Wednesday, March 16, 2005

History Lesson

Yesterday I received the history book I recently ordered and it turned out to be better than I had imagined it would be. The book is simply a collection of old photographs of Manhattan Beach, from the early 1900’s to the present. There is a detailed explanation to go along with each image, but no narrative. And I have already learned some things from it. A photo shows the destruction (in 1946) of the World War II storage structures that were embedded in the sand dunes. These were used to store ammunition for the coastal defense guns that had been stationed in Manhattan Beach. I remembered them as “caves” where we once played. And I remember that one day we went up to the dunes to play in them and found that they were gone.

For Laurae and me, Manhattan Beach is the place where we grew up and so the images are quite powerful. Of course that small town is long gone and has been replaced by a large city that we no longer recognize as part of our “story”. Now, do I need to buy a second book? One that I can take apart and scan the images? I may have to do that, as I want to include images in the document I am writing about my life. I may write to the author of this book and see if there are any other sources for the photos.

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