Nostalgia

Things I didn't know I'd miss until they were gone:

the ghetto mall (New Haven, now a nice mall/residential apartment)
York Square Cinemas (New Haven)
Rainbow Cafe (New Haven)
Cedar Bar & Grill (NYC) (rumored)
gas stations (everywhere) (it's just a matter of time)
others (can't remember off the top of my head)

Seriously, I've begun to photograph everything that has, had, or could have a smidgeon of meaning in my life because before you know it, there's a Starbucks taking its place. What are you going to miss? Imagine America without gas stations. I'm 110% positive I've seen a photography book about gas stations out there, and hear me this, that book is going to be a must-have in ten or twenty years when there are no more gas stations (due to lack of gas). Can you imagine America's highways, hell, its average suburban towns, without gas stations? It would be, well, so much nicer, wouldn't it? Canada would be alot emptier (the Irving gas station being the only thing for hundreds of miles on the lonely highways), but America would be alot less icky. Assuming what replaces them isn't skeevier... I don't think plug-in stations would work so much as hydrogen/electric cars will need time to rejuice. Anyhow, here's to nostalgia, the biggest reason people buy TV show DVDs. We're holding onto the past, onto the cultural landmarks that have helped to develop how we live our very lives.

Though when I put it that way, it's a bit disturbing. Do I really care if the ten gas stations within a mile of my parents' house drop off the map tomorrow? Mmm... I honestly can't say. But I do miss that basement restaurant that fed me so many yummy grilled cheese croissant sandwiches with multi-colored tortillas on the side, that Rainbow Cafe with its signed poster of Mary Martin's Peter Pan and jumbo, greasy cookies and bad local art. And I'll miss York Square, where I saw a sneak preview of Chicago, the movie, and the uncomfortable Y Tu Mama Tambien with a conservative South Dakotan friend of mine, The Machinist with a screamer, and Capturing the Friedmans with loads of middle-aged people with no sense of humor. Sigh. The ghetto mall with its constant fear of being stabbed in the neck at the Burger King, the dollar store where a certain celebrity kid-friend of mine bought shampoo, the Radio Shack that couldn't help me when I broke my computer. Memories, I tell you.
Cedar Bar, not so much, but still. I wish I had had a chance to say goodbye. It's time to stop photographing friends and family and to start photographing the local mercantiles. You won't regret it, trust me.