water is drinkable and could be used rather than wasted? I sometimes ride here to avoid some of the truck traffic on the main road.

Margaret's Gro in 1985, 4535 N. Washington Street, Kodachrome 25 slide, Pentax Spotmatic, 28mm lens

Margaret's Gro & Market was a small market in the early 1980s. Then Reverend Dennis married Margaret and started to convert the grocery into his Temple to the Lord. Through the early 2000s, it was an amazing and unique example of folk art with vibrant paint and hand-made sculpture.

Margaret's Gro, Fuji Reala film, converted to black and white.

Reverend Dennis learned about brick work from German prisoners of war in World War II. His visitor book had signatures from hundreds of German tourists. The photographer, Suzi Altman, has many pictures of Margaret's Gro on her site. I have also written about it before (type Margaret's Gro in the search box).

Road from sand quarry, Rolleiflex 3.5E camera, Kodak Panatomic-X film

A sand or gravel quarry is east of N. Washington street, just a short distance south of the intersection with the 4-lane 61 Bypass. I recently noticed that a couple of old farm houses had been demolished (visible to the left in the picture above).

This ends out short ride down North Washington Street. Thank you for reading.