Author: Mark Alexander

“In 1960, while a construction crew dismantled a row of brownstones right across from my own brownstone studio on East 58th Street, I was inspired to, somehow immortalize those buildings. I had the vision of 43 women in formal dress adorning the windows of the skeletal facade.

We had to work quickly to secure City permissions, arrange for models which included celebrities, the demolition supervisior’s wife (third floor, third from left), my own wife (second floor, far right), and also secure the Rolls Royce to be parked on the sidewalk. Careful planning was a necessity as the photography had to be accomplished during the workers’ lunch time!

The day before the buildings were razed, the 43 women appeared in their finest attire, went into the buildings, climbed the old stairs, and took their places in the windows. I was set up on my fire escape across the streeet, directing the scene, with bullhorn in hand. Of course I was concerned for the Models’ safety, as some were daring enough to pose out on the crumbling sills.

The photography came off as planned. What had seemed to some as too dangerous or difficult to accomplish, became my fantasy fulfilled, and my most memorable self – assigned photograph. It has been an international award winner ever since.

Most professional photographers dream of having one signature picture they are known for. Girls in The Windows is mine.”

Girls in The Windows. Ormond Gigli, 1960.

This really spoke to me.

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Last week was Ben’s fall break, so on Monday he and his friend Barry drove up to the Grand Canyon. I had never really considered that as a day trip, but they proved me wrong. To be honest, I was more than a little jealous simply being able to get away from all. the. shit. going on, so Ben suggested we make the same trip on Saturday since his park pass was good for a week.

It has been forever since we’d gone on a proper road trip (the Arcosanti* visit in August really doesn’t count as it was so close to home), so we got up early and hit the road yesterday.

To be honest, I am filled with angst at the thought of any road trip in the “new” car. This is for a variety of readily-admitted ridiculous reasons. First off, Rabbit is the first car I’ve bought used. Granted he’s not that old and has low mileage, but not being the original owner I don’t know his complete history, and while his CarFax was clean and he received all his scheduled maintenance, I’m still…apprehensive.

I never worried about hopping in Anderson for an impromptu trip. Hell, one of the first things I did was take a scenic, multi-day trip through New Mexico right after I’d gotten him. And then there were the trips to Yellowstone, White Sands, Green Bay, and of course, more than one round-trip to Denver. I think it’s because the car was new—or relatively so—at the time and I knew its complete history. In addition, the car had never done anything to have me question its reliability.

Of course the reliability thing came into question over the last two years, which I think spooked me enough—even though this is a completely different car—to have trust issues, even with a few months remaining on the original factory warranty as well as having an extended warranty in place for another 50,000 miles after that.

Something else I was thinking about as we left Phoenix on our adventure was how all those times I hopped in the car by myself to go on these thousands-mile trips; the first time without even having a cell phone!

I don’t know; maybe it’s the additional ten years I’ve aged since my last major solo trip, but I just don’t feel (and frankly I’m hesitant to use the word) as confident as I once was being out and about on my own. I don’t expect anything to happen, but as you get older it’s something you at least need to have at the back of your head.

Anyway, the combination of getting spooked by Anderson’s troubles last year and my advancing age has definitely put a dent in my desire to throw caution to the wind and just hit the road for a day or a weekend. And then there’s the question of the dogs…

But I digress.

Our little trip north was enjoyable. Being on the road kept me disconnected from the endless online assault of the horrors of the world and allowed me to decompress emotionally, something that was much needed. And the Canyon was thirty degrees cooler than Phoenix, always a welcome respite.

Rabbit behaved beautifully, and while Anderson got a little better MPG, I certainly can’t complain. I think a few more trips are in order to dispel my motoring angst with this new ride, and if nothing else to simply keep reminding myself that at 30K, Rabbit is still a young’un, and even Anderson didn’t have his first major  issue (a clutch replacement, covered under warranty) until 60, so relax and as MINI tells us, “Keep Motoring!”

*I posted photographs to Instagram but never blogged about it – probably because it wasn’t near as impressive as the hype had lead me to believe all these years. In fact, after seeing it, I now refer to it as “The place where old hippies go to die.”

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More fun courtesy Shorpy and Google Street View:

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