Vintage matchbooks from Dallas

While in Dallas I happened upon a basket of vintage matchbooks in an antique store. I've never collected them before, but after glancing at a few of them, I ended up scouring the basket for at least five minutes, a pile of matchbooks stacking up on the floor next to me.

I was able to narrow it down to these twelve.

Some of them I loved for the illustrations, some for the subject matter, some for both. I guess Smokey the Bear is the mascot of the Parks Service, not Yellowstone National Park, but I still had to laugh at the bear on the matchbook cover. Maybe it's okay to play with matches sometimes?

I thought Oberg was a city in Sweden but it seems to be a common surname. I haven't yet figured out what the special offer for high school drop-outs is but it seems noteworthy that it was the only one whose matches had all been used.

I've always loved generic hotel postcards--same goes for matchbooks, I guess.

The one on the left is for a private investigator, which is so awesome. Love the fingerprint with the hat. Also note the illustrations on the back of the Yellowstone matchbook.

I also found another use for the letterpress tray: displaying these. I just wish more of the slots were wide enough to fit them.

A few more from Austin

A few more random photos from my week in Austin.

Waiting at the traffic light near Austin Books and Comics.

The Boston Cream Pie and Orange Dreamsicle from Casey's New Orleans snowballs

The cupcake truck in the rain.

We witnessed this house being demolished. *

Bowling at Dart Bowl, where I once saw The Big Lebowski in the parking lot. *

Chocolate chip pancakes courtesy of my gracious host

The preserved Daniel Johnston mural on the side of the former Sound Exchange. *

More street art around town. *

*Photo by Dave

Food trucks in ATX

I noticed that, like in New York, the food truck craze has caught on in Austin in a big way. For the most part, they seem to set up in designated areas, rather than rotating spots on city streets. All over South Austin we passed by dirt lots with three or four trucks parked, some, conveniently, with picnic tables, though most of them were closed every time we tried to partake. But there were a few exceptions such as the incredible Chi'lantro (please open a branch in NYC--or maybe not*) and CoolHaus (which has in fact just started up in New York).

We encountered trucks selling grilled sausages, food served in cones (except, strangely, ice cream), fried green tomatoes, cupcakes, ice cream sandwiches, Korean tacos, Mexican tacos, and even a trailer where you could adopt a pet (also closed when we passed by).

Here are just a few of them:








*While I've witnessed an explosion of new food trucks popping up within a three block radius of where I work--on any given day there will be at least three lined up on Hudson Street, maybe more, with new ones showing up every week--I have yet to really frequent any of them very much (which the exception of Joyride, which has created the Wednesday tradition of Stumptown coffee). The one time I tried getting lunch at Taim Falafel it took nearly 45 minutes from the time I got on line to when I was handed my sandwich. This seems to be pretty standard across most of the trucks--everyone wants to eat there, and they just can't churn out the orders fast enough. And when I only have an hour break, 45 minutes is way too long to be standing around waiting.

Remember the Alamo

After a day in Dallas we made our way down to our one-time home of Austin, where we spent the week swimming at Barton Springs, eating tacos, watching midnight movies at the Alamo Drafthouse, and all the other things that make that city great. A few photos from around town:

Texas is the reason

While in Dallas we decided we had to make a stop at Dealey Plaza, the site of the Kennedy assassination. The Book Depository where Oswald was allegedly stationed has been converted into a museum, and the infamous window is set up to look as it did on 11/22/63. (As Bill Hicks said, "It's really accurate...cause Oswald's not in it.")

We'd been to the museum the last time we were in Dallas so we skipped that part but decided the plaza was worth another visit. This picture was taken while standing on the spot where Kennedy was killed (it's actually marked with an X). The sixth floor window is visible all the way to the right above the trees.

Wasn't kidding about that X.

I also love how "Grassy Knoll" is labeled as such.

The Zapruder film was shot from atop this concrete slab.

Many believe a second gunman was stationed behind this picket fence.

I don't really consider myself a conspiracy theorist, but this picture is pretty creepy, especially given that those people are probably standing on the X.

Love the shadows in this concrete structure behind the grassy knoll.

Deep in the throat of Texas

Just got back from a trip to Dallas and Austin. I'm still adjusting back to NY weather and working, but I thought I'd get the old slide show going...

At La Guardia Airport we actually got to board the plane from the runway. Very old-timey.*

Our first stop in Dallas was our hotel, where we found this giant stone slab carved with the Ten Commandments. Yup, definitely in Texas. *

Inside Twisted Root burger, where we ate some very sloppy but delicious veggie burgers.

Across the street, above the Eight Track Museum (sadly, not open when we showed up).

I don't know where this was but I like it. *

The sidewalk on the route to the baseball stadium (the reason we were in Dallas). Those holes in the concrete look cool but are a pain to walk on.

The man in front of us rang a cowbell every time the Rangers did something good. * This got old very fast.

Next morning, in front of Oddfellows while we waited for a table. * (Good breakfast/lunch**, by the way, but they don't know how to make a banh mi. Don't know why that's surprising.)

*Indicates photo by Dave. (He may also choose to take credit for the use of the word "old-timey.")

**I have an aversion to portmanteaus. I shudder whenever I hear someone say "staycation." Can't help it.