stevieboy Posted August 27, 2016 Share #1 Posted August 27, 2016 Advertisement (gone after registration) I'm sure many here have looked at Robert Frank's book The Americans. A big one in my world! In it is the lovely photo of a statue of "St. Francis" holding up his cross to a foggy looking street scene. (Easily found with a simple Google search, so I won't link it here.) Living in LA, I wondered from time to time where it was taken, and since LA is a place that rebuilds itself constantly, figured it wasn't likely to exist any longer. One day I finally decided to try to track it down. Didn't take too long, but the first thing I discovered was that for whatever reason it was miss captioned in The Americans, it's actually a statue of Father Junipero Serra, a missionary who was an important figure in the early European settlement of California. It was located near downtown on Sunset Blvd, in the section that has been renamed Cesar Chavez Blvd. I was right that it was no longer there, but it does still exist, it was moved not too long after Frank took his picture to a location not far, it's now between Union Station and the Olvera Street area of plazas and tourist oriented shops and has been for over fifty years. So of course I made a pilgrimage down there. Here's a front view. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! I found a old postcard of it on the web from around the time it was moved, dated I think 1960, those trees weren't grown up yet and it had a full view of Union Station behind the statue. To be continued due to image size requirements-- 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! I found a old postcard of it on the web from around the time it was moved, dated I think 1960, those trees weren't grown up yet and it had a full view of Union Station behind the statue. To be continued due to image size requirements-- ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/263921-robert-franks-st-francis-statue/?do=findComment&comment=3102712'>More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted August 27, 2016 Posted August 27, 2016 Hi stevieboy, Take a look here Robert Frank's "St. Francis" statue. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
stevieboy Posted August 27, 2016 Author Share #2 Posted August 27, 2016 (edited) Here's a back view. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! I suppose it would be natural to try to recreate Frank's shot. Of course there's no way to recreate it because the setting is totally different. But at least get the angle. There was construction going on the day I went though, and I couldn't access the position. Just as well, that would probably be sacrilege! Garry Winogrand, also known to many Leica photography people and of course street photographers, took a photo of the statue right around the same time as Frank did, from the front. Winogrand was in very early stages of his career at the time, and the pic isn't so well known. It did help a lot in tracking down the original location. But as I said, LA rebuilds itself all the time and the location itself is quite a bit different. The lampposts on the right hand edge of Frank's photo are still there, not much else though. And the statue was on a little island between Sunset and another little street, that little street is gone completely as is the island. Edited August 27, 2016 by stevieboy 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! I suppose it would be natural to try to recreate Frank's shot. Of course there's no way to recreate it because the setting is totally different. But at least get the angle. There was construction going on the day I went though, and I couldn't access the position. Just as well, that would probably be sacrilege! Garry Winogrand, also known to many Leica photography people and of course street photographers, took a photo of the statue right around the same time as Frank did, from the front. Winogrand was in very early stages of his career at the time, and the pic isn't so well known. It did help a lot in tracking down the original location. But as I said, LA rebuilds itself all the time and the location itself is quite a bit different. The lampposts on the right hand edge of Frank's photo are still there, not much else though. And the statue was on a little island between Sunset and another little street, that little street is gone completely as is the island. ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/263921-robert-franks-st-francis-statue/?do=findComment&comment=3102715'>More sharing options...
stevieboy Posted August 27, 2016 Author Share #3 Posted August 27, 2016 (edited) One more view. That taller building is LA City Hall. Known to fans of the old TV show Dragnet. (Every time I see it I think to myself "Duhn ta duhn duhnt"!) Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Junipero Serra has recently been made a saint, amid some controversy. But this thread isn't about religion, or history. Other than the history of photography and particularly Leica photography of course! My photos were taken with an M Monochrom and a 35 Summicron. Edited August 27, 2016 by stevieboy 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Junipero Serra has recently been made a saint, amid some controversy. But this thread isn't about religion, or history. Other than the history of photography and particularly Leica photography of course! My photos were taken with an M Monochrom and a 35 Summicron. ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/263921-robert-franks-st-francis-statue/?do=findComment&comment=3102717'>More sharing options...
stevieboy Posted August 27, 2016 Author Share #4 Posted August 27, 2016 (edited) By the way, the whimsical thing I put for "Location" under my avatar is a quote from Jack Kerouac's introduction to The Americans. I use it on a guitar discussion web site too. Edited August 27, 2016 by stevieboy Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevieboy Posted August 28, 2016 Author Share #5 Posted August 28, 2016 Oops, one error in my second post in this thread, I mentioned lampposts on the right hand edge of Frank's photo. They are on the left hand edge. I do know my right from my other right, don't know why I miss typed that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Parker Posted August 29, 2016 Share #6 Posted August 29, 2016 I just love the third one. Great job! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinL Posted August 30, 2016 Share #7 Posted August 30, 2016 Advertisement (gone after registration) Like this photo-archeaology! Thanks for sharing it. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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