Paul McDonough's new book Sight Seeing came in the mail today. I sat down at lunch and gave it a quick thumb through. Just a few pages in this photo caught my eye.
Holy crap, I thought. I know that scene! I whipped out my copy of Uncommon Places and there it was on the cover. Same restaurant. Same background.
McDonough's photo was made in the southwest corner of Sambo's looking toward Highway 101. I ate there a few times as a young kid, probably not long after Shore's photo was taken.
Tough to say what's happening here. McDonough made his photo before Shore, so he had no idea the place might be significant. But did the Uncommon Places photo influence his editing later, or (more likely) maybe he doesn't realize even now that it's the same place? It's not at all obvious, especially online. You have to examine the background very closely and the caption is slightly misleading which doesn't help. I'm guessing it's a complete coincidence, but who knows.
Anyway, that spot has some history in photoland. I rephotographed it in GSV. Turns out Paul McDonough beat me to it. What's it all mean? Nothing. Just weird. And it confirms that everything's been photographed already.
I'll have a full review of the book on Photo-Eye in a few weeks.
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Coffee Shop, Route 101 West, 1971
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Holy crap, I thought. I know that scene! I whipped out my copy of Uncommon Places and there it was on the cover. Same restaurant. Same background.
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5th St. and Broadway, Eureka, CA, September 2, 1974, Stephen Shore
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McDonough's photo was made in the southwest corner of Sambo's looking toward Highway 101. I ate there a few times as a young kid, probably not long after Shore's photo was taken.
Tough to say what's happening here. McDonough made his photo before Shore, so he had no idea the place might be significant. But did the Uncommon Places photo influence his editing later, or (more likely) maybe he doesn't realize even now that it's the same place? It's not at all obvious, especially online. You have to examine the background very closely and the caption is slightly misleading which doesn't help. I'm guessing it's a complete coincidence, but who knows.
Anyway, that spot has some history in photoland. I rephotographed it in GSV. Turns out Paul McDonough beat me to it. What's it all mean? Nothing. Just weird. And it confirms that everything's been photographed already.
I'll have a full review of the book on Photo-Eye in a few weeks.
You can check it out tomorrow, and see if Sambo's is still there ( think it might not be)
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