A Walk into Nostalgia

West Hollywood, May 15, 2018

With my camera, I was walking down busy La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood. One of those aimless strolls we photographers call a “photo walk.” It was a pleasant evening, but traffic was still dense. I wasn’t really looking for anything special. But perhaps, just perhaps, I was looking for a “decisive moment”? Because in this city, you take what it gives you and act like it was your idea all along.

Then I saw it. A Johnny Rockets diner. Its window, often hidden with flyers, decals and the latest discounts, was oddly bare. Inside, a soft glow shone over chrome counters and red vinyl booths. The patrons resembled extras from a 1950s film that never managed to make it past the audition.

But I didn’t just want to document the moment. Instead, I wanted to convey a sense of nostalgic memory. So much more the idea of a romantic diner, rather than an actual diner.

So, here goes the Leica M240 and Thambar 90mm lens; a lens capable of creating images that look more like daydream than reality. Designed in 1935, it is famous for giving the world a feeling of seeing through the looking glass of the past. It’s perfectly blurry and yet identifiable.

So I lifted the camera and snapped some pictures. What I received wasn’t actually a photo of a diner. It was more dream-like than not, softened by time, colored by sentiment, not quite of this world.

And for a split second, the diner turned into a quiet island on a busy boulevard.