1963 Airstream Bambi Travel Trailer

Wally Byam was born on the Fourth of July in 1896 in Baker City, Oregon. He loved the outdoors and had a keen sense of wanderlust. But his wife did NOT. So in the late 1920s, he had the notion to attach a tent contraption on top of a Model T chassis, in order to provide her with some more comfort on their trips. He eventually built a proper trailer, and in 1931 opened the first Airstream trailer factory in California.

The business survived the Great Depression and World War II, and business started to boom after the war. He pitched the trailers to the average person, "With no worry as to where you are going to stay or how the means are going to be when you get there . . . you have plenty of carefree time to see the sights instead of hurrying through them." He also led Airstream Caravans across the globe, traveling through Mexico and Central America, Europe, Canada, and from Cape Town, South Africa to Cairo, Egypt. The Airstream Caravans produced a group of owners who formed a club to maintain the friendships they'd made during the trips. In 1955, the first Airstream Club was founded.

This 1963 Bambi was the company's smallest model, a single-axle trailer roughly the same length as the average passenger car. Its areodynamic body is all lightweight aluminum. Byam had worked in the areonautics industry, and took inspiration from airplanes in designing the Airstream body.

 

Wally Byam promoted his Airstreams with a rather beautifully idealistic manifesto, which reads in part:

In the heart of these words is an entire life's dream. To those of you who find in the promise of these words your promise, I bequeath this creed . . . my dream belongs to you.

• To place the great wide world at your doorstep for you who yearn to travel with all the comforts of home.
• To keep alive and make real an enduring promise of high adventure and faraway lands . . . of rediscovering old places and new interests.
• To open a whole world of new experiences . . . a new dimension in enjoyment where travel adventure and good fellowship are your constant companions.
• To encourage clubs and rallies that provide an endless source of friendships, travel fun and personal expressions.
• To lead caravans wherever the four winds blow . . . over twinkling boulevards, across trackless deserts . . . to the traveled and untraveled corners of the earth.
• To play some part in promoting international goodwill and understanding among the peoples of the world through person-to-person contact.
• To strive endlessly to stir the venturesome spirit that moves you to follow a rainbow to its end . . . and thus make your travel dreams come true.

This video gives a glimpse to the interior of an 1960s Airstream:

More history of Wally Byam and the Airstream: https://www.airstream.com/blog/the-creed/

Volkwagen Type-1 Beetle

 Almost through my series of MoMA Automania drawings.

The Volkswagen Beetle, along with its sibling, the VW microbus, is an icon of the 1960s Woodstock generation, and one of the most beloved cars ever made. In 1972, when the 15 millionth Type 1 was assembled, it surpassed the Ford Model T as the highest-selling car in history. It was quite the turnaround from some ignoble beginnings.

In the mid-1930s, Adolf Hitler ordered German carmakers to develop an automobile for the common people. This 'people's car,' or 'volkswagen,' was to be mechanically simple, inexpensive to produce, fuel efficient, and capable of accommodating a family of two adults and three children. Its production would be subsidized by the state, and consumer purchasing would also be subsidized through a state-run savings plan. Along with the development of the Autobahn, the Volkswagen program was Hitler's initiative to promote automotive culture to the German people.

In 1938, the first Volkswagen factory was built, however World War II delayed the launch of the car. After the war, the factory was turned over to the British. The factory began producing them for the occupying British Army, and they began to gain popularity throughout Europe, being faster and more fuel-efficient to other cars like the Citroën 2CV. It became known in Germany as the Käfer (German for "beetle"), the Coccinelle ("Ladybug") in France, and of course, the Beetle or Bug in America.

It began to be imported to the United States in 1949, and while it was slow to catch on, it started to gain popularity by 1959 and exploding in popularity in the early sixties. It eventually became the longest-running and most-manufactured model car ever made, remaining in production until 2003 and producing 21,529,464 cars.

History and Reference:

Hemmings: The Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle Marks Its 75th Anniversary

1957 Lincoln Premiere

This car is NOT a part of the MoMA Automania exhibit. In fact, I had a day off from my museum job and went out looking to draw something OTHER than cars, but wound up finding this guy anyway.

The Lincoln Premiere was produced between 1956 and 1960. It became Lincoln's flagship model, offering luxury options like power brakes, power steering, power windows, a 'Quadra-Lite' arrangement of four headlamps, and, of course, lots of chrome and big fins.

For more history:

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1957-lincoln-premiere

https://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z9218/lincoln-premiere.aspx

Cisitalia 202 GT

The auto maker Compagnia Industriale Sportiva Italia - or simply, Cistalia - was founded in 1946 by Piero Dusio, an Italian businessman, race driver, and former professional soccer player. He commissioned Battista "Pinin" Farina, one of Europe's leading designers, to craft the 202. Pininfarina's radical design was to mold the body of the auto as a single unified structural skin, or monocoque, as opposed to an assemblage of parts. The body was formed out of aluminum using aerodynamic principles used in race cars. Because each car was coach-built by hand, there were multiple variations of the model. It also meant that it was very expensive and labor-intensive to produce, and only 170 were produced in total between 1947 and 1952, when the company went into receivership and was sold. This 1948 Cistalia 202 GT was the first car to enter MoMA's collection of automobiles.

More info and history:

Drivetribe:The 1946 Cisitalia 202 Was a Milestone

Supercars.net blog:1946 Cisitalia 202

Jaguar Type E

More drawings from the Automania show at MoMA, now closed.

