Washington, 1928. "C&P Tel. Co. girls in class laughing." Employee education at Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone. View full size. Nat'l. Photo glass negative.

"Whistle Bottling Works." The Whistle beverage plant in Washington, D.C., in 1925. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

Baby boomers, first wave, all born 1946, showing how we were dressed for kindergarten. Notice how we don't look like gang members, convicts or concentration camp inmates. Of course, for class photo day, most of us had probably gotten decked out a bit better than normally, but still. By the following year a new school had opened up in Corte Madera and our class size shrank dramatically. That's me at the bottom right. View full size.

1924. Piggly Wiggly trucks in Washington, D.C., at the Christo Cola Bottling Co. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

Our second look at this Washington, D.C., produce market in 1917. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. Library of Congress. View full size.

Washington, D.C., 1920. "J.C.L. Ritter. Carry Ice Cream truck." A brand-new Walker Electric. View full size. National Photo Co. Collection glass negative.

1921. Sidney Lust's Leader Theater in Washington, D.C. Now playing: Douglas Fairbanks in "The Mark of Zorro." National Photo glass negative. View full size.

"Market in Washington, D.C. World War I period." View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative, Library of Congress.

"K & W Tire Co., Rainier truck." 1919. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. "Under the name of the K-W. Tire Company, William A. Ward and W. Killeen have opened a distributing agency in Washington for Pennsylvania vacuum cup tires and ton-tested tubes at 924 14th Street N.W."

1920 or 1921. "Lexington. Pike's Peak car." One of two Lexington racecars that placed first and second in the 1920 Pike's Peak hill climb seen at 1020 Connecticut Avenue N.W., the Washington branch of Hummer Motor Sales Company. E. Adie Hummer, Manager. View full size. National Photo Company glass negative.

Washington, D.C., 1921 or 1922. "Food show. Foulds Milling." The Foulds slogan: "Appetizingly Clean." View full size. National Photo Company glass negative.

Washington, D.C. "Seaton Garage and Supply House, interior. 1919 or 1920." View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

In 1957 I was chosen to be a model for the Oklahoma Semi-Centennial publicity photos. I was 5 and had to wear a fishbowl for a space helmet. View full size.

The car and the photo that started it all: my life-long vicarious love affair with gigantic cars with huge fins. By age 9 I was already a car nut; I cut out pictures from magazine ads and pasted them in a spiral notebook; I amazed family and friends by my ability to identify every car make. Then one day in November 1955 I saw it: this bronze chariot of the gods, a 1955 Cadillac Eldorado convertible, parked in, of all places, a mud lot near Boardwalk #3 in Larkspur, Calif. I made my brother take this Kodachrome, then later came back and photographed it myself in black and white - just the rear end. Immediately I stopped drawing Flash Gordon rocket ships and began designing my own cars - the Pac-Ply and the Zorch. I began pestering my father to take me to GM Motorama when it arrived to San Francisco. Strangely, when it came time to trade in the '48 Hudson in 1956, the car I pestered him to buy was a Rambler station wagon. I guess I realized these cars were not for mere mortals. View full size.

More of the Old Dutch Market in Washington circa 1920. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.