David James and son Seven, atop the Los Feliz Club Apartments with Vermont Ave in the background. The Onyx Cafe was located on the spot (bright-strobe) in the photo behind them. This 'spot' now is occupied by Figaro Cafe.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
dedication.
this "photoblog" site is dedicated to Jaime Rode and Mark Nichols, both, whom we'll
always keep in our onyx day memories, and also, to the other "onyx souls" like ike boschen (dating back gorky's cafe days), alfredo alcala, the comicbook artist, "bo" the coffee table book salesman, "bodjig", our friend eddie ajamians little dog and onyx mascot, and others, unrecorded, that have crossed over.
by the way, i've meant to thank my good friends - dave bogoian and hassan jamal for the jumpstart back into my lifelong passion, not to mention s.a. griffin, for the
inspiration and motivation to share my "onyx cafe experience" with photos taken during this memorable period.
aerial photo 11/11/1993 taken from the griffith observatory. highlighted
portion is where the onyx cafe is located (now figaro cafe).
ph : paul posadas. all rights reserved.
photos taken with hasselblad 500cm with 100mm lens. 100 asa rated t-max film developed with d-76. negatives were preserved with printfile archival preservers and scanned, 13 years later, with household canoscan d1230u into photoshop 7. jpegged average size of each image is from only 18 to 28 kilobytes. working on the scans threw me back to old school photography days of placing the negative in a negative carrier and spending hours printing in the darkroom.
i ran (with friend tommy hafalla) into victor balogh and carlos macias, at a photo exhibit showcasing wim and donata wenders' stills of their "buenavista social club" film, the summer of 2000 at the bergamot station in sta. monica.
"I don't care about making photography an art," said Mr. Steichen. "I want to make good photographs. I'd like to know who first got it in his head that dreaminess and mist is art.
Take things as they are; take good photographs and the ART WILL TAKE CARE OF ITSELF."
the PHOTO GALLERY containing photographs taken at the Onyx Café is work in progress, most of these scanned negatives were recently unearthed. since i've benefitted a great deal from the onyx cafe(free coffee, etc.), it's now payback time to mr. john leech and to every soul i hung out with, with my photographs. enjoy!!!
the Onyx Café was more than just an institutional cafe to most of the regulars and myself. it was a "state of mind" without the aid of any mind altering pill. it was a place where you can actually feel how "timeless" the place was. it was a conglomerated convergence of people from all walks of life. from hollywood celebs to suitcase-geared travelling bohemians introducing themselves, and being welcomed (and not interrupting any intellectual arguments). it was the crossroads to every major city on this planet. it was happening! day and night, into day again. amidst the aroma of the coffee lingering in the air, there was also, all kinds of drama. but we will not go there. you can never complain about the taste of espressos and cappuccinos served here, nor how the architectural facade of the place appeared, nor even how people looked or dressed. people come here for the same one thing that everyone else is seeking --- and it's not just the java. it is.. NIRVANA. yep. and the whole crowd was experiencing it collectively.
