Last Sunday’s Photo Challenge showed the eagle on the front of Brandy Melville, on Main Street. Tons of readers responded with memories of what that building has been in years past — among others, a jewelry store, ice cream shop, crystal store, salon and travel agency. It was connected on the 2nd floor to Chez Pierre, a popular French restaurant next door.
But only Jill Turner Odice sent an illustration.
Judging from the car, it’s 1964. Judging from the view, it’s timeless.
BTW…I did not take the photo…just came across it somewhere along the line 🙂
Wow, this is priceless, thanks! And, yes, it’s 1964 (or ‘65) based on the World’s Fair poster in the window.
Oh, yes, definitely ‘64. I didn’t notice the license plate.
That’s just a very nice picture – good composition, depth, patterns, shapes, colors and light. I’d like to know what it was used for – probably a Pontiac ad.
Peter, I wholeheartedly agree, on both counts. As an amateur photographer, I have always been fascinated by the way those two interesting buildings in their own are situated side by side. And obviously a local commercial illustrator, who had talent I could only dream about, visualized the possibilities and capitalized on that perfectly. An artist could probably do an entire exhibit capturing different aspects or scenes of that location.
This made me smile. My aunt (Ruth Beecroft) and her life partner (Jeanne Thompson) owned Barnum Travel. My first paid job as a 12-year old was organizing and merchandising the travel pamphlets and brochures, answering the phones and cleaning the offices. It was a great time. Jim McKay was their best client.
Did a double take on that name.
The illustration is signed AF. VK in the lower left, for illustrators Art Fitzpatrick (1919-2015) and Van Kaufman (1918-1995). Fitzpatrick painted the cars and Kaufman did the setting and figures. The Kaufman’s settled in Ridgefield in the early1950’s at 100 Cains Hill Road. They were originally from Southern California and chose Fairfield County for the established community of artists and illustrators. The two illustrators were the top artists in the hey day of the 1960-70’s car advertising. Van Kaufman used many locations in and around Fairfield County as source and reference for his illustrations.
And for those who don’t know, Mark’s dad Gordon was quite a noted illustrator too!
A fascinating piece of local history, thanks.