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.
me and 'lil stefani dropped by tribal cafe to meet up with darrell monday evening. he was bringing food for the gang at tribal. btw, tribal cafe isn't open yet but by the way it looks, it shouldn't be a long wait. martha (martha allie packard) and dave were busy with the finishing-up stuff but got interrupted because they had guests -- darrell, stefani and myself. man, it has been close to 8 years that i've since seen martha. it just seems like yesterday. she hasn't aged a bit. we were reminiscing of the time circa 1993, when we drove out to the "cock and bull" in sta. monica to see eben eldridge of the "hungarian music lessons" play. eben at the time was my next door neighbor. the first set on stage was peter tork of the "monkees" and eben and his band played next. seeing martha again brought fun memories back like watching "ace ventura pet detective" at the beverly center together, sometime after the northridge earthquake and "forrest gump" with kyung chi, that same year. btw, my photostudio/apt. got "red tagged" that i together with the other tenants, had to evacuate. as i recall, i wasn't in a very good state of being (wreck) at the time that while everyone were busy moving their stuff out, i procrastinated. the only thing that i took were my negatives. a week prior the quake, i had just been a "carjack" victim, and 5 months prior the carjacking incident, i snapped my right wrist from a "night swim" accident on zuma beach and the fracture took months to heal (the vicodin addiction i kicked overnight). man, i've never seen so much shit happen in a 6 month period, not to mention also, someone walking out of my life. yada yada yada. [violins are playing]. well, i just happened to have my workhorse camera- "holga 120 cfn" with me that monday evening and exposed the last shot on dave rockello.
i drove out to "freestyle photosupplies" on sunset blvd. in hollywood sunday morning to look for a flash unit for my lomo lubitel 166 and my zorki fed-2. nothing expensive of course considering i paid $30 for the lubitel back in 1997 at freestyle when they were very much available (they are now discontinued) and $10 for the fed-2 from this dude who needed gas money for his truck. the holga flash was only $14.99 but with a guide number of 22. didn't really mind the GN of 22 and the price is a "steal", but the thing was as big as the cameras it will be going on to. there was this "colorsplash by LOMO" that is dedicated for the Lomo Kompakt Automat 35mm camera, which caught my fancy though it was $35. Being a sucker for stuff with remarkably artsy packaging, guess what? yep, i've decided to add this one to the check out list. the cashier -- claire had asked if i already have a holga or a woca, because they are on sale - 50% off. guess what? i couldn't pass up the $10 SOMETHING OFFER (w/o the built-in flash of course) for a "little sharper image taking holga" since it's got glass optics compared to plastic. now, we're talking "woca" now. some groovy name for a camera. after getting back home, i still had time to mess around with my new toys. i did however notice that the flash unit didn't have a "pc cord" which i very much need to use on the lomo and zorki. i decided to use it on the woca instead. anyway, i did my modifications to the "woca" but instead of using film acetate on the "swinging arm window", i actually decided to cut a small piece of an actual filter gel from my swatch of "LEE Filters -Cinematographer's Edition". i used 204 FULL C.T. ORANGE which converts daylight to Tungsten 3200 K, mired shift +159.
SEE PHOTO ABOVE.
note: please forgive me with my choice of subject when i do a test. just imagine after the modifications i've made i need to "snap" anything then off to the lab up the road so i can figure out what next to do on the camera.
"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.