British car maker Jaguar Car Ltd. produced the Jaguar E-Type between 1961 and 1975. Called the Jaguar XK-E in the North American market, it caused a sensation when it was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in 1961. Enzo Ferrari declared it was "The most beautiful car ever made," and when Frank Sinatra saw it at the New York Auto Show, he said, "I want that car and I want it now!" It immediately became an iconic status symbol for the celebrity set, owned by George Harrison, Brigitte Bardot, George Best, Tony Curtis, and others.

Designed by former aeronautics engineer Malcolm Sayer, it was based on Jaguar's D-type racing car and was the fastest passenger car in the world at the time, capable of reaching sixty-two miles (97 km/h) in less than seven seconds.

More info, history, and trivia on the Jaguar E:

GQ: The A-Z of the Jaguar E-Type

 

Before It's Gone: The Elizabeth Street Garden

Somehow, I'd never been to the Elizabeth Street Garden in 20+ years of living in New York City, despite having spent plenty of time in the Lower East Side. At least, I don't remember ever going there, and it's a memorable place. But when I heard it was in imminent danger of succumbing to yet another development plan, I made a point of visiting to check it out for my "Before It's Gone" series.

In 1990, an antiques dealer named Allan Reiver leased an abandoned city-owned lot next to his gallery/store to serve as overflow storage for his stock. He kept antique busts and oversize sculptures on it, and eventually began to plant perennials, grass, and trees. People started to come through the store to hang out in the green space, and eventually, in 2013, he added a public entrance to the garden. Besides being a green space, in recent years it has become a community space, hosting yoga classes, concerts, movie nights, readings, and the like.

A few years ago, the city announced plans to turn the lot over to a developer who would build housing units. The pitch is that it would be very affordable housing for senior citizens. They also promise that units will be set aside for the homeless, and that it will be a green eco-friendly building, and LGBTQ-friendly. A lot of promises. And apparently this lot is the only site anywhere in the city that this can be built. Last month, the city served the garden with an eviction notice. Some neighborhood locals, including the late Allan Reiver's son, Joseph, are attempting to fight it in court, but I imagine  that will go the way it usually does. 

As to the question of whether this place is worth saving, I was a bit agnostic, and still am. After visiting this garden, it really did strike me as a special spot, especially in this area of the city, which is really lacking green spaces. It helped that it was a particularly beautiful, unseasonably warm Autumn day when I went. The garden was full of people of all types, enjoying the day and chilling in this peaceful, beautiful spot. What makes it especially attractive is that it has such a quirky, individual, organic character, as opposed to all the generic, cookie cutter plazas that get plopped down by planners.

On the other hand, truly affordable housing really is very, very needed. I'm a bit skeptical of all the promises this developer is making, but it sounds really great on paper. At least it's not just another luxury condo or overpriced retail space. Also, there's a lot of anti-development sentiment that seems to me borders on fetishization. Some people want to preserve every single building, every site, every inch of the city, no matter what, just on some principle. 

Recently, I've been reading a book called Lost New York, and it's striking in how many things have existed in this city which were, in their time, considered iconic and irreplaceable. Much more so than this garden, and with a lot more history . . . it occurred to me that perhaps the reason I wasn't familiar with this garden is because actually it's only been open to the public for less than a decade. So, that puts it into some perspective. It will still be a sad day when this gets bulldozed - I wish the garden's defenders luck, but I don't think they have a chance. So go check it out while you can.

Happy Birthday, Charles Feltman!

Today is the birthday of Charles Feltman (1841-1910). He would have been 180 years old! His claim to fame is as the inventor of the hot dog. Awhile back, I happened to draw his mausoleum in Green-Wood Cemetery.

Feltman emigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1856, at the age of fifteen. In 1867, he started a business selling food from a pushcart to beachgoers at Coney Island, including frankfurters from his native land. His innovation in 1869 was to insert the frankfurter into a custom-made elongated roll, eliminating the need for plates and utensils. He called the invention the Coney Island Red Hot, but it became better known as the 'hot dog,' perhaps because there was some question as to exactly what sort of meat was in that sausage.

Henry Collins Brown, New York historian and founder of the Museum of the City of New York, explained that "It could be carried on the march, eaten on the sands between baths, consumed on a carousel, used as a baby's nipple to quiet an obstreperous infant, and had other economic appeals to the summer pleasure seeker." I never thought of using hot dogs to pacify my children when they were babies!

In 1871, Feltman leased some land on the boardwalk and began building an entertainment complex that eventually included several restaurants and bars, a beer garden, a carousel, a roller coaster, an outdoor movie theater, a hotel, a bathhouse, a pavilion, and a maple garden. By the 1920s, Feltman's Ocean Pavilion was billed as the world's largest restaurant, serving over five million customers a year. It was actually better known for its seafood than for hot dogs.

In 1916, one of his employees, a roll-slicer named Nathan Handwerker, quit and founded a rival hot dog restaurant. A downscale version of Feltman's, Nathan's sold its hot dogs for five cents as opposed to Feltman's 10-cent weiners. Feltman's empire lasted until the early 1950s, when his sons sold the land to be developed into Astroland Amusement Park. Feltman's is now mostly forgotten, while Nathan's continues to reign as the iconic Coney Island hot dog king.

Feltman's placemat. Image from Green-Wood Cemetery Collection

REFERENCE:

Coney Island History Hall of Fame: Charles Feltman