Slow Moving Pictures
One month ago a friend told me that he was heading to California for a "well-earned" break in the sunshine. As you would expect, I called the U.S. Immigration service and bad-mouthed him yet, somehow, he managed to pass through the airport without being strip-searched or water-boarded. Clearly things have gone downhill there since George W. Bush left the White House.
So, last week I supped wine with said friend as he told me about his travels from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Luckily I had taken a similar journey myself some years ago and was able to play a bit part in this alcohol fuelled conversation. He described the scenery along the Pacific Highway, the ex-prisoner signing books in Alcatraz and a star-spotting stroll along Hollywood Boulevard.
That's when I pounced with my killer question.
"Is the Hamburger Hamlet still there?"
"No."
"But surely...?"
"Sorry...it's gone. Let's move on. It's your round."
Now it's not that I doubt my friend in any way, but a day later I e-mailed a former colleague who now works for Disney and, as it happened, she was working in Hollywood at that very moment. The demise of my favourite hamburger restaurant was confirmed. In fact Hollywood Boulevard has changed considerably since my last visit and even relatively modern buildings have been demolished to make way for developments like the Kodak Theatre and the new subway system.
Compare that with Glasgow city centre. In 2006 I wrote about the closure of the Odeon Cinema on Renfield Street. I took a photograph and imagined how the site might be transformed by developers.
Tonight, almost three year later, I took another photograph.
Not quite the overnight change that I imagined.
2006 above, 2009 below
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